I. Metshin: "Our goal is to provide maximum assistance to the entrepreneurs"

(Kazan, KZN.RU, March 16, by Adelya Galieva) The main challenge facing the Executive Committee of Kazan is providing maximum assistance to businesses affected by the fire in the "Admiral" shopping center. It is important to work individually with each of the affected tradesperson and to provide specific assistance to him or her. This opinion was expressed by Mayor of Kazan Ilsur Metshin at today's Business Monday meeting.

The deputy head of the Kazan Executive Committee for economic development, Ivan Kuznetsov, spoke  about the kind of support provided to the businesses at the moment. He recalled that a decision to establish a headquarters to deal with the aftermath of the fire in one of Kazan's largest shopping centers with more than 1,100 retail spaces was taken on the day of the accident.

According to the deputy head of the Executive Committee, an integral data base was created to ensure  effective measures in support of the entrepreneurs. According to the available data, there were 562 tradespeople leasing 1,064 retail spaces in the "Admiral", 33 of them losing documents and passports in the fire. Every other entrepreneur had a loan, the total amount of loaned money equaling more than 400 million rubles. As I.Kuznetsov noted, two kinds of assistance are being currently discussed: the possibility of postponing payments on the loan and the development of new financial support instruments.

According to him, many city entrepreneurs are willing to provide assistance and wonder where funds can be remitted. In this connection,  a charity fund has been established with the Tatarstan Ombudsman's support to assist the entrepreneurs, who will manage the fund themselves.

"Our current goal is to provide maximum assistance to the entrepreneurs," said Ilsur Metshin. The mayor expressed his confidence that the authorities will conduct a thorough investigation and identify the causes of the accident. "The causes should be found, and the culprits should suffer the most severe punishment," said the mayor. In conclusion, he supported the initiative to establish a fund to assist the  entrepreneurs and called on the business community to voluntarily participate in this endeavor.