NEWS

Today, the Ministry of Industry and Trade hosted an expanded format meeting of the Kazakhstan-Tatarstan working group on trade and economic cooperation. The meeting, chaired by Deputy Minister German Lerner, was attended by representatives of ministries and agencies of Tatarstan, major enterprises of the mechanical engineering sector.

From the Kazakhstan side, the delegation comprised Kairat Torebaev, Director of the International Cooperation Department at the Ministry of National Economy of Kazakhstan, as well as representatives of ministries, agencies, akimats, and businesses. During the meeting, the parties discussed investment cooperation opportunities, plans to expand the use of natural gas as a motor fuel, the field of the defence industry, and other issues.

In addition, the first foreign representative office of KazakhExport Insurance Company in the Russian Federation was opened in Kazan today. This company is engaged in supporting the exports of goods from Kazakhstan.

These bilateral events are held on the eve of the meeting of the Intergovernmental Commission on Cooperation between the Russian Federation and the Republic of Kazakhstan to be held in Kazan on October 26.

Today, the Russia’s capital of truck transport, Naberezhnye Chelny, saw the traditional opening of the 6th International Conference titled “Quality as Basis for Competitiveness of Present-Day Automotive Industry”. The Conference is one of the key events held within the framework of the Republic’s Days of Quality.

In the course of two days, the following questions will be brought up for discussion: current issues of automotive cluster development in Russia; promising areas for the risk management mechanism development within the quality management system; integration of the Russian automotive sector into the global auto industry; development of a national qualifications system; international requirements for vehicle assembly plants and suppliers of automotive components; suppliers’ development system in the automotive industry; information security; best practices of the management system.

The announced topics brought together a representative circle of participants who understand the role of quality in the automotive industry for the successful development of their business – these are managers and experts of leading vehicle assembly plants, consulting companies, representatives of financial and investment organisations, research institutions, leaders of relevant unions and associations from Russian regions and foreign countries. In total, the Conference are attended by more than 250 experts from 17 regions of Russia, as well as foreign partners from Belarus, Serbia, Italy, and the People’s Republic of China.

Yelabuga Enterprise of Capping and Plastic Products is a large rehabilitation centre for the visually impaired in the Volga Region. The company’s mission is social rehabilitation of visually impaired and blind people and attraction of them to the socially useful work. The company creates jobs for people with disabilities providing decent wages. As of today, the company employs 252 visually impaired people. Yelabuga UkuprPlast is a leading enterprise for the production of capping products numbering more than 50 items.

This year, Yelabuga UkupPlast became the winner with the socially-oriented project titled “Preservation of Jobs for the Visually Impaired” and received financial support from the Our Future Foundation of Regional and Social Programmes. As part of the project, equipment is planned to be purchased for the production of a new type of capping products in order to keep jobs for people with disabilities.

In his welcoming speech at the ceremonial event, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade of Tatarstan Aleksey Savelchev congratulated the current, retired employees and management of Yelabuga UkuprPlast on its 75th anniversary, noted the company's success, and also presented the Letter of Appreciation from the Tatarstan Ministry of Industry and Trade to the enterprise’s staff.

On October 18-19, 2018, the Energetik Palace of Culture (Zainsk) hosted the second zonal selection round of the 6th Annual Open Republic’s TV Festival of Working Youth Creativity “Our Time - Beznen Zaman”. In total, the Zainsk selection round was attended by 224 representatives of working youth from 52 organisations, institutions and enterprises of Zainsk, Almetyevsk, Nurlat, Leninogorsk, Novosheshminsk, Bugulma, Aznakaevo, Yutazov, Spassky and Cheremshansky districts.

The next qualifying round will take place this week in Kazan – on October 26-27 in the Concert Hall of the Universiade Village.

Only individual performers, individual creative teams, as well as teams representing one organisation can take part in the Festival (combined teams of cities and districts or culture professionals are not allowed).

The main founders of the project are the Tatarstan Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Tatarstan Ministry of Youth Affairs, the Tatarstan Ministry of Culture, the Tatarstan Ministry of Education and Science, the Republic’s Tatmedia Agency for Press and Mass Communications, and others.

Albert Karimov made a two-day visit to the Republic of Uzbekistan as part of the Tatarstan Government delegation. Tatarstan President Rustam Minnikhanov held a business meeting with Hokim of the Tashkent Region Gulomjon Ibrahimov.

Arriving on October 18 in the capital of Uzbekistan, Tashkent, the Minister took part in a meeting with representatives of the Tatar diaspora. Uzbekistan is a home for one of the largest Tatar diasporas abroad with their total number exceeding 200,000, which is about 1% of the total country’s population.

On October 18, important bilateral documents were also signed, including:

- Agreement between the Government of Tatarstan and the Hokimiyat of the Tashkent Region on the implementation of international and foreign economic relations in trade and economic, scientific, technology, social, and cultural spheres;

- Memorandum of Cooperation between the Hokimiyat of the Tashkent Region and MSK Group aimed at the development of bilateral trade and logistics relations.

