Yunus-Bek Yevkurov: "We do not have any problems with Georgia"

You have said that the main attention is given to the development of small businesses.
I would like to know what measures of support there are for businessmen.
And how do you monitor the process of allocating special credits?
The media sometimes report about case of financing only under the condition
of large under-the-table payments. How is it controlled? Thank you.
Yunus Bek-Yevkurov, head of Ingushetia
With under-the-table payments only by us or everywhere? Right, by us. Thank you.
I will try to explain this issue.
Certainly regarding the form of support…
I will start with the second question about bribes and corruption.
One of the reasons why I have dismissed the minister of economy was this one.
Large sums are allocated to the republic.
I am talking about more than 90 million rubles.
Together with government support it amounts to about 150-200 million rubles
for the support of small and medium-sized enterprises.
When we initiate inspections, the KPI appears to be rather low.
When I go to regions to see for myself and meet people doing various jobs,
I ask them how much the government supports them.
I conducted an experiment.
I gathered all the representatives of the Ministry of Economy who deal with this issue,
we went to one big square and asked ten people who were there – one was fixing gates,
another one was making chairs, others were making other things, one was working in a shop
– they were all eligible for government support for enterprises.
Out of ten people not one received any government support.
I have created a commission and we started to check who receives it.
It has eliminated a total failure.
The Prosecutor's Office is at the moment dealing with it
and I hope we will open a case for it and force the ones
who illegally got this money to return it to the republic's budget.
We developed a special program for the internet and printed media resources:
what can a young man count for?
It highlights spheres of activity for small entrepreneurs.
Many people coming to the business incubator did not know what to do generally.
They were taught there and counseled.
Many came with ready projects and thought highly of them.
So we reformed the work of the business incubator.
They are supposed to explain to a person who has never dealt with animals before how to develop the business.
Whether you are breeding cows or horses, you have to understand what exactly you want to do.
And to change the line of his business – we also render assistance in this direction.
Moreover, the commission has composed lists of everyone willing to receive it,
we've conducted a triple inspection with the municipal education departments,
the Ministry of Economy and government with the active participation of the law enforcement bodies
to prevent this money from being embezzled.
That inspection showed something, which forced us to stop the process
– out of 326 small and medium-scale entrepreneurs who were presented for my approval,
in the course of inspection, every tenth were ill-informed on the subject.
They just wanted to receive the money and pay a bribe.
We have eliminated it ourselves.
I hope that the current stage of the support program will give a good impulse to the development of small businesses.
Of course we need to fight here, we are all realists.
One cannot hope that everything will be transparent and fair but we have a certain control.
In which spheres is there any cooperation with neighboring regions,
if there is any with Chechnya and North Ossetia.
The second question is whether there are any problems at the border between Ingushetia and Georgia? Thank you.
We do not have any problems with Georgia.
We have a good Georgian Diaspora.
Historically we have very brotherly, although this word is rather banal,
very good-neighborly relations with the Georgian people.
We have 82 km of borders with Georgia and historically
we have always been living closely together and close friends.
Political issues, politics do not bother us – this is already foreign politics.
What we have today is absolutely…
Yes, I have to tell you that the leading dancers, trainers and choreographers are from Georgia.
Not only in this direction but also in others the Georgian diaspora is well represented.
There are no problems.
Also when our pilgrims travel to Khach via Verkhne-Larssk,
when they cross the Georgian border there are never any problems, only help and support.
I would like to express my special gratitude to the Ministry of Culture of Georgia for accommodating us.
There were no problems, no tensions; they connected us on their own.
From 1975 at the museum in Telavi, Georgia had fragments of Tkhaba-Yerda,
a temple from the 7th to the 9th century, one of the oldest Orthodox temples of Russia.
These fragments, six stones were kept in the museum of Telavi, where they were taken for restoration.
This year they were returned to us and we are very grateful.
I am very grateful to the Ministry of Culture and administration of the Telavi museum for preserving it,
restoring and returning it to the republic – this is a great advantage in our relations.
Certainly, concerning neighboring areas of the region in the field of the economy,
more than 80 percent of our building materials are integrated among Chechnya, Ingushetia, North Ossetia, etc.
At the moment we are renovating the airport.
About 80 percent of building materials come from North Ossetia.
Mutual integration of food products also takes place.
We are cooperating in these spheres, we have signed agreements.
Apart from that, we have a cultural exchange – in the last two months we had a powerful concert
by Chechen musicians, a concert of artists from North Ossetia, our artists also perform there.
We also have championships and exchanges in the sphere of sports.
Regarding healthcare and education,
when we have serious operations our doctors invite their colleagues from North Ossetia
and have consultations.
North Ossetia and Chechnya do the same.
At the same time, sanatoria and resorts which are in great shape in Chechnya at the moment
are frequented by our citizens who also want to get some treatment and relax.
Since we launched tomography machines, I have just seen them myself,
we have a lot of people queuing from North Ossetia, Kabardino-Balkaria and Chechnya
for a medical consultation, because we have more advanced technologies and better quality.
This is also in line with integration.
Doubtless, we also have political integration.
In all the spheres we have very warm relations with the heads of all the republics.
I am convinced that when heads of republics have warm relations,
it affects peoples and this process becomes more promising for ordinary people than for heads of republics.
How will the question of security be solved in the tourist clusters under construction?
As is well known, the question of security is a priority for tourists
and how are you planning to attract tourists to the republic?
And how are you going to solve the issue of security?
Thank you. Of course, we are laying great emphasis on this and it would be stupid to say:
"Let us first develop tourism and then think about security," it is all done together.
I only disagree with first creating security and only then doing anything,
not only tourism but any socio-economic development as well, and attract investors;
I think it should always be in a package.
I will not give examples of other leading world countries where there is unrest in the tourism sector.
No one is secure from various issues.
I would like to say that our region is the most promising regarding security.
We intentionally made it a separated area.
The laws of the Russian Federation do not prohibit, but welcome the development of tourism in these areas.
Of course we tried to maximally minimize any risks to security.
It is an absolutely closed zone, you can enter it only with passes.
But it absolutely does not hinder tourism development
and does not prevent anyone from going there for a rest.
Yes, it will be specific procedure.
The Tourism Committee or tourist firms will solve these questions with the border police,
as well as any other immediate issues.
Moreover, apart from the law enforcement bodies we will employ volunteer groups
who take security of their native areas very seriously.
Certainly, the investors who will be building various facilities
will be provided with private security companies in the areas of construction projects,
whether we are talking about ski resorts or towers – we will emphasize this point.
No doubt a bigger percentage of smaller enterprises will be given to locals,
because none of the tower complexes will be without any control,
they will be maintained by a specific family.
We will give them more privileges, they will also make a profit from the tourist towers,
but also guard their own property in the sphere of tourism.
These complex measures, I will not focus on details such as eliminations,
arrests and other special operations which we sometimes organize,
will allow us to minimize risks in the sphere of security.