A Tatarstani delegation headed by Rustam Minnikhanov, the head of the republic, paid a working visit to Abkhazia last week, Abkhazia-Inform reports. The Tatarstan delegation consisted of heads of ministries and departments, as well as representatives of leading companies. The purpose of the visit was extending trade-economic, scientific-technical and cultural cooperation. "We should intensify cooperation in the economic sphere,’’ Minnikhanov said.
President of Abkhazia Raul Khajimba expressed confidence that cooperation between Abkhazia and Tatarstan will be at a new, modern and mutually beneficial level. The main areas of cooperation are the tourism sector, agriculture, transport and logistics infrastructures, which include seaports, airports and railways. In particular, according to Khajimba, it is necessary to create tourism infrastructure in Eastern Abkhazia, which will be ready to receive and cater for a large number of tourists. In addition, the fertile soil in these areas has excellent conditions for development of agriculture. According to the President, Abkhazia is interested in innovative technologies, such as are actively used in Tatarstan, as well as cooperation in cultural and information exchanges, education and medicine.
The Tatarstani delegation also visited a number of enterprises, particularly the Sukhum dairy factory. It was founded in 1970, but it stopped working in November 2013. According to the company's management, more than 15 million rubles are required to resume its work. It is necessary to purchase the missing equipment: a plate pasteurizer, a chamber for shock freezing, refrigeration equipment, as well as carrying out adjustment and alignment. In addition, the plant needs a supply of milk powder. Minnikhanov instructed his experts to involve the Tatarstani company 'Just Milk', and to evaluate the available technological potential of the dairy plant, as well as consider options for supplements of necessary components and raw materials.
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"Ingushetia and Azerbaijan have warm fraternal ties of friendship, carried by two our peoples through the centuries, combining age-old highland traditions and customs,’’ Ingushetia cites Yunus-bek Yevkurov's words at the recent Sixth Russian-Azerbaijani inter-regional forum in Yekaterinburg. The head of Ingushetia also noted that there are over five thousand Azerbaijanis the republic. There is also an Azerbaijani community, which takes an active part in all the events in the region, and makes a great contribution to the preservation of stability and maintenance of interethnic, inter-religious peace and harmony in Ingushetia. An agreement between the governments of Ingushetia and Azerbaijan on trade-economic, scientific-technical and cultural cooperation is being implemented since 2011. Ingushetia was visited by an official delegation of the Republic of Azerbaijan in 2012. The parties signed an agreement on cooperation between the Ministries of Economic Development and Ethnic Affairs of Ingushetia, and their counterparts from Azerbaijan.
An Alley in honor of Heydar Aliyev was opened in Malgobek, the City of Military Glory, as a sign of the indestructible friendship with the Azerbaijani people. The Alley opened in the year of the 70th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War and it is dedicated to the soldiers of the 9th, the 223rd, 416th guard infantry brigades of the 44th Army of the Northern Group of the Transcaucasian Front, who gave their lives defending Malgobek in 1942-1943,’’ Yevkurov said.
Speaking about the potential of Ingushetia, he underlined that the region is in the center of the Caucasus and has easy access to airports, road and rail routes. Therefore, it is objectively considered as a territory which is attractive for business investments in all areas of production of goods and services. Taking into account nuances of logistics, it allows to provide optimal means of transportation of goods.
Seven projects costing over 15 billion rubles are being implemented today in Inigushetia at three industrial sites with ready utilities. The creation of these industrial zones allowed to make a significant step in the direction of stimulating of investment activity. According to Yevkurov, the increase of investment attractiveness of the republic has become possible due to providing investors with guarantees, creation of effective mechanisms for the provision of benefits. Investors in Ingushetia don’t pay a property tax. The income tax was reduced to 13.5%, which is directed to the local budget. Rental of land, owned by the Republic, or by the state, has fallen by 95%. "We are due to sign agreements with businessmen we would like to see, as well as representatives of Azerbaijan," Yevkurov said. He also made a proposal to organize tourist train routes between Baku and Mineralnye Vody and visit ancient architectural monuments from the times of the Great Silk Road, including Derbent and the tower complexes of the Dzheyrakhsky District of Ingushetia.
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The North Ossetia newspaper reports that a bill on amendments to the Law "On local self-government in North Ossetia’’ was represented at a meeting of the board of the republic's parliament. According to the chairman of the Committee on Legislation of the local parliament, Gennady Rodionov, the bill presented on the initiative of the Republic was worked out for implementation of the republican law on local self-government in accordance with a number of federal articles, which provide for the right of subjects of the Russian Federation to establish, and then change the order of elections of heads of local municipal education authorities, as well as the status of the chairman of the representative body of the municipality, or the head of the local administration.
