By Vestnik Kavkaza
"To occupy a worthy place in terms of the socio-economic development of our region among the mountainous region of the Russian Federation, industrial production must be increased by several times, that is, almost to the new industrialization of Dagestan. Such an aim was set by the developers of a priority project "New Industrialization" adopted on the initiative of the Head of the Republic Ramazan Abdulatipov”, Minister of Industry and Energy of the Republic of Dagestan Ridvan Gazimagomedov said in an interview to the newspaper "Dagestan Pravda". The minister admitted that to date, although industrial production in the republic in recent years has demonstrated a generally positive trend, absolute data on this indicator remain extremely low. If the annual volume of goods, works and services in the industry per capita on average in Russia is 245.6 thousand rubles, in Dagestan it is only 14.3 thousand rubles. The share of manufacturing in gross regional product of the Republic is 6.6%, in the North Caucasus Federal District - 14%, and the all-Russian average figure is 33.8%.
The first phase of the project involves an inventory of large and medium-sized industrial enterprises in the republic with an analysis of their competitiveness. Drafting an appropriate inventory register and structuring it in three main groups is assumed – these are relatively stable enterprises working today and requiring to maintain their standard and further development on its basis; entities requiring extensive modernization; and enterprises to be reconstructed within the established industrial areas and zones . According to the minister, the first group of companies will need within the project support of federal agencies to preserve and increase the state defense order, participation in co-operation with major Russian and foreign companies, expansion of cooperation with industrialized regions of Russia with the aim of placing additional orders and developing new markets. The second group of enterprises needs technological and structural modernization. The modernization of the machine-building industry, as an industry in which high-tech development potential is mostly concentrated, is particularly relevant. In this regard, the ministry, according to Gadzhimagomedov, needs to work on finding and attracting investment potential, primarily through the mechanism of the state and national targeted programs. The minister also noted that the use of the hydropower potential of Dagestan, which is up to 50 billion kWh and is currently only 10 percent used, requires construction of power plants with a total capacity of over 1,000 MW. Justification for their construction will be presented to JSC "RusHydro". There are also activities for the development of renewable and alternative energy sources. The Action Plan for the implementation of the project "New Industrialization" sets the task of beginning the development of the Dagestani coast of the Caspian Sea.
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Armenian weekly "Business Express" reports that the country has started a new action plan on energy statistics. The Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources and the Technical Secretariat of the program of energy cooperation of the EU INOGATE signed a memorandum of understanding and cooperation in this area. According to the publication, the document provides for the development and adoption of the Energy Statistics Action Plan (ESAP) for Armenia, which will help to evaluate the current legal and institutional framework, while identifying gaps and weaknesses in the current system of statistics. The first mission of technical support of INOGATE will arrive in Armenia in the last quarter of 2013. INOGATE (Interstate Oil and Gas Transportation to Europe) is the program of international cooperation in the field of energy between the European Union, Turkey and the CIS countries, except Russia. Officially, it is called a "program of international cooperation in the energy sector between the European Union and of the Black Sea littoral states as well as neighbouring countries." The program was created in 1995 as the EU mechanism for interstate transportation of oil and gas to Europe. At first it applied only to oil and gas pipelines from Eastern Europe and the Caucasus to the European Union. However, after a conference in Astana and Baku in 2004, the program was converted to a broader partnership in the energy sector.
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The newspaper "Kabardino-Balkarian Pravda", referring to the Deputy Minister of Construction and Architecture of the Republic Tatiana Shvachy, reports that in the republic in the first half of the year there was an 80% increase in the production of building materials, in comparison with the same period last year. The publication informs that today the industry of building materials of Kabardino-Balkaria consists of 74 consistently performing businesses and individual entrepreneurs. Their total output for the year on the main types of building materials is 203.3 thousand cubic meters of precast concrete, 279.3 million units of bricks and 1283.6 thousand cubic meters of non-metallic materials. The load of the capacity of the construction materials industry enterprises of the republic for the first half increased by 10%, compared to the same period last year.
Now the companies are being upgraded. A plant for the production of gypsum wallboard and "Kabbalkgips" mortar contains the installation of a new production line, which is scheduled for this year. In the village of Uchebnoye in the Prokhladnensky District the construction of a plant for the production of plasterboard was completed. The initiator of the project costing more than 700 million rubles is LLC "Capital Invest." The facility is planned to be put into operation this year. The design capacity of this production line will be 15 million square meters of plasterboard and 150 tons of gypsum per year.
Another project of "Capital Invest" is the construction of a brick factory costing $1.6 billion; it will be completed this year. The design capacity is 100 million bricks per year. The production lines are made for the use of modern equipment, robotics, Italian technology of drying and firing. The project will create about 400 jobs.
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The newspaper "Voice of Armenia" informs that due to a sharp decrease in the number of fish in Lake Sevan, hunting crayfish has become an additional and extremely convenient means of income, since there are no restrictions on the catch of these inhabitants of the lake. The director of the Institute of Hydro-ecology and Ichthyology of the Academy of Sciences, PhD Evelyna Ghoukassian told the publication that the number of crayfish in Sevan is decreasing every year, and if this is not controlled, crayfish will share the fate of whitefish. The Ministry of Environmental Protection gives permission to catch crayfish in the whole country (including reservoirs), without specifying what kind of catch is allowed in Sevan, despite the fact that the experts of the Institute of Hydro-ecology and Ichthyology annually give the Ministry of Nature Protection recommendations on the possible amount of the catch, given the crayfish stocks in the lake. In addition, the Ministry of Nature Protection has not yet decided on the issue of banning the catch of crayfish during their breeding season, as is done in all civilized countries. Thus, the poachers have completely free rein, they can legally catch crayfish at any time of year, in any amounts, without any limitations. Ghukasyan noted the exceptional value of these creatures for the ecological status of water bodies. These inhabitants of Lake Sevan, she said, are practically nurses of the aquatic environment. Picking up organic matter accumulated at the bottom of the lake, they help to cleanse the water and prevent the water from becoming swampy, helping to preserve the lake and its biodiversity. The newspaper said that, at present, experts recommend limiting the catch of crayfish to a range of 200 thousand tons per year. It’s for the ministry to decide.
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The newspaper "Republic of Abkhazia" has published an article about the organization by Turkey of Abkhaz language learning for members of the diaspora living in this country. According to the teacher of the Abkhaz State University, an expert of the State Fund of Developing the Abkhaz language, Diana Shamba, the first such course was held in Turkey in 1995 by the Abkhaz Istanbul club. Among those who came here first, and there were more than 60 people, there were doctors, engineers, people from the artistic environment. They were followed by students and all those who choose to partake in the language of their ancestors. However, these were isolated cases organized on the initiative of the diaspora. At present the Turkish government has allowed more than 40 languages to be studied in schools from fifth to eighth grade and in the state universities attended by representatives of various communities living in the country. To introduce the language as a subject matter of choice, you must have at least 10 students who want to learn the language. If these students are lacking, there is a chance to transfer them to other schools to form groups. Abkhaz classes are organized in cities and in large rural areas. Shamba also said that Abkhaz scientists and linguists, with the assistance of the State Fund of the Abkhaz language and the Ministry of Education of the Republic, have prepared a school textbook for intensive study of the Abkhazian language for publication in Turkey. It comes with a CD in which there are dialogues and songs in the Abkhaz language. In August, experts from Abkhazia plan to hold in Turkey a seminar with teachers on how to conduct classes in the Abkhaz language.
