I. Metshin: “Our initiatives are heard both in the federal government and in the State Duma”

(KZN.RU, November 15, Mikhail Chentsov). The reporting and election common meeting of members of the Association of Volga Region Cities was held in Kazan. The results of the work of the association were summed up, as well as the activities' plan of the AVC for 2018 was announced during the meeting, chaired by Ilsur Metshin, the Mayor of Kazan.

Alexey Sukhov, the deputy Plenipotentiary Representative of the President of the RF in the Volga Federal District, Minsagit Shakirov, the chairman of the Council of Municipalities of the RT, Alexander Ivanov, the chairman of the Union of Representative of Municipalities of the RF, and others attended the meeting.

Alexey Sukhov addressed the audience with a welcoming speech on behalf of Mikhail Babich, the Plenipotentiary Representative of the President of the RF in the Volga Federal District. He noted the important role of local government in the state, political, and legal sphere and public life, and highly appreciated the role of the Association of Volga Region Cities for the development of local self-government. “One of the most authoritative sites in the Volga Federal District is the Association of Volga Region Cities, which successfully coordinates the activities of large cities for 19 years. At the same time, the geography of the association has significantly expanded over the past 3 years: from 15 to 25 cities. This trend continues to this day”, marked the deputy plenipotentiary.

Alexey Sukhov also noted the successful joint work of the District Advisory Council for the Development of Local Self-Government, headed by Mikhail Babich, and the Association of Volga Region Cities, led by Ilsur Metshin, in working out proposals to improve federal legislation. In 2017, joint proposals to improve legal regulation in the field of improvement are taken into account by the Ministry of Construction of Russia.

Ilsur Metshin expressed gratitude to Mikhail Babich in the person of Alexey Sukhov and the whole staff of the plenipotentiary. “We have organized a very good form of work through the Office of the plenipotentiary, personally through Mikhail Babich. Our initiatives are heard both in the federal government and in the State Duma. Laws made by us are being implemented. This is a concrete, systematic work, which very much helps us in life”, said the Mayor of Kazan.

I. Metshin called the increase in the membership of the association one of the main results of the reporting period of the work. “The issues are different but the systemic problems of all municipalities, in general, are similar, regardless of the budget, the population, or the region. We see the effect of work, that shortcut from discussion to making a decision. It is very important for us. And the fact that our number has grown indicates that the association is working and there is a result”, marked Ilsur Metshin.

Over the years, the agenda of the AVC meetings has always been formed from among the most pressing problems. The members of the association examined the issues of ecology, unauthorized trade, transport support, exchanged experience in preparation for the World Cup-2018 and discussed housing programs.

Also during the meeting, the heads of the cities of the Volga Region approved the work plan of the association for the next year and elected the governing bodies of the Association of the Volga Region Cities. According to the voting results, Ilsur Metshin, the Mayor of Kazan, once again became the chairman of the organization.

For reference

The first common meeting of the leaders of the seven largest cities of the Volga region (Kazan, Nizhny Novgorod, Penza, Samara, Saratov, Ulyanovsk, and Cheboksary) was held in Samara on October 27, 1998. The agreement on the establishment of the Association was signed at the meeting. This event gave a start to a qualitatively new structure of interaction of municipalities, the Association of Volga Region Cities. Later, Yoshkar-Ola, Astrakhan, Saransk, Volgograd, and Kirov joined it.

Currently, the Association includes 25 cities, of which 14 administrative centers of the subjects of the federation located within the Volga Federal District, 2 cities from the Southern Federal District (Astrakhan, Volgograd), and 9 second-tier cities from 7 regions of the Volga Federal District (Arzamas, Balakovo, Dimitrovgrad, Novokuibyshevsk, Novocheboksarsk, Sarapul, Sterlitamak, Syzran, and Togliatti). More than 14 million people live in the city-members of the association, which is more than 12% of the country's voters.