'Well-being created in Tatarstan is the main achievement of the republic'

“The main achievement of the republic, in my opinion, is in the personal achievements of the residents of Tatarstan! Someone has met the love of their life this year, someone in the family had long-awaited children or grandchildren, someone found a family. There are those who opened their own businesses, got a job, and someone made a discovery in science and found the answer to a question that may concern humanity. Someone learned a language, gained new knowledge, won an Olympiad, sports or intellectual competitions, entered an educational institution or got a diploma. It is wonderful that someone reconciled and found a common language with relatives, or friends. Someone saved a person's life and gave him health. Each of us has our own achievements this year, which create a palette of achievements and success of our republic!”

“Just 31 years ago, I was finishing my studies at the university. I remember very well how I started working in those years. There was no salary, there were no medicines, we even bought glue to glue the tests to the medical history at our own expense. I was a young doctor. I remember that my wife and I did not even have the opportunity to buy yogurt. A young family spent a lot of money for diapers when a child was born. Gradually, things improved in medicine, and they got a car...

The main task of the state is to ensure the quality of life of its citizens. Using the example of Tatarstan, we see how this quality of life was not just provided, but grew at a faster pace. Tatarstan has become a territory of opportunities. Probably, this is the main merit of the government and everyone who lives in the republic.

Today, the main challenge is the new coronavirus infection. It affects not only the health of our citizens (and many have lost their relatives, we have lost excellent doctors), but also the entire economy. Unfortunately, there has been a huge increase in poverty and a decline in the economy. Today, this is the main challenge that we face. But I am sure that we will cope with this as well. Moreover, we know the tools for this, everything depends on society and ourselves.

The second challenge is that we must grow at an accelerated pace. We need to look for opportunities to develop an innovative economy and increase budget revenues. It is very important for us to preserve the language, culture, and our identity. This will be the most important thing that we will pass on to our children. It is very important for us to preserve our ecology, the unique natural component of Tatarstan. We should all think about what we will pass on to our children!”

“All these years, the republic has been striving to ensure that we have more powers and opportunities to make decisions more independently. But the main aspiration has always been the fact that people have the opportunity to fullfil themselves in the republic. If we take the aspect of self-realisation of citizens, we can estimate how many people over the years have been able to start their own business and become iconic figures not only in the context of the republic, but also the country as a whole. We are truly becoming a republic of opportunities. That is why not only we love our republic, but also many people come to us who want to fulfill themselves.

When we celebrated Medical Worker Day, one of the doctors of the Republican Clinical Hospital, who received the award of the Ak Chechekler competition, said that he moved to Tatarstan to realise the level of his competence in transplantation, because there are such opportunities in the republic. I was genuinely proud at that time. Young people who work in the field of informatisation also come to us, and then choose Tatarstan as their place of residence. The desire for self-realisation of the republic has been transmitted to every person living in Tatarstan. It is precisely this availability of opportunities for implementation and the attitude of people that is one of the main achievements. Everyone who comes to us notes the awareness of Tatarstan citizens that they are involved in a big business and that their opinion is taken into account when making decisions — this is worth a lot. This is what helps us move forward.

The challenge today is, first of all, to save the people, who are so talented and hardworking. The coronavirus pandemic shows that we must take responsibility for our own health ourselves. And take a more responsible attitude to facing the challenges of the pandemic. No matter what we do, it still puts its seal on it. In order to continue to have an interesting life, to create conditions for children, yourself, so that you can continue to work and realise your dreams, you need, first of all, health. We can provide this ourselves through vaccination. I would very much like to draw attention to this particular challenge, first of all. And everything else… It has already been proven over the years that we can do everything else.”

“Of course, these years have become a time of powerful development of the republic, and in almost all sectors. It is important that both cities and rural territories are developing at the same time.

