The President noted at the beginning of the conversation that Tatarstan has consistently, for a long time, achieved top rankings in all major areas of work. However, it is impossible to run such a big economy without problems arising. There are always issues that have not yet been resolved and require additional efforts.
In turn, Rustam Minnikhanov started his remarks with the topic of support for the special military operation. He described this issue as the most important of all and reported that the republic had allocated almost 2.5 billion rubles for this purpose, including for the sponsored city of Lysychansk. There are two Tatarstan battalions, Algar and Timer, in the zone of hostilities. Tatarstan has rendered nearly 2,000 tonnes of humanitarian aid, with a considerable amount of this going to Lysychansk. Work is already underway there on a number of facilities. Doctors from Tatarstan are working there.
There are six heroes of Russia among the participants of the special military operation from Tatarstan. Three of them lost their lives. The Order of Courage was conferred on 52 fighters from Tatarstan.
According to the Head of Tatarstan, the socio-political situation there is stable. The pandemic has reduced demographic figures – for three years there was a negative balance in the number of births and deaths, but the situation is improving. Before the pandemic, this balance was positive. The gross regional product amounts to 3.760 trillion rubles; industrial production has grown by 105.9 percent or almost 4.8 trillion rubles and construction increased by 108 percent. Investment in fixed capital has been rising.
Vladimir Putin noted that the share of non-primary exports has almost doubled. Mr Minnikhanov explained that previously the republic sold oil whereas now it is selling petrochemical products, after processing oil. The fertiliser plant is doing a good job. It produces over a million tonnes of ammonia and plans to increase this figure to 3 million.
The discussion also concerned environmental projects – modernisation of treatment facilities, construction of a waste recycling complex and the operation of the KamAz motor vehicle plant, the aviation plant, the Kazan helicopter plant, and the shipyard. The company Haier, a producer of refrigerators and television sets, is doing well and has already invested about a billion dollars. The defence industry is fulfilling all defence contracts. The republic is upgrading its energy sector to increase its capacity by 1.2 gigawatts.
Mr Minnikhanov also told the President about the status of IT. The republic has built a new IT park on 50,000 square metres in the centre of Kazan. It is developing Innopolis-related projects and the Russian company ICL is having a new plant built that will produce motherboards and spare parts. The Alabuga special zone is making good progress. It accommodates Sollers and Aurus facilities and the Khimgrad technology park. These platforms account for almost 10 percent of the republic’s industrial output. The Master industrial park has 1.5 million square metres of production and warehouse premises and employs nearly 11,500 people. The aggregate revenue of these facilities is about 515 billion rubles.
The discussion also covered investment in social infrastructure and the implementation of national projects. For example, the republic continues building schools, conducting major repairs of healthcare institutions, and building sports facilities. Every district has built football arenas to improve football.
Mr Minnikhanov also described the work of the Russia-Islamic World strategic vision group that he heads. It includes 36 Russian and 34 foreign members. The group has held seven meetings since 2015. Its most recent meeting took place in Jeddah. Preparations are underway for the Russia-Islamic World international economic summit KazanSummit 2023 that has received federal status by decision of the President of Russia. Mr Minnikhanov recalled that last year Kazan was the youth capital of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). Young people from over 70 countries took part in its events.