‘After the coup attempt took place, the first one who called and expressed support was Rustam Minnikhanov’
The Minister of Economy of Turkey will go to negotiate with Russian leadership after a handshake in Yelabuga
'After the coup attempt took place, the first one who called and said words of support was Rustam Minnikhanov, our dear friend,' by these words, said at the beginning of speech in the SEZ Alabuga, the Minister of Economy of Turkey Nihat Zeybekci immediately made it clear what the strength of the Tatarstan-Turkish relations is. Having gained support of Tatarstan, the Minister of Economy of Turkey before the negotiations on the establishment of a Turkish-Russian joint investment fund in Moscow came to the 'Tatarstan homeland', where he opened a new plants of Şişecam Group and the second phase of the Kastamonu plant.
$310 million for glass
The visit of the Minister of Economy of Turkey to Tatarstan was quick as lightning. Being late for half an hour due to bad weather in Yelabuga (the helicopter, that took off from Kazan, was forced to land at the airport Begishevo and from there the delegation moved on a highway), Nihat Zeybekci together with Rustam Minnikhanov without delay and efficiently opened the launching ceremony of glass plants of the global player on the world market Şişecam Group with a total investment capacity of $310 million. The VIP guests walked the ceremonial carpet to the stage, mounted in the production hangar of the Trakya Glass Rus JSC. Here the official openings of two plants took place — of Trakya Glass Rus JSC, producing float glass, and Automotive Glass Rus, producing automotive glass.
As Director General of the company Beytullah Şahin told Realnoe Vremya, $210 million was invested in the construction of base plant, and 250 thousand tonnes of glass were produced in 2015. The 'automotive division' was a little less: the investments were $100 million, and annual production volume was 800 thousand sets. The head of the company Beytullah Şahin explained the difference 'in scale': it turned out that automotive glass is the next step in processing of float glass and it is not so much yet. 'What we produce in a month, it is enough for them (automative producer) for a year,' he smiled. However, it is sufficient yet to provide the localized production assembly plants in Russia — Renault, Nissan, Volkswagen and even the production of AvtoVaz in Izhevsk. As the representative of the Automotive Glass Rus Dinar Khabibullin explained, almost 95% of the production has already been contracted for supply of the automotive plants in Russia.
Strictly speaking, these plants were opened a year ago, but the Turkish top managers preferred not to disclose the financial performance. 'No comments,' they evaded. However, they told the leadership of the SEZ Alabuga about the necessity to build a direct railway line from the SEZ Alabuga to the federal railroad junction at Tykhonivka stop for transportation of raw materials and finished products. 'Now we have to move through Tikhonovka on the lines of Mendeleevskazot, which provide services on rent of lines, and we would like to bypas them,' said Beytullah Şahin.
A friend in need is a friend indeed
Nihat Zeybekci and Rustam Minnikhanov went on stage to the applause. The Minister of Economy was touched and could not but admire the leadership qualities of the President, who, as he said, 'treats his work with love and does everything to strengthen the relations between Tatarstan and Turkey'. 'After the military coup attempt took place, the first one who called and expressed support was Minnikhanov, our dear friend,' he told about the first this year dramatic upheaval in the country, when during the coup attempt on 15 and 16 July 294 people were killed and more than 1.4 thousand people were wounded. The country also experienced the other dramatic moment due to the cooling of relations with Russia after when in November 2015 in Syria the Russian bomber was shot down and it took a long time to restore broken relationships.
Now Russia and Turkey are close to resume economic cooperation and, as the Minister of Economy of Turkey Nihat Zeybekci has recently stated, 'the biggest effort to normalize relations after these events has been made by the President of Tatarstan, because he sensibly understands that such problems are harmful to both parties. The damage is borne by both parties.' In short, a friend in need is a friend indeed.
The more of these plants, the harder it will be to create problems between the countries
'We need investments: the more of these plants, the stronger their power, the more difficult it will be to create problems between the countries,' he said wise words like a kind of manifesto.
'The Ministry of Economy of Turkey supports our investors who want to invest in Tatarstan and other regions,' he explained to journalists, adding that the Ministry is ready to support and encourage those Tatarstan companies that are willing to invest in Turkey.
The Minister of Economy is optimistic about the resumption of the Russian-Turkish investment projects, saying that Turkey supports the project Turkish Stream and, of course, a nuclear power plant under construction. 'As far as I know, everything is going positively. Tomorrow I have a meeting with the Minister of Economic Development Aleksey Ulyukaev, on Monday — with Energy Minister Aleksander Novak and soon we will have a meeting with our presidents to discuss all these issues, including the Turkish Stream,' he concluded. Nihat Zeybekci announced the plans to sign with the Minister of Economic Development of Russia Aleksey Ulyukayev a statement on the establishment of the Turkish-Russian joint investment fund. He added that it is also planned to consider the issue on the provision of Russian experience to Turkey regarding the functioning of the Russian Direct Investment Fund.
The President of Tatarstan shared his attitude. 'We have a number of projects that we are going to implement together with Turkish investors. Previously, we had misunderstanding, but today our leaders have removed all the issues and there is a possibility of a large-scale work,' he said, without revealing details.
At the end of the visit, the leadership of Tatarstan and the Minister of Economy of Turkey held a closed meeting with the leadership of the Turkish resident companies of the SEZ. As the press service of the President reported, the Turkish company were invited to participate in infrastructure and logistics projects of Tatarstan.
