NEWS

Ten prototypes of new P6 engines will be assembled at the KAMAZ Engine Plant as early as in June this year.

A large amount of work has been done to assemble the new conveyor. Some new operations were introduced for subassembly of units and parts located outside the conveyor, alongside with a line for cylinder heads assembly. The commissioning jobs at the plant will be done by experts from ThyssenKrupp Krause (electricians, electronics engineers, and mechanics). Likewise, the assembly of tables for supplying parts to the conveyor belt and the installation of pallets for transporting engines along the conveyor began at the plant.

In addition to the new assembly line, work continues on another three sections. The experts from Heller arrived to the cylinder block line to check the quality of manufactured floors and foundations. In the second half of May, installation of equipment will begin there. Six processing centres have been already installed on the cylinder head line. The Zeiss measuring machine was also put into operation. It will monitor all cylinder head parameters. The plant's experts will begin training to work on this high-precision equipment in May. In addition, each part of the new engine will have its own measuring equipment for inter-operational and final control. The Q-DAS control system will provide independent quality control and analysis of the parts manufactured there.

The Gorbunov Kazan Aviation Plant (branch of Tupolev Corporation) launched the electron-beam welding (EBW) of titanium parts for the new Tu-160 bomber. One of the key stages in the retrofitting of the Gorbunov KAZ is under completion in Kazan.

The efforts for the reconstruction of the electron-beam welding unit began in March 2016. The workshop accommodating the units has been repaired; the process equipment of the units underwent simultaneous upgrading.

The modernisation at the Gorbunov KAZ will last until 2020. Installation of advanced process equipment, reconstruction of utilities, infrastructure, communications, and production areas are in progress.

The total length of the aircraft welds is about 140 metres. The basic principle of the welding technology has been preserved, but about 90% of equipment was updated.

The today's unit has a number of advantages over previous ones. The vacuum system, cooling system, power units, and control system were completely replaced, resulting in less power consumption. The second necessary unit, that is, the vacuum annealing furnace, was also upgraded by replacing virtually all systems.

From May 17 to 19, the Third Annual International Forum of Border Regions will be held in Pskov. The mission of the Forum is to discuss topical issues and avenues for development of the border regions of Russia and the CIS countries, to promote the socio-economic development of the border areas through integration projects in business, development of civil society, and interaction of authorities at all levels.

The Forum is an open information and communication platform for all participants of cross-border cooperation. This is a platform for exchanging views, as well as a meeting place for heads of ministries from Russia, CIS countries, leaders of local government and regional authorities, NGOs, financial institutions, and businesses.

The Forum’s programme comprises meetings and round tables discussions to be focused on the topical issues from cross-border cooperation programmes, export development issues at Russia's regions, logistics, and tourism to interaction in emergency situations.

The Forum participants will have an opportunity to visit the prospective investment sites of the Pskov Oblast, industrial facilities and enterprises, the SEZ Moglino, the Pskov Tourist and Recreation Cluster projects, cross-border cooperation projects, and to hold talks with representatives of the business communities of the Pskov Oblast and other border regions, discuss urgent issues of regional development.

Being guided by the provisions of the “Fundamentals of the State Policies for Regional Development in the Russian Federation for the Period until 2025”, as approved by the Russian Presidential Decree on 16 January 2017, the Main Internet Portal of Russian Regions (RusRegionInform) and the editors of the “Economic Policies of Russia” journal are compiling the Consolidated Sectoral Review for the Development of the Constituent Entities in the Russian Federation in 2017, dubbed “The Regional News”.

Registered employees of regional and municipal authorities, institutions, organisations, and enterprises can share information on socio-economic and investment development of their territories, provision of financial stability and development of pricing strategies, business and consumer market development, housing and urban development, renewal of industry and transport infrastructure, improvements in agro-industrial sector, housing and communal services, fuel and energy sectors, and environmental compliance, procurement and tariff regulation, employment and labour relations, strengthening of food security, natural, cultural, sports and tourism, scientific and educational potential, improvements in accessibility and quality of information and communication services, registrar offices and notaries, medical care, and civil, legal, and social protection of people in the Russian Federation.

From 24 to 26 May 2017 within the framework of the CIPR Conference, the town of Innopolis will host a public discussion of the measures suggested in the Russia’s Digital Economy development programme. Experts at the Conference will be advisors to the Russian President, ministers, heads of regions, and representatives of major Russia’s and global companies. As part of the business programme, dozens of agreements are scheduled for signing between the leaders of the Russia’s IT market.

