The realisation that Tatarstan is amongst Russia’s richest regions has prompted renewed investment, leading hopefully to further development.

Below is an extract from an article published by the Prague Daily Monitor:

Kazan, Russia, April 29 (CTK) - Czech firms signed two contracts worth a total of EUR130m (roughly Kc3.7bn) in the Russian region of Tatarstan today [29 April 2007] in the presence of Czech President Vaclav Klaus and his Tatarstan counterpart Mintimer Shaimiev.

At the Czech-Tatarstan Business Forum, both presidents appreciated the dynamic development of mutual business and economic cooperation and said there should be further intensive contacts. 

"The interesting thing about Tatarstan is that it is one of the richest Russian regions. It has oil and gas deposits and is also important from the industrial point of view. There are car makers and the aviation industry here. The living standard is the third highest behind Moscow and St Petersburg and the purchasing power is also good here," Czech Industry and Trade Minister Martin Riman told CTK.

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Czech bank Komercni banka and the Kazan town hall signed a EUR85m contract to build a hospital. These contracts are not as fundamental as those signed in Moscow where Czech companies agreed on contracts worth roughly EUR1bn, Riman said.

However, the expansion of Czech firms in Tatarstan continues, said Riman, adding there were opportunities in modernisation of pharmaceutical plants and in bus supplies, for instance. 

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