Within participation in the primaries in the Republic of Bashkortostan Viktor KLIMOV the Vice President of OPORA RUSSIA has visited the technical park of the city of Sterlitamak, i.e. the Sterlitamak Production and Technological Center (SPTC). The visit goal was acquaintance with the basic aspects of the technical park and its resident’s activity including the small enterprises.

This is the real opportunity to obtain the information on the main needs and problems of small innovative business from at first hand as the Vice President of OPORA believes. Such meetings are useful for everybody who is involved in the process including the representatives of the institutions of local government of Sterlitamak. The city administration takes an active part to support the technological park, which is pride and driver of the production development of the municipality.

As it was reported by the administration leader office, the technological park was established in 2007 and its area amounted to 34 thousand of square meters. The production building of the Tannery Shoe Factory, which went through bankruptcy and auction served as a base for SPTC. Currently eight enterprises including three hundred persons are established in the technological park. Beginning from 2008 the park shows stable development growth: in 2008 the receipts volume was 170 mln rub, and in 2010 it amounted to 1300 mln rub. It is expected to increase twice this number during the current year.

Speaking about the perspectives of the technological park development and about its residents, the Vice President of OPORA paid special attention to the most urgent problems of the enterprises. First of all, the matter involves high shortage of the skilled personnel, i.e. the chemical engineers, which are not trained actually by the region.

The other problem is dependence from the foreign raw materials. Only twenty percents of the raw materials are supplied from the Bashkir factory Kaustika and the other materials are delivered from America, India, China and the other countries.

In relation to this problem one of the most topical one for Bashplast is imperfection of the customs legislation, which does not allow developing the market competitive conditions. As it was explained in the administration of Sterlitamak the enterprise need over five hundred thousand of the raw materials per a year (slurry PVC) in the conditions of the total deficit of the Russian market. And the customs duty for PVC amounts to ten percents.

In the opinion of Viktor KLIMOV who assessed the situation from the point of view of the organization (interacting with the authority representatives in the legislation area during ten years), a separate work with the legislation is required in the republic and at the federal level to change the situation, i.e. to make cooperation profitable and competitive.

OPORA is ready to join the development of the related subject with the aim to protect the interests of the domestic manufacturers in the area of high-end products, which are really innovative ones.