Most of this year’s panel discussions at CIPR will be dedicated to the Digital Economy and the programme of the same name that is being prepared in the Government of Russia. Within the Conference, more than 20 round table discussions will be devoted to the development of digital economy, information security, the IoT in Russia, as well as to new tools for managing economic and production processes, such as Blockchain, Big Data, and artificial neural networks. Special attention is expected to the industrial Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, and new approaches to logistics. The conclusions reached within these discussions will form the basis for decisions to be made by the country's leadership on supporting high-tech sectors of the economy.

Samsung, Siemens, Konica Minolta, RDTEX, IT Clover, RT-Inform, NCI, RFNC VNIITF, Bahirev NIMI, Plant of Plastics, Pribor Plant, POZIS, Basalt, Indasoft, and HiTech became partners of the CIPR-2017 Conference.

On May 30 to 31, the Science and Technology Conference “The Great Eurasian Partnership: Energy & Environmental Strategies, Programmes, Projects” will be held on the eve of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.

This topic is relevant in connection with the holding of the Year of Ecology 2017 in Russia; in addition, it is a key to the Russian-Chinese strategic partnership and to coordinating the development of the Eurasian Economic Union and the New Silk Road projects.

The Conference will discuss the Partnership Strategy in Science and Technology within the framework of the Greater Eurasia and the synergy between the Greater Eurasian Partnership and the China-proposed Silk Road Economic Belt.

The Conference will be attended by authoritative representatives of business and scientific communities of Russia, China, and other Greater Eurasia countries, as well as potential Russian and foreign investors.

The Conference will see a contest of national and regional energy & environmental programmes and projects to attract investments for the implementation of the most efficient programmes and projects.

The best programmes and projects will be awarded with medals and submitted for participation in the Vernadsky National Environmental Award Contest.

KAMAZ truck sales on the Russian market grew in the first quarter of the year. The company sold by 1,500 trucks more than in the same period in 2016.

In the first quarter of the current year, a total of 5,750 KAMAZ vehicles were sold (4,182 y-o-y). According to Andrey Ignatyev, Director General of KAMAZ Trade and Finance Company, a positive trend in sales is seen in all regions: Volga, Central, Southern, and others. “But there's no general boost in demand as of now. There is a certain revival in the construction market and in the long haul sector”, Ignatyev noted. “We introduce new models right in time. Our sales analysis shows that we have the main growth in our new line-up segment, while for traditional models the figures are steady”. Every year, starting from 2014, the sales of KAMAZ-5490 long-haul tractors have been increasing, which indicates their high assessment by customers. Moreover, the best sellers in the traditional segment are KAMAZ-43118, KAMAZ-65115, and heavy-duty KAMAZ-6520 LUXE trucks with a comfortable cabin.

Besides, the company offers a fixed price in the leasing cost when the client does not pay for maintenance, and it is included in the vehicle cost. As for work with dealers, now the focus is not only on quality but also on fast service.

On May 3, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Industry and Trade of Tatarstan Albert Karimov visited Kazanselmash.

During the visit, the minister inspected the production facilities and studied new developments at the enterprise.

The Kazanselmash Group is the Russia’s largest manufacturer of machinery for plant protection, fertilisation and irrigation (hinged, trailed and self-propelled sprayers, containers for transportation of water and liquid fertilisers, seed dressers). Advanced machines manufactured at the production sites of the Group are an alternative solution to the machinery of the world's leading manufacturers.

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law on the mandatory switchover of payments to public sector workers and pensioners to Mir payment cards. The corresponding document is published on the official Internet Portal of Legal Information.

According to it, “credit organisations are obliged, not later than 1 July 2017, to ensure the receipt of national payment instruments in all their technical facilities”. Payments to new cards will be received by public civil servants and municipal employees, as well as students.

As specified in the Presidential decree, payments for public sector workers will be transferred to the “Mir” cards by 1 July 2018, and for pensioners, by 1 July 2020. Since that date, banks, according to the new rules, are to effect payments to employees of State-run enterprises and individuals receiving social benefits from the federal budget or state extra-budgetary funds, only using this national payment system.

However, these rules, as noted in the document, will not apply to employees of diplomatic missions, consular establishments, and permanent representative offices of Russia to international organisations. Also, the decree will not affect the public sector workers who permanently reside outside of Russia.

The staff of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Republic of Tatarstan led by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Industry and Trade of Tatarstan Albert Karimov, took part today in the republic’s environmental clean-up event. Employees of the Ministry cleared the territory adjacent to the Ministry’s building from garbage and cleaned their workplaces. Albert Karimov planted seedlings of fir trees in the alley near the building.

Today’s large-scale cleaning of territories from garbage is held in all republic’s cities and regions; it involves thousands of people. In Kazan alone, 50,000 citizens came out for a citywide voluntary Saturday work. More than 600 pieces of equipment have been engaged to the cleaning of yards, parks, and public gardens. The main focus is on the debris removal from shore areas and urban forest parks.