The meeting with the governor of the Sakhalin region took place in the Kazan Kremlin

(KZN.RU, November 21). Rustam Minnikhanov, the President of Tatarstan, met with Oleg Kozhemyako, the governor of the Sakhalin region. The meeting took place in the Kazan Kremlin. Ildar Khalikov, the Prime Minister of Tatarstan, Ilsur Metshin, the Mayor of Kazan, Marat Akhmetov, the deputy Prime Minister of the RT and minister of Agriculture and Food of the RT, Albert Karimov, the deputy Prime Minister of the RT and the minister of Industry and Trade of the RT, and others also participated in the it as representatives Tatarstan.

Welcoming the guests, Rustam Minnikhanov thanked Oleg Kozhemyako for the excellent organization of the Tatarstan delegation visit to the Sakhalin region in September this year. The signing of the Agreement between Tatarstan and the Sakhalin region on trade-economic, scientific-technical, social and cultural cooperation for 2016-2018 years was held at the same time. “We need to fill this document with concrete work and joint projects”, stressed Rustam Minnikhanov. “We have agreed that you will come to our republic to get acquainted with the economic potential and experience of Tatarstan, as well as to discuss the development of cooperation between our regions”.

The Tatarstan President noted that the program of Oleg Kozhemyako visit to Tatarstan is focused on innovative development of territories. Previous day the delegation of the Sakhalin visited the special economic zone “Innopolis” and got acquainted with the achievements of the republic in the sphere of high technologies.

“We are pleased to share its experience in the field of development of high-tech industries, the creation of a favorable investment climate, innovation”, addressed Rustam Minnikhanov to the governor.

According to the President of the RT, the Sakhalin region has great potential for further development. The region is rich in natural resources, has a powerful oil and gas industry, is known for its system of the fishing industry, and participates in international cooperation with greater export volumes.

“Despite the distance, our economic relations are developing good. Inter-regional trade in recent years is about 800 million rubles. But these numbers may be much higher”, said the head of the republic.

For today, Tatarstan supplies to Sakhalin trucks “KAMAZ”, tires, medical equipment, and various food products. At the same time the republic is ready to send to the island buses and special vehicles, helicopters and ships, oil field equipment, chemicals, diesel fuel, sulfur, motor oil, mineral fertilizers, expand the list of sold medical products and drugs.

According to R. Minnikhanov, for today great attention is paid to the improvement of the urban environment, training, expansion of the list of electronic services and the development of education in Tatarstan. Regions may also actively cooperate in these areas, he believes.

“Last year, we adopted a strategy of socio-economic development of Tatarstan until 2030. Each entity should develop their strengths. The main segment of the economy in our country is the oil industry. We will focus on it”, added the President of the RT.

Several large-scale investment projects will be implemented in Tatarstan in the coming years, said R. Minnikhanov. It is an international transport corridor “Europe - Western China”, Sviyazhsk interregional multimodal logistics center, construction of high-speed rail “Moscow-Kazan” and others.

“Foreign investors are actively involved in the implementation of major projects on the territory of Tatarstan. Thus, 829 million USA dollars were attracted into the country last year, about 520 million of which are foreign direct investment”, marked R. Minnikhanov and noted that Tatarstan is becoming the leader in the ranking of investment attractiveness among Russian regions for the second year in a row.

“It's nice to watch the achievements of your country. We are strengthening and developing ties with Tatarstan, we see this as a good long-term prospect”, said O. Kozhemyako in his reply. “We also adopted the experience in the development of the urban environment, public spaces, information technology, health care and much more”.

The governor noted that the development of agriculture in the Sakhalin region is one of the priority areas of work. Construction of greenhouses and livestock facilities is conducted today. But, despite this, the region will continue to buy food products: beef, pork, poultry, various cereals, etc. “For a long time, our agricultural sector is in decline. It is necessary to revive it. Today, we are actively engaged with these issues in order to provide the region with their goods. But we will still buy the most necessary products for social institutions and our northern regions. We continue to consider the Republic of Tatarstan as one of the main suppliers”, assured the governor.

Answering journalists' questions, Rustam Minnikhanov said that the Sakhalin region is one of the most dynamically developing regions of Russia. “There's huge natural potential, powerful oil and gas structure and, the most powerful fish cluster are created. The region is developing social and productive infrastructure, looking for new electronic solutions. In addition, it is a huge market for the supply of our food products, household chemicals. We need to actively develop these areas”, quotes the words of R. Minnikhanov the press-service of the President of the RT.