‘You like to arrange races on Sabantuy… and we have the largest farm for breeding ponies in Europe’
The economic forum Tatarstan-Thuringia, held on 20 April in Kazan, gathered the major players of the mechanical engineering industry of Russian and German sides. Many of the speakers in their reports noted that the event can increase the already significant foreign trade turnover between Tatarstan and Germany, which in 2015 amounted to 1.1 billion euros. A major step in this direction has become the agreement signed on 21 April on cooperation between Tatarstan and German sides, as well as the meeting of the Coordination Council of mechanical engineering companies of RT, at which our European colleagues had a speech.
'International political climate will definitely normalize'
The forum Tatarstan-Thuringia was held in Kazan within the framework of a five-day visit of the delegation of Free State of Thuringia (Germany) to Russia. This German province, to be more exact — the federal state, is called 'the green heart of Germany'. Soviet citizens (among whom were also Tatars), who performed military service in the Western group of forces, knew the region well. It was a part of the socialist GDR.
More than 200 people gathered in the 'Pushkin' hall in Korston — Germans and representatives of the host country. According to the Prime Minister of Thuringia Bodo Ramelow, during so-called Days of the economy of Thuringia in Moscow and Kazan, the guests would like to show us their support in the implementation of some projects and to find chances, even in difficult times, to continue economic relations with Russia and to launch new projects. Rustam Minnikhanov, who opened the forum by greeting in three languages — German, Tatar and Russian, expressed hope that today Tatarstan and Thuringian business circles will be able to discover new areas for cooperation.
Rustam Minnikhanov: 'The Republic of Tatarstan is interested in the expanding of mutually beneficial cooperation with German companies that traditionally take the leading positions in the world markets in many industries.'
'The international political climate will definitely normalize. Our task today is to give the right momentum. The Republic of Tatarstan is interested in the expanding of mutually beneficial cooperation with German companies that traditionally take the leading positions in the world markets in many industries. We hope that during today's meeting Tatarstan and Thuringian parties will exchange experiences, discuss the available opportunities, will open new areas for cooperation and agree on new joint projects,' said Minnikhanov.
Also, the President of Tatarstan reminded that in the Republic such German chains as MediaMarkt, Selgros and Metro are successfully operating, and in SEZ Alabuga there are four joint productions with German participation.
Billion foreign trade turnover between Tatarstan and Germany
The first part of the event was devoted to the presentations of the industrial potential of Thuringia and Tatarstan. From our side, this responsibility was entrusted to the Minister of Industry and Trade of the Republic of Tatarstan Albert Karimov. At the beginning of his speech, he noted that in the framework of cooperation between Germany and Tatarstan the foreign trade turnover in 2015 amounted to 1.1 billion euros. He reminded that exactly with Thuringia our Republic has been cooperating for the past several years and the parties have significant potential for increasing mutually beneficial cooperation, and therefore the volume of foreign trade turnover.
'Tatarstan produces a half of Russian volume of polyethylene, a half of synthetic rubber, a quarter of automobile tyres, a quarter of trucks,' said Karimov. 'And in the industry, the largest part belongs to the production of oil products and petrochemistry, extraction of mineral resources, mechanical engineering and food production.'
The Minister also mentioned that in Tatarstan there are more than 200 enterprises with the volume of shipped products from 5 to 150 million euros, and investments in companies of SEZ Alabuga in 2015 amounted to 1.4 billion euros.
The largest farm for breeding ponies and retreat from socialism
The Prime Minister of Thuringia Bodo Ramelow in his speech urged the people of Tatarstan to 'build bridges' with his free state, and also noted that the significant foundation for relations between Tatarstan and Thuringia has become the development of cooperation between Kazan State Technical University named after A. N. Tupolev and the Ilmenau University of Technology (Germany). Also, Ramelow stated that there are some things in which we are unlikely to achieve equal exchange — somewhere they just would be interested to know about our features.
Bodo Ramelow: 'We want to write a new chapter of history together with you, let's think together about how we can together create new products on the territory of your Republic. This should be a long-term collaboration that will bring success to both parties.'
'For example, your famous holiday Sabantuy: I was told that you like to arrange races on this holiday – here, unfortunately, we have nothing to offer...' jokingly complained the Prime Minister. 'However, we have the largest farm for breeding ponies in Europe, but I am sure that they are not comparable to your horses.'
Switching to a businesslike tone, Ramelow noted that his delegation had come not to sell us the finished products and do only exports.
'The thing is that we are in a similar situation: Thuringia left behind 25 years of restructuring and transformation, we had to shift from the socialist structures to the market economy in that way to become competitive on the world market. We want to write a new chapter of history together with you, let's think together about how we can together create new products on the territory of your Republic. This should be a long-term collaboration that will bring success to both parties. Let's build this bridge together. We really want it,' said Ramelow.
The forum resulted in the signing of the cooperation agreement between Thuringian and Tatarstan companies. Schülken Form GmbH, engaged in the manufacture of compression moulds for plastic molding, opens a plant on the territory of Technopolis Khimgrad.
'Tatarstan already has all necessary infrastructure, the scientific level is high'
The second part of the event was the sitting of the Coordination Council of Tatarstan mechanical engineering enterprises, which was attended by Tatarstan, Federal and Thuringian players. The main objectives of the Council were determined by the Minister of Industry and Trade of the Republic of Tatarstan Albert Karimov.
'First of all, it is the discussion of scientific and technological achievements in the field of designing and manufacturing mechanical engineering products, assistance in the expanding of the relations between scientific organizations and enterprises of mechanical engineering, the determination of perspective ways of creation and development of new equipment, technologies and materials,' said Karimov.
From the Thuringian side, the meeting was attended by the representatives of companies Maicom Qarz GmbH and Schülken Form GmbH. And from Russian, there were the group of companies ADEM, and also Stankoprom JSC. Director General of Stankoprom Dmitry Kosov in the conversation with the correspondent of Realnoe Vremya noted that events such this one will positively affect the Russian-German business cooperation.
'We have discussed a large number of projects that we proposed from the side of Stankoprom and from the Russian Federation. Our foreign colleagues also offered their own versions. Since it was held here, in Tatarstan, I think it can become a significant platform to combine efforts in certain directions, projects, and created some joint production or engineering centers,' said Kosov. 'Engineering is quite a broad understanding, it includes technology audit, technical audit, training, services, equipment supply… Here, the region can be such huge site, where both sides we and they can share with experiences. We can embody in a project that can be built here on the production sites. Moreover, Tatarstan already has all necessary infrastructure, the scientific level is high. Accordingly, we could move forward, creating a production and using the experiences of two countries.'
