Republic of Tatarstan
The Republic of Tatarstan is part of the Volga Federal District and lies on the East European Plain, at the confluence of Europe's two largest rivers - the Volga and the Kama. The Republic occupies an area of 67,800 square kilometers and has a population of 3.8 million people, including representatives of 115 nationalities, with the Tatars (52.9%) and the Russians (39.5%) being the most numerous of them.
Tatarstan is one of the most developed republics of Russia. It is ranked as one of Russia's 15 leading regions in terms of gross regional product (GPR) per capita. The republic's GRP was estimated at 878 billion roubles in 2009.
Tatarstan is Russia's second largest crude oil producer, following the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Area. The Republic's oil companies produced a total of 32.4 million tonnes of oil in 2009, 0.7% up from 2008.
Chemical and petrochemical industry is the second pillar of the Republic's economy and accounts for 27% of its industrial production. The industry specialises in refined oil products, synthetic rubber, car tyres, plastics, synthetic pitches and pharmaceuticals.
The third main component of the Republic's industry is machine engineering, which accounts for one-fifth of its total industrial production. Tatarstan's leading industries are car manufacturing, aircraft building and instrument making. The Republic's largest car maker is the Kama Automobile Plant (KAMAZ), which is also one of the leading manufacturers of trucks and mini-cars in the CIS countries.
Agriculture provides employment for 10% of Tatarstan's working population and generates 8% of its GRP. Tatarstan is one of the five largest agricultural producers: in particular, it produces grain. Crop yield has increased from 25.3 to 31.7 centners (in Russia, centner is a unit of weight equivalent to 100kg) per hectare over the last five years. The total cereal harvest has increased from 3.8 to 4.4 million tonnes over the same period. The livestock sector is also successfully developing. In 2009, the Republic's companies produced a total of 412,900 tonnes of meat and 1,910.8 thousand tonnes of milk.
Tatarstan has a well-developed transport infrastructure, based on highways, railways, airlines, oil and natural gas pipelines and four navigable rivers: the Volga, the Kama, the Vyatka and the Belaya. The Republic is a major transport hub where routes converge from the Urals, Siberia, the Far East, the European part of Russia and a number of CIS countries.
The Republic has a high concentration of large industrial facilities and, for a region like this, a well-developed network of lending institutions: there are more than 130 lending institutions and branch offices here.
In addition, the Republic is home to over 60 scientific research and design institutes, Tatarstan's Academy of Sciences, and the Kazan scientific centre of the Russian Academy of Sciences, which includes several academic institutions of national significance.
Mintimer Shaimiyev is the president of the Republic of Tatarstan. The Tatarstan State Council appointed Rustam Minnikhanov as the republic's president on February 4, 2010 upon the recommendation of the Russian president (the inauguration will be held on March 25, 2010).
