Rustam Minnikhanov: Tatarstan historically is a common home for representatives of many ethnicities

On 3 November, speaking at a joint meeting of the Security Council of the republic and the Council for Inter-ethnic and Inter-confessional relations held in the Kazan Kremlin with participation of the State Counselor of the republic Mintimer Shaimiev, the Chairman of the regional State Council Farid Mukhametshin, regional Prime Minister Aleksey Pesoshin and heads of ministries and departments, municipalities, enterprises and representatives of religious confessions, the Rais (Head) of Tatarstan Rustam Minnikhanov said that Tatarstan historically is a common home for representatives of many ethnicities.

He emphasized that during the last decades there has been the constant growth of the multi-ethnic family of Tatarstan both in large cities and many rural settlements. ”This happens also due to the increase of the number of labour migrants, foreigners getting Russian citizenship and foreign students,” Rustam Minnikhanov said.

The Rais of the republic attracted attention to the fact that in some Russian regions there are rather acute situations because of the foreign labour flows and having said: “Such case also happen in our republic ,” he added that to keep the public order and safety in the republic it is important to control the migration situation.

Currently there are 35 700 migrant workers in Tatarstan, which makes 1.7 pec cent of the total number of the employed, who mostly work in construction, trade, catering, public transport and processing production spheres.

A number of industrial enterprises of the republic - such as the Alabuga Special Economic Zone, the KAMAZ Automaker- have already gained an experience of attracting migrant workers, and in educational institutions of the republic there are nearly 26 thousand foreign students. Starting from 2017 the republic has been implementing a plan of actions in adaptation and socialization of foreign students.

According to the results of 2020 Census there are representatives of 175 ethnicities living in Tatarstan and the Assembly of Peoples of the republic plays an important role in efficient social and cultural adaptation and integration of foreign citizens. Today is has its branches and representative offices in 33 cities and regions of the republic and resource centers in 13 cities and regions. Tatarstan also has 260 local and regional national-cultural public organizations, 13 Houses of People’s Friendship and 109 national and cultural centers.

The new project “Tatarstan-New Way” to be implemented in the republic is focused on developing new communication channels, such a social media, useful information software, information about enrollment to educational institutions and others, for interaction with immigrants.

The participants of the meeting also considered incidents with participation of foreign citizens which happened in Tatarstan and discussed law violation prevention measures.