One of the peculiarities of trade and economic relations between Russia and Azerbaijan is cooperation with Russian regions, which has become more intensive. The cooperation is based on agreements signed between 75 Russian regions and the Azerbaijani side. According to Yeni Zaman, more than 570 companies with Russian capital work in Azerbaijan. Russian investment in the republic amounts to more than $600 million. Azerbaijani companies have invested about $1 billion in the Russian economy. The partnership is developing in industry, engineering, agriculture, and the fuel-power sector. About 1500 companies and enterprises are involved in foreign trade activities. Russian-Azerbaijani forums are regularly held at the inter-regional level. Commissions for trade and economic cooperation between Azerbaijan and Moscow, the Moscow Region, Dagestan, St.-Petersburg and Tatarstan have been created.
The volume of trade with Dagestan is $231 million. The newspaper notes that at the fifth Russian-Azerbaijani Forum, which was held last year in Qabala, agreements on cooperation were signed between Dagestan and Azerbaijan, including an agreement between OAO Agroholding Stary Sad and the Azerbaijani CTC Holding. The agreement’s goal is mutual development of the fisheries sector, breeding trout in ponds in Dagestan, construction of a fish canning plant. An agreement on cooperation was signed between OOO Yugagroholding (Dagestan) and OOO Investment Group (Azerbaijan) about construction of a plastic greenhouse on 240 square meters in the Kumtorkal District of Dagestan.
The head of Dagestan, Ramazan Abdulatipov, thinks that integration ties with Azerbaijan should be intensified in the future as well. Moreover, today Dagestan shows an example of development of a number of industries. “Today the Azerbaijani side is more active than we are; our partners have already invested more than $50 million, implemented a series of projects in the sphere of agriculture and the humanitarian sphere, in which we are interested,” he told journalists.
Another Russian region, the Astrakhan Region, thinks that Azerbaijan is its main Caspian partner today. This May a delegation headed by the vice governor, the head of the region’s government, Konstantin Markilov, visited Baku. The guests presented the special economic industrial zone “Lotos” to major Azerbaijani companies, i.e. potential investors, at the Baku business center. Markelov suggests considering opportunities for export of Azerbaijani agricultural products to Russia through the Astrakhan Region within the concept of import substitution. Problems of opening the ferry communication between Baku Port and Olya Port were discussed.
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More than 123 thousand foreign citizens and stateless persons were registered at the Migration Service of the NCFD in the first half of 2015. This is 8.7% less than in the same period of 2014. The biggest number of migrants arrived in Stavropol Territory and Dagestan, Den Respubliki, a Karachay-Cherkessian newspaper, reports. The majority of migrants come to the District from Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Armenia, and Kazakhstan. In Karachay-Cherkessia, the number of registered migrants has reduced by 23.4% in comparison with the same period of last year. However, there more than 10 thousand migrants in the republic at the moment, and this is a big number for a small region. As a result of preventing activities by regional agencies of the FMS, 62 thousand administrative crimes were detected. 1726 illegal migrants were deported from the country. 3269 migrants are not allowed to enter the country any more.
The deputy head of the DFMS of Russia in Stavropol Territory, Vladimir Kirichenko, shared his experience of Stavropol Territory, the only region of the NCFD where the State Program for Encouragement of Voluntary Resettlement of Compatriots Living Abroad to the Russian Federation is being implemented. 1584 people expressed their desire to participate in the Stavropol program by July 1st. More than 14.4 million rubles were allocated as benefits in the first half of the year.
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Kabardino-Balkarskaya Pravda reports that construction of the Zaragizh HPP, which is being built by RusHydro in the republic, is almost completed. The HPP will have a capacity of 30.6 megawatts. It is being constructed in the Urvan and Cherek Districts. The plant is the third stair of the Nizhne-Cherek cascade.
A peculiarity of the Zragizh HPP will be the absence of a dam and water reservoir; it makes the project cheaper and rules out swamping. Facilities of the HPP are situated lower than facilities of the Nizhne-Cherek cascade. The plant will use water which has been processed at the Aushiger HPP. The HPP will begin its operation in the fourth quarter of this year.
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Winners of the regional stage of the Fifth All-Russian Computer All-Round Events among Pensioners were found out in Grozny, according to the local newspaper Vesti Respubliki. It is the first time such competitions are being held in the republic. They are aimed at increasing computer skills among the elderly population for their successful social adaptation in the information environment. Computer skills will enable pensioners to extend their opportunities for getting national and municipal services via the Internet and extend their participation in social discussion and control of the authorities’ activity. The regional stage of the championships is held in four nominations, according to the charter of the All-Russian Championships. Two groups were formed: advanced users and beginners. The first nomination is homework: a presentation on the topic of “Information Technologies in My Life.” Moreover, participants had to cope with challenges in another three nominations: MS Office Word; Google Search Engine; and a personal account at the Portal of State Services. The jury defined the deadline of carrying out each task and instructed participants ahead of every task in all nominations.
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Kabardino-Balkarskaya Pravda reports on w summer cultural and health-improving camp for children of compatriots living in Russia and abroad. The camp has been operating in the republic for several years. On Monday, a two-week session started in the Grushevaya Roshcha Resort.
This time a hundred children from Turkey, Jordan and North Ossetia arrived in the republic. “The elders promote love for their historical homeland in children. There are children who return to us to appear in the deeper linguistic environment; others dream about seeing our mountains, Nalchik. Relatives and namesakes often visit them here,” the head of the Department for Cooperation with Civil Society Institutions and Ethnic Affairs of the KBR, Anzor Kurashinov, says.
The program of the camp is based on deepening the traditional linguistic and cultural environment of the Kabardinians and the Balkarians. There are excursions, contests, and daily lessons on native languages, which are carried out by tutors of the republic’s universities. Social organizations of compatriots choose children for participation in the project at the spots. The main criterion for coming to Nalchik is speaking native languages at least at the basic level. Boys and girls have to be able to speak about themselves and their families.
