SNOWY UFA WARMLY WELCOMES CONSULATE TRAVELERS

UNCLAS YEKATERINBURG 000071 MOSCOW FOR FCS DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/RUS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ECON EINV ETRD PGOV RS SCUL SUBJECT: SNOWY UFA WARMLY WELCOMES CONSULATE TRAVELERS Sensitive but Unclassified. Not for Internet. Not for Dissemination Outside of USG. ¶1. (SBU) Consul General and Public Affairs Officer traveled to Ufa November 6-8. The delegation had official meetings with the president of the Bashkortostan Republic Murtaza Rakhimov, Bashkortostan Minister of Foreign Relations and Trade Boris Kolbin, Ufa mayor Pavel Kachkayev and Supreme Mufti Talgat Tadjuddin. CG and PAO opened a photographic exhibit on the activities of the American Relief Administration (ARA) during the famine in Bashkortostan in the 1920's, met with U.S. program alumni and faculty at the Bashkortostan State Pedagogic University and visited Ufa's American Corner. Our eight hour journey to Ufa by car took us across the Ural Mountains, which were picturesque under an early-winter mantle of white. Our hosts joked that we had brought the first snow of the season to Ufa. ¶2. (SBU) President Rakhimov opened the meeting with approving remarks on the recently conducted U.S. presidential elections. He proudly spoke of the stability of his multi-ethnic republic, noting that over 100 nationalities live together peacefully there. Our party observed that rural villages appeared more prosperous in Bashkortostan than in other regions of the Urals, which the president attributed to the fact that agricultural reform in the republic had proceeded more slowly, and state and collective farm structures were preserved alongside private agriculture. Approximately one third of Bashkortostan's population is rural, and the birth rate is rising in these areas. ¶3. (SBU) According to Rakhimov, the global economic crisis had not yet had a major impact on Bashkortostan, due to the relatively low levels of foreign investment and the relatively small number of international banking institutions operating there. (Citibank was the only U.S. bank we observed to be present in Ufa.) According to official data, the U.S. is the region's12th ranked foreign trade partner. Rakhimov noted that trade turnover with the U.S. stood at about $220 million per year -- about 3.2 percent of the republic's total foreign trade. The president noted an interest in importing agriculture machinery and reminisced about his trip to the U.S. 19 years ago to sign an agreement to purchase U.S.-made harvesters and combines. He also noted the need for investors in the forestry 
and petrochemical sectors. ¶4. (SBU) Rakhimov received us warmly and chatted amiably throughout our 40-minute meeting, though the 74-year old leader appeared to tire towards the end. He did not seem like a man worried about whether he would be reappointed by the Kremlin to the post he has occupied since 1993, despite media reports of scandal and corruption surrounding his son and other prominent members of his administration. ¶5. (SBU) CG and PAO met with Kolbin prior to meeting with Rakhimov to discuss general economic issues. Kolbin stated that Bashkortostan would experience a growth rate of about 10 per cent this year. He pointed to agriculture as one of the republic's success stories, with its produce being delivered throughout the Urals. Meanwhile, excess capacity in the petrochemical industry remains a legacy of the Soviet era. Kolbin stated that Bashkortostan refined about 50 million tons of oil per year during the Soviet period, but refines only about 28 million tons today. ¶6. (SBU) Kolbin enumerated several foreign investments in Bashkortostan, including: a Turkish glass bottle making factory; an Austrian ceramic tile factory; a French sheetrock manufacturing facility; a Siemens Corporation factory that manufactures transformers; a Czech cement factory and a Slovak facility that makes industrial packing materials. Current U.S. joint ventures include a company that makes seismic gauges and an oil field service operator. ¶7. (SBU) Kolbin expressed a pressing need for modern agricultural machinery - tractors, combines and harvesters. Both Kolbin and Rakhimov expressed a preference for American equipment. Kolbin also noted a need for assistance in developing modern packaging for Bashkortostan's food processing industry. He said a delegation would be making a presentation to the American Chamber of Commerce in Moscow in December. Kolbin pointed to gains in the area of environmental protection and cleanup and expressed interest in the possibility of exchanges with American environmental experts. ¶8. (U) Ufa mayor Kachkayev spoke proudly of his city's development, and downtown storefronts displaying a variety of foreign products and a selection of upscale restaurants backed him up. Nevertheless, Ufa suffers from an ongoing housing shortage. Despite increasing levels of housing construction over the past two years, the city still ranks ahead of only Rostov-na-Donu in terms of per capita housing space in cities of over one million in population (excluding Moscow and St. Petersburg). Ongoing municipal assistance projects include a 15-million Euro water treatment project funded by the EBRD and a series of projects to develop health care, recreational facilities and a migration center in conjunction with the Swiss aid agency. ¶9. (SBU) The meeting with Talgat Tadjuddin, Supreme Mufti of Russia and Chairman of the Central Spiritual Board of Muslims in Russia, took place in his elaborately decorated office. (Our female FSN notetakers were relegated to a side wall of the Mufti's office and seated on a divan covered with a quilt made of several stitched-together fox pelts.) The Mufti was in a talkative mood and made frequent jokes, many of which could have been interpreted as being at our expense. He welcomed the result of the U.S. presidential election. Emphasizing the president elect's middle name, the Mufti said that all Muslims would now respect the United States. He tried to downplay his 2003 declaration of Jihad on the United States by saying his remarks had been misinterpreted. ¶10. (SBU) The Mufti said that Russia was still threatened by Wahabbism, especially from those who had studied abroad. He dismissed Russian Muslim participants in U.S. exchange programs as Wahabbis and nominated himself as a potential exchange visitor. He complained that all of the power in Russia was wielded by the president, prime minister and the Orthodox Church, effectively excluding Muslims. He charged that Russia views Muslims as useful only when they are needed to serve at the front during times of war. Nevertheless, he claimed to have good relations with President Medvedev and said he was at the Kremlin for the president's November 5 address. The Mufti's son Muhammad, who may be being groomed to succeed his father, was present at the meeting. ¶11. (U) The exhibit opening was held at the Bashkortostan National Museum. The headquarters of the ARA were in Ufa, and several Americans worked there between 1922-24. The exhibit was prepared by the Consulate General's Public Affairs section based on materials from Stanford's Hoover Institute and the Chelyabinsk regional historical museum. Despite the sensitive nature of the subject matter, the history of which was suppressed during Soviet times, and graphic depictions of children suffering, the exhibit was well received. The museum director privately remarked that his mother had told him of receiving food donated by Americans. ¶12. (U) CG and PAO learned of a range of contacts in a variety of fields between American academics and the Ufa State Pedagogic University, which supports a successful English language program. The American-Bashkir Intercollege, an NGO which has operated since 1996, is one of the most successful programs of its kind. Its English language summer camp for disadvantaged kids has served as a model for similar camps in Russia. At the American Corner, CG and PAO spoke to an enthusiastic group of teachers and student alumni of U.S. exchange programs about the U.S. elections. SANDUSKY