President Of Tatarstan: Russia's New Centrist Party Must Profess Liberal Values

The founder of the political movement All Russia, President of Russia's republic of Tatarstan Mintimer Shaimiyev believes the centrist party that is being founded today must profess liberal values. The new party, which will be founded on the basis of All Russia and the Union of Yedinstvo and Otechestvo /Unity and Fatherland/ all-Russia public organisation must "move on towards rightist goals," i.e. towards liberalization of economy, said Shaimiyev at the 3rd Congress of the Union of Yedinstvo and Otechestvo, which opened in Moscow today. He also stressed the importance of developing small and medium-sized business and turning Russia into an exporter of science-intensive industry with a rapidly increasing income of its population. Speaking about Russia's multi-party system, Shaimiyev emphasized that it is "a basic principle of a democratic state, there is no getting away from that." "We must have decent competitors among other parties," he said.