New connections of Tatarstan and Poland: from the talk of Taliya Minullina and Dariusz Woital
The Republic of Tatarstan and Poland have entered the path of new mutual discoveries. As a part of the visit of a delegation from Poland, the Head of the Tatarstan Investment Development Agency, Taliya Minullina, presented the guests to the economy of the region in the Unified Presentation Center of the Republic of Tatarstan. The search for new connections continued with a friendly conversation. The Vice-president of the Tourist Chamber of Poland, Dariusz Woital, had the most number of questions.
T.M.: I am very pleased you have found the time to visit our Agency. Tourism and hospitality industry are among priorities for us, therefore, we welcome investments in this industry, of course. In spite of the fact that my Agency is small – as few as 30 people – our work is diversified. For example, the guys in the Department of attraction and support for investment projects are in touch with investors 24/7: they are busy with financial models, selection of grounds, personnel, suppliers, raw materials, logistics, which is indeed a huge amount of work.
Tatarstan had three brands: Invest Tatarstan, Made in Tatarstan are for what is manufactured in Tatarstan, and Visit Tatarstan is for tourism. We also established a Convention Bureau five years ago to attract industrial business events of the international scale to Tatarstan. Thus, we gained the right to hold several large events. I want it very much for Tatarstan to go ahead in all directions. We have already occupied a certain niche in the event tourism. I believe that we have a potential, if the infrastructure is taken into consideration: we built a congress and exhibition center Kazan Expo especially for the purpose. MICE industry needs to be developed, for certain. The development of the business tourism promotes the establishment of contacts, engagement of new partners and investors, facilitates the growth of a range of industries. Moreover, holding large international events results both in economic and informational effect: they affect the branding of the territories favorably and creates a networking effect. It means a good integration in the global expert community that translates world-class technologies, the best practices, and bringing the industry to a new level.
D.W.: Very interesting!
T.M.: Well, let us proceed to you and us directly. (Smiling.) We have worked with Poland for a long time, and quite well. We received the Ambassador, representatives of the business community in Tatarstan, I met them personally and our employees to Poland. There are large companies that are of interest for us in the oil, gas, food, coal, petrochemical industries. Investments are an area of growth for us. The commodity exchange of Tatarstan and Poland is 2.5 Bio USD in 2019. We would also want a direct flight to Warsaw, of course. It is very important and interesting for us, however, such thing is obviously hard to implement.
D.W.: We want a direct flight too; we will promote the issue on our part.
T.M.: If we consider projects in the field of tourism that may be of interest for your colleagues, it can be the project for cluster development of tourism “Five Winds”, for example.
D.W.: Thank you very much, we are excited! We have discovered that there is a country inside the other country, of which we did not know so many good things. To be honest, I am elated with your work. The point is that I have not seen a presentation of such quality [editor: regarding the presentation in the Unified Presentation Center of the Republic of Tatarstan] in any country, not even in the West, or such creativity for attracting investors.
T.M.: What can we do? It is a fight where anything goes! (Laughing.)
D.W.: Everything is very active here! I am sure that investors can be found in Poland, they simply need to be convinced that is safe here in terms of taxes, transparency of all processes, or if laws change all of a sudden, as it happens.
T.M.: This is what our Agency is for. We take each investor by the hand and keep them safe. Moreover, we have a very good communications system at the Government level.
D.W.: I have never seen anything like this. Usually, an investor enters a region, and they are abandoned there, so to speak.
T.M.: You see, the point is that the investor’s problem is our problem. It is in our best interest that each person should be satisfied; therefore, the objective is for me to receive a signal of a certain problem in time, so that I can help solve it. Due to the above, we say that the Agency is a window: you enter through us, and we support your project at all stages. And then, when the investor has initiated the manufacture, it does not mean we abandon them. We established the Investor’s Club of Tatarstan. They get acquainted there, we assemble them, they meet me, our President Rustam Minnikhanov, they socialize, we initiate projects together. Many people reinvest: they invest their profit in the second or third stage of the manufacture. This is the index of the investment climate.
D.W.: Many are afraid that preferences can be cancelled.
T.M.: It depends on to what extent we can prolong such preferences. For example, China zeroed all interest rates at some point, and then they increased them, which resulted in a certain outflow of the manufacture, but the majority stayed nevertheless. Transferring the manufacture is a costly affair; we faced it when investors were forced to transfer their manufactures to Tatarstan from other regions due to an inappropriate attitude to them there.
D.W.: On the other hand, competitiveness is compromised, as somebody else have taken the niche already.
T.M.: Competition delivers quality, results in price fluctuations that are to the people’s benefit. We have a program to develop competition in Tatarstan, we a working on it. Yes, I do have many ill-wishers who say that we bring in new enterprises to take a share of the market. Yes, they do take it, but it should be to the consumers’ pleasure, as quality improves and prices go down.
D.W.: That’s true. coming back to tourism, I think that Tatarstan has a high unused potential. For example, your frozen rivers, ice fishing are exotic for us. Tatarstan is a region with a special culture and a special nature. Polish people are the most active in the region in terms of travelling. Enterprises themselves send their employees abroad. There are prospects too. Another aspect that can be developed is entertainment of the tourist nature. Your region can become the entry point.
T.M.: Tatarstan is a popular destination for domestic tourism within the country. We work a lot to increase the tourist flow from abroad. We established an international club for expats. We assembled them for the first time as recently as last month. About 50 people came, including representatives of general consulates. There are general consulates of Turkey, Hungary, China, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Iran in Tatarstan. At the moment, general consulates of Turkmenistan and Saudi Arabia are in the process of opening. We also have Attaches, of France, for example. We also have our own representatives, 24 of them. We develop all this. We have established a social club, so we will see the results.
D.W.: Interesting!
T.M.: Dear guests, we are very glad to receive you. We hope you will tell your colleagues of our meeting and of Tatarstan. We are open for cooperation! Welcome!