The draft of the law provides for a differentiated approach according to types of municipalities. Heads of municipal and urban districts are elected by the representative body from a number of deputies and heads of local administrations. Heads of settlements are elected at the municipal elections by a representative body from its members and head the local administration in accordance with their regulations.
According to the newspaper, the proposed draft model of local government aimed at centralizing and achieving close relations with the head of the municipality population, will appoimt the person personally responsible for the effectiveness of local government on the socio-economic development of its territory.
Commenting on the bill, the first deputy speaker of the North Ossetian parliament, Stanislav Kesaev, noted that the law allows us to take this model, although not everything is so simple and indisputable. But it is obvious that control was lost as a result of reformation of the local government reform. He urged factions to examine the imposed changes to the national law carefully, taking into account the experience not only of the Soviet system, but also the current one. All suggestions and comments for the preparation of a report on the bill should be sent prior to October 15th. The bill could dramatically change the approach to the formation of municipal government, as well as the strengthening of the whole vertical of power, the publication reports.
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The Dagestani Pravda newspaper informs that the new enterprise Aviamehanicheskogo plant (AMZ) is preparing to be launched in Kaspiysk, the branch of OJSC Concern of the Kizlyar Electromechanical Plant. The concern KEMZ was founded in 1962, as the leading enterprise of the Aviation Holding Company Sukhoi, which develops and manufactures systems of operational control of helicopters and Su-30 and Su-27 aircraft. Today it is one of the largest enterprises of Dagestan. The main direction of its activities is the development, production and guaranteed maintenance of ground-based systems of permanent monitoring of aircraft and onboard equipment, as well as consumer goods. The company was included in the ‘1000 best enterprises of Russia’ for its contribution to domestic production.
According to the newspaper, the new plant is one of the core enterprises. It is to start its work on the site of the former Caspian factory of fine mechanics, which was one of the city-forming enterprises. The value of the enterprise for Kaspiysk is difficult to overestimate. 5 types of products for the aviation industry are to be produced there.
Work on filling floors, installation of electricity, water supply and sewage systems are being completed. The building is being clad with insulation materials. In the near future we should receive the first 24 computer-controlled machines from Malaysia. Future trained employees are involved in preparing the buildings of the plant.
According to agreement with the concern, the Republican youth employment center participated in the recruitment process. After a hard competitive selection, 40 prospective employees were sent to 3-month-training at the Technology Center, which is to open in Kizlyar, together with the well-known company Hass, specializing in the production of machine tools with program control. A new recruit is planned to be trained for employment at the AMZ. It is expected that the personnel of the enterprise will increase up to 500 people within two years.
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Harvesting of grapes (rtveli) is in full swing in Georgia. According to Free Georgia, more than 70 thousand tons of grapes were gathered in the Kakheti region alone, the ancient and unique region of viticulture and winemaking in the country. The crop is forecast to be almost 30% higher in 2015 in comparison with the previous year, when 124.6 tons of grapes were gathered in Georgia.
More than 8000 winegrowers out of 10,000 have already sold their harvest to the wine companies. 59 companies are included in the processing of grapes, in addition to 18 companies leased by the state. They buy the surplus of grapes in those areas where wine companies are less interested in processing of grapes.
The authorities note that rtveli is taking place without any hindrances in all municipalities of the region, despite the fact that winegrowers protested two weeks ago instead of gathering grapes. The villagers demanded an increase in the purchasing prices for grapes to 1 lari a kilogram. The protesters threatened to cut vineyards, conduct large-scale protests and even hold a ‘grape revolution’ if they cannot sell the grape harvest at a reasonable price. They reminded the authorities of the pre-election promise that was made three years ago in respect of the establishment of a price for grapes of 1 laris. Some opposition parties supported the winegrowers’ protest actions.
Georgian Minister of Agriculture Otar Danelia responsed to the protesters by saying that the price of grapes is regulated by the market, and the state cannot dictate terms of business. But it tries to do its best to help farmers: the government has opened special centers for selling grapes, provides grants, makes public procurements. In addition, there are agricultural markets, where a kilo of grapes is less than 1 lari. "We decided to give a grant amounting to 0.35 lari (about $0.15) a kilogram of white grapes and 0.15 lari ($0.1) for red grapes, because of the reduced needs in markets, and this price won’t be revised,’’ the minister said. This year, subsidies were caused by a reduction of 46% in the export of Georgian wine.
In addition, the government has decided to purchase a surplus of grapes in the regions of Kakheti, which the private sector won’t buy. That is why the government rents some wine companies, where the price of white grapes is 0.60 lari per kilo, and the price of red grapes is 0.85 lari a kilo.
In general, no less than 30 million lari ($12.5 million) will be allocated for the subsidizing program.