On October 19, Minister Karimov took part in the plenary meeting of the 1st Interregional Cooperation Forum between Russia and Uzbekistan on the topic: "Agriculture as a Priority Area for Russian-Uzbekistan Relations Development”. The Forum was chaired by heads of the two states, Vladimir Putin and Shavkat Mirziyoyev.

The 8th annual Finnish Business event in Russia was held for the first time in Kazan. The event organisers are the Finnish-Russian Chamber of Commerce jointly with Team Finland with the support from the Tatarstan Government. The business forum was opened by Tatarstan President Rustam Minnikhanov; Minister Karimov was a member of the government delegation.

Representatives of Finnish companies came to Kazan with the goal of establishing new partner contacts with republic’s enterprises in order to offer potential customers their technologies, equipment, materials, and services. Traditionally, the discussions dealt both with exports of goods and services from Finland to Russian regions and with possible investment cooperation, including the localisation of production facilities and the creation of new enterprises.

To date, more than 600 Finnish companies operate in Russia, employing over 50,000 people. Based on population or GDP, Finland has invested more in Russia than any other country. According to experts, the total investment of Finnish companies in Russian businesses reached EUR 12 billion. Almost three-quarters of this amount was allocated for the creation of production facilities. In 2017, the interest of Finnish enterprises in the Russian market even increased; this trend is expected in 2018 as well.

Today, the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Tatarstan held a regular meeting of the outcomes commission on the performance of enterprises in 8 months of this year, chaired by Deputy Minister Almaz Khusainov. The commission comprised experts from the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Ministry of Economy, and the Ministry of Finance of Tatarstan.

During the meeting, the participants heard reports of enterprises on production and economic activities, financial conditions, and companies’ development prospects with loss indicators. One of the main reasons for the negative financial performance of the enterprises is the availability and servicing of foreign currency loans.

In early October, the 34th IAF World Fashion Convention organised jointly with the textiles industry association Modint took place in Maastricht (the Netherlands). The Convention was attended by industry’s global leaders and representatives from all over the world. Tatarstan was represented by Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade of Tatarstan Ildar Mingaleyev, Principal at the Kazan National Research Technological University Sergey Yushko, and Director at the Institute of Light Industry Technology, Fashion, and Design Lyudmila Abutalipova.

During the visit, the Tatarstan delegation took part in the 34th IAF Convention and visited the RWTH Aachen University. As a result, an agreement was signed between the KNRTU and the RWTH on cooperation in the scientific and educational fields. As part of the business programme, representatives of Tatarstan met with IAF President Han Bekke, and an agreement was reached to consider Kazan as a venue for the International Forum and the next IAF session.

The International Apparel Federation is the world’s most influential association for light industry support. The Federation currently comprises associations from 50 countries covering over 150,000 companies (20 million employees) that represent light industry goods and services and related activities.

The Tatarstan Ministry of Industry and Trade hosted a meeting with a delegation from Germany-based LEMKEN GmbH Co & KG, a manufacturer of specialised equipment for professional crop production. The delegation included company’s CEO Anthony Van der Ley and COO Rudolf Vervoorst. The meeting was held by Deputy Minister Almaz Khusainov.

During the meeting, the parties discussed the economic and logistical components of the investment project, the mechanism for selecting optimal sites for production placement, technical regulations and human resources for opening an enterprise for the production of internationally recognised agro-industrial equipment in Russia.

Lemken is an international supplier of a high-performance and reliable agricultural equipment for tillage, seeding, and plant protection designed to meet the requirements of farms and international standards. The company is developing innovative electronic equipment for agricultural machinery that enables farmers to network devices from different manufacturers, coordinate work processes and precisely adapt equipment to different operating conditions.

Its 22 sales offices currently serve markets in Europe, North America, Asia, and Africa, with the main European markets being France and Russia.

In Russia, the second phase was launched for the project of introducing the Mechatronics dual study programme in educational institutions. The project is being implemented by Ford Sollers with the support from the charitable Ford Fund.

The project’s Phase One was successfully implemented in December 2017. A total of 22 teachers from nine Russia’s leading vocational education institutions underwent three-day trainings introducing the principles of the dual education system in the context of a demanded specialty.

Phase Two of the educational project is dedicated to the professional retraining of teachers in the new mechatronics area and will be implemented in several stages.

During the course, its participants will gain the necessary knowledge and practical skills in the design, installation, commissioning, and support of present-day industrial equipment. The programmes developed there will be defended within the business programme of the WorldSkills Russia regional championship in Kazan in November this year.

At the end of Phase Two, participants will be awarded advanced training certificates.

Based on the information from the Ford Sollers press service in Tatarstan