The union of two major Powers

Today People's Republic of China is one of the most active economic partners of the Republic of Tatarstan in the framework of cooperation with Russian Federation. For 2016 the total value of investments from China amounted in more than fifty million dollars.

In February 2016 the complex producing ammonia, methanol and carbamide JSC "Ammoni" opened in Mendeleevsk. China National Chemical Engineering Company acted as the general contractor. Today, the following enterprises are actively cooperating in mutual deliveries with China: PJSC "Nizhnekamskneftekhim", PJSC "Kazanorgsintez", PJSC "Kazan synthetic rubber plant", OJSC “Tatchempharmpreparaty”, LLC "RariTEK" and others.

In academic year  2016-2017, 328 students from China study in higher educational establishments on the territory of the Republic of Tatarstan. Kazan Federal (Volga-Region) University has contractual relations with a number of universities and scientific centers of PRC. Since 2006, in Kazan Federal University the Confucius Institute is functioning on the base of the Institute of Oriental Studies. Since 2010, Hunan Pedagogical University annually organizes summer camp for 15-20 Kazan schoolchildren and KFU students. The curriculum includes excursions to Beijing and Hunan province and 10-days intensive Chinese-language course.

Currently, over 5500 Tatars live in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China. Since 1986, Sabantuy is held in Urumqi and gathers hundreds of Tatars from all over the areas inhabited by Tatars. The Executive Committee of World Congress of Tatars is focused on mutual cooperation with the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China and Tatar communities in PRC.

The basic commodities exported to China are fossil fuel, oil and petroleum products, organic chemical compounds, plastics and plastic materials, rubber and rubber products and others. Different types of industrial and manufacturing equipment, instruments, means of land transport, pieces of furniture, light industry and agriculture products and others were imported.

The Republic of Tatarstan is interested in entering the markets of People's Republic of China with finished products of PJSC "KAMAZ", PJSC "Tatneft", JSC "Kazan Helicopters" and other large industrial enterprises, as well as in implementation of joint projects.

So, on February 23, the delegation of Tatarstan headed by the President of the Republic of Tatarstan Rustam Minnikhanov paid a working visit in Changsha, Hunan province, People's Republic of China. The delegation also included the Head of Tatarstan Investment Development Agency Taliya Minullina.

In the framework of one-day working visit, Tatarstan's delegation visited a number of official meetings with the Governor of Hunan Province Xu Dazhe and the Secretary of Communist Party of Hunan province Du Jiahao.

During the business part of the program, Tatarstan-Chinese business forum was held, where the Head of Tatarstan Investment Development Agency Taliya Minullina presented industrial and investment potential of the Republic as one of the leading and economically developed regions of Russia. Special attention was payed to projects implemented in the region, such as SEZ "Alabuga" and SEZ "Innopolis", industrial parks and techno-parks, engineering centers, working with active participation of foreign companies, including Chinese ones.

Taliya Minullina noted, that last February in Tatarstan mineral fertilizers "Ammoni" plant was launched, built with participation of Chinese corporation, also world famous Chinese company "Haier" opened  a refrigerator plant.

Today, the project of creation of joint enterprise for development of the third-line of Special Economic Zone "Alabuga" was discussed with the Tianjin Economic-Technological Development Area. Also, the initial steps in implementation of joint investment project "Xiaoxiang-Volga Agricultural Park" are beeing taken. For the representatives of Chinese companies, Taliya Minullina described in brief the main oil production, oil refining and petrochemical enterprises, told about production of cars and trucks, planes and helicopters, river-sea vessels, about development of agriculture and food production, and others.

At the end of the Forum, a number of cooperation agreements was signed, including agreement between NGO "Agroservice" and Chinese corporation SUNWARD in the sphere of implementation of joint investment project "Xiaoxiang-Volga Agricultural Park".

"Tatarstan has already established the dialogue with Hunan province. In May 2014, the agreement between the governments of the regions on trade, economic, scientific, technical and cultural cooperation was signed. The delegations of Chinese province made frequent visits to the Republic of Tatarstan. Tatarstan is working closely with the representatives of Chinese business. We often and with great interest visit your country and we have a lot to learn from you. We are interested in best practices of special economic and industrial zones of China. In turn, we are open to cooperation and ready to provide all the necessary assistance in implementation of joint projects", - the Head of Tatarstan Investment Development Agency Taliya Minullina commented.

In addition, the guests from Tatarstan visited industrial site of Sany Group international company producing construction equipment, where they watched the exhibition with the best samples of special machinery, learned the history of the establishment of the company, had an assembly workshops tour. Currently, the company assembles special vehicles based on "Mercedes" chassis and actively implements chassis of own manufacture. Rustam Minnikhanov invited the management of Sany company to visit the Republic of Tatarstan and offered the idea of organization of co-production of construction equipment based on "KAMAZ" chassis. The Chinese side promised to consider this proposal.

Attracting Chinese investors of the territory of special economic zones and industrial sites of the Republic of Tatarstan, implementation of joint investment projects and attracting investments to Tatarstan's economy are prospective directions for cooperation development. In machine building, Tatarstan is interested in supplies and co-production of component parts for buses and cars, in cooperation in the field of production of tractors and component parts. Increase of petrochemical production supplies to China by the Republic of Tatarstan is a promising direction in petrochemical industry. In the field of energy, there is high interest in organization of co-production and supply of heating and gas equipment for industrial enterprises and human settlements.