About Kazan

Kazan (lat. Qazan) is a city in the Russian Federation, the capital of the Republic of Tatarstan, a large harbor on the left bank of the Volga River where it meets the Kazanka River. It is one of the largest religious, economic, political, scientific, educational, cultural and sports centers of Russia. The Kazan Kremlin is one of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites. The city has a registered brand-name of the “Third Capital of Russia”. Kazan celebrated its millennium in 2005.

Kazan now is one of the most developed cities in Russia in terms of sports. In 2011 Kazan held European Championship in weightlifting. In 2013 the city hosted XXVII World Summer Universiade. In 2014 it held World Championship in fencing. In 2015 Kazan arranged Aquatics World Championship. In 2017 – 2018 the city will hold FIFA Confederations Cup and FIFA World Cup.

In 2014 Kazan ranked the 8th in the world and the 3rd in Europe as the most rapidly developing tourist attraction according to the rating of a TripAdvisor web-site. In 2015 Kazan was among the most popular top-three tourist destinations for celebrating New Year holidays. It also ranked the 4th in the tourist rating of the most popular Russian cities. In 2015 Kazan was visited by 2.1 million tourists.

Kazan is one of the oldest centers of Eurasian civilization on Earth, the city of unique monuments of the past which is famous for its traditions – academic, scientific and cultural. More than one generation of Great educators and poets, scientists and masters, heroes and commanders have risen on the Kazan Earth. The history of Kazan-city is associated with the names, fates and fortunes of such great people as G. Derzhavin, A. Pushkin, F. Shalyapin, L. Tolstoy, N. Lobachevskiy, G. Tukai and many others.

Kazan is truly a city of contrasts, “a meeting point of two worlds”, as Alexander Herzen, the renowned Russian publicist, writer and philosopher wrote. “And that’s why Kazan has two origins: western and eastern ones and you can meet them at each crossroad: here, because of continuous interaction, they were compressed, became good friends, and turned into something very original at its nature”. Kazan has been an intermediary for trading between East and West since ancient times. Today it plays a major role in political, economic and international ties. The translation of  Tatar qazan is a “boiler” or “cauldron”. The name itself is explained historically: the life of representatives of over 101 nationalities is literally boiling here. People of different religions and nationalities have learned to live in peace and harmony after getting over numerous historic periods in their development. Today Kazan and Tatarstan are a shining example of peace among different confessions and nationalities!

About Tatarstan

Tatarstan is one of the most developed regions in Russia and it ranks the first in Russia in investment climate. According to preliminary estimates, output of gross regional product in 2016 was 1.9 trillion rubles; this rate is higher by 1.3% than the same rate in 2015. And manufacturing activity makes up about 20 %. Tatarstan is divided into three parts, - Kazan agglomeration with machine engineering plants, helicopter engineering plants, gas and chemical enterprises, Kama agglomeration with big oil-refining and petrochemical enterprises, and Almetievsk region, where main oil industrial enterprises are located. In 2016, foreign trade turnover of the Rebublic of Tatarstan made up 13 bln. USD, about 1 bln. USD of which is with Germany. 

Tatarstan is interested in the expansion of mutually beneficial cooperation with European companies, Germany in particular, that has traditionally occupied the leading position on the world markets in many sectors of the economy.

About Russia

Russia is the largest country in the world with a surface area of 6,592,800 square metres, covering more than one-eighth of the Earth's inhabited land area, and the ninth most populous, with over 144 million people at the end of March 2016. The European western part of the country is much more populated and urbanised than the eastern; about 77% of the population live in European Russia. Russia's capital Moscow is one of the largest cities in the world; other major urban centers include Saint Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Yekaterinburg, Nizhny Novgorod and Kazan.

Extending across the entirety of Northern Asia and much of Eastern Europe, Russia spans eleven time zones and incorporates a wide range of environments and landforms. From northwest to southeast, Russia shares land borders with Norway, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland (both with Kaliningrad Oblast), Belarus, Ukraine, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, China, Mongolia, and North Korea. It shares maritime borders with Japan by the Sea of Okhotsk and the U.S. state of Alaska across the Bering Strait.