Based on my main activity, I would like to note that during these years I managed to include three significant historical monuments in the list of UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Sites: Kremlin, Bolgar, and Sviyazhsk. We could prove their universal value, and they became attractive to residents and tourists not only of our country, but also of the entire world community. Except for Tatarstan, no one in Russia has done this. And this is the result of extensive work that has been carried out in the republic by interethnic and interfaith consent, the result of our common attitude to our history, our roots, cultural identity and age-old traditions.

Of course, great attention is paid in Tatarstan to the younger generation. In recent years, 262 kindergartens, 70 schools have been built, 1,326 educational institutions have been renovated. It is gratifying that the educational institutions of the republic are becoming flagships in various areas in Russia. In particular, we were the first to create a network of multilingual complexes. All this gives us hope that our younger generation, our children will be creative and competitive, will be culturally and morally enlightened, will be attentive to their cultural and linguistic environment. This is the guarantor of the future development of Tatarstan.

Further building up the development potential of the republic is our main goal. All the successes are based on the great creative work of the people of Tatarstan. Income growth, new opportunities for development and improvement, further improvement of the quality of life of the population — this is expected from us in every family. It is important to match these hopes!”

“From the point of view of our ministry, the main event of this year for the republic has been the fact that in 2022 Kazan hosts the 45th session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee. An equally significant event was the decree of the President of the Russian Federation on the celebration of the 1 100th anniversary of the adoption of Islam by Volga Bulgaria in 2022.

For the next year, these two most important tasks are facing not only our ministry as one of the performers of these events, but also the entire republic. The 100th anniversary of the adoption of Islam is not only the spiritual heritage of our people, it is also a confirmation of our statehood. On the other hand, the fact that the decision to hold the UNESCO session in Kazan was made during this rather difficult period confirms the importance of the republic's work in preserving cultural heritage sites. This is one of the markers of the attitude of the leadership of our republic to the cultural heritage.”

“We were very lucky with the leaders of the republic and, in general, with the personnel at the level of the republic and districts. All managers are distinguished by continuity, desire to work, to make their village, district, city, republic better. This is the most important asset. Despite all the difficulties, the difficult 1990s, the crises, we are moving forward in all areas as a single team: this includes education, social sphere, solving issues of dilapidated housing, and attitudes to industry, agriculture.

Thanks to such a team, understanding that Tatarstan is our home, we have a progressive movement forward, what is more — every year. Yes, there are problems, there are things in every industry that need to be solved, of course, with the support of the federal centre. More than ever in recent years, the federal centre has supported regions and republics in solving various issues: this includes comprehensive rural development, national projects, the construction of schools and kindergartens, and solving problems in housing industry.

There are problems related to the need to double the construction of social facilities, pay more attention to the older generation, healthcare system, housing and utilities sector, because especially the urban population has a lot of questions. Important topics related to the improvement of our Volga, the quality of water supply, ecology — they must be implemented in a doubled mode!”

“The tasks of our company force us to frequent trips around the country — from Kaliningrad to Sakhalin. We can compare the quality of life, the state of infrastructure, the saturation of social culture. There is an obvious positive difference in favour of our republic. In my opinion, the created well-being, the created high level of comfort of living is the main achievement of the past years. And, of course, industry, construction, roads, trade, culture — all in the dynamics of development, which is known in comparison.

The challenges are clear. First, it is the social differentiation of the population — a circumstance inherent in all developing economies, but especially sensitive in a country where people have been accustomed to the fact that everyone is equal for almost a hundred years. This atavism of communism affects the awareness of the situation, causes complex relations to property stratification, and so on.

The second is the need to defend, support and cement the community of the multinational and multi-religious population of the republic. In the conditions of continuing postmodernism, the change of epochs, the desire to sing again “let's renounce the old world, / shake its dust from our feet...” — these are cultural traditions, family values, native language, national rituals and much that the peoples living in the republic keep. And the task of ensuring the preservation and multiplication of this is at least as important as construction and industry.”