Rustam Minnikhanov: it is important to determine new areas of cooperation with Dow Chemical

President of Tatarstan Rustam Minnikhanov and officials of Dow Chemical (USA) have discussed possible joint projects at a meeting at the Tatarstan Government House.

Aide to the Tatarstan President Rinat Sabirov, Director General of OAO “Tatneftekhiminvest-holding” Rafinat Yarullin, Director General of OAO TAIF Albert Shigabutdinov, and officials of several major petrochemical enterprises were present at the meeting.

Rustam Minnikhanov welcomed guests and reminded that Tatarstan cooperates with Dow Chemical in the sphere of petrochemistry. Moreover, the company interacts with OAO Kazanorgsintez.

“In general, oil production and petrochemistry are growth points for Tatarstan. Besides, republic is one of the country’s largest producers of plastics and rubber. To develop production of polymers we need to attract potential investors,” Rustam Minnikhanov said.

“In the context of your visit to Tatarstan we should discuss further approaches and plans, development of joint projects,” Rustam Minnikhanov said addressing Dow Chemical officials. He noted that ZAO “HC “Composite” at SEZ Alabuga (the Elabuga municipal region) can also be used as a field for realization of joint projects between Tatarstan and Dow Chemical.

Rustam Minnikhanov also mentioned the plant for producing composite materials that is to be established at the Kazan Aviation Production Association (KAPO) named after Gorbunov.

Dow Chemical officials expressed interest in cooperation with Tatarstan. They said that they were studying opportunities for investments and now closely cooperate with the Tatarstan Investment Development Agency in this matter.

Douglas Parks, Director of the Dow Chemical Department for interaction with state authorities and Chief of the composite materials unit informed that after visiting Turkey on October 4-6 (Bursa, the Turkey-Tatarstan Business Forum in the field of automotive industry and automotive components production), the company was working out these issues.

Director General of Dow Chemical in Russia and CIS Oksana Pilatova briefly told about stages of the company’s development and further plans.

Thus, Dow Chemical was founded in 1897 in Michigan, USA. Today the company produces more than 5 thousand different products for various spheres. The company owns 197 plants in 36 countries with 52 thousand employees, and customers in 160 countries.

In 2011 the company’s turnover made 56 bln dollars. Dow Chemical has worked in Russia for 40 years. For now, two plants are operating in Russia. The company’s turnover in Russia made 770 mln dollars in 2011.

Douglas Parks, Director of the Dow Chemical Department for interaction with state authorities and Chief of the composite materials unit told about joint enterprise with Turkish partners – DowAKSA.

Summing up the meeting, Rustam Minnikhanov said that it is especially important to determine new areas of cooperation.