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Daily Headline News for September 21, 2006
(Interfax News Agency Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) The following is a digest of headline news as of 5:30 p.m. on September 21, 2006: BRIC NATIONS AGREE TO WORK TOGETHER ON GLOBAL ARENA
Russia, China, India, and Brazil have agreed to work together in a new format at multilateral forums and at UN organizations, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told journalists following a meeting with the foreign ministers of Brazil and China and the Indian defense minister in New York.
"This was the first meeting in such a format. In my view, it
is an
interesting format," Lavrov said in remarks posted on the
RussianForeign Ministry's website on Thursday.
"We have agreed to continue such meetings within the framework of multilateral forums, in which our delegations will participate. We also agreed that our representatives at international organizations in New York, Geneva, Vienna and other UN capitals will compare notes from time to time, exchange information and judgments, and look to where we can cooperate to our mutual benefit in the interests of strengthening multilateral foundations in global politics," he said. POLYMETAL, ANGLOGOLD FORM JV FOR RUSSIA
Polymetal, Russia's biggest silver and second biggest gold producer, is forming a joint venture with AngloGold Ashanti, the world's third biggest gold producer, for operations in Russia and is transferring a number of Russia-based assets to the joint venture, AngloGold said. PULKOVO AIRLINES GETS EU NOTIFICATION ON POSSIBLE FLIGHT BAN
Russia's Pulkovo Airlines received official notification from the EU on September 18 warning it may possibly be put on the air carrier "black list," banning it from EU airspace, Gennady Boldyrev, acting director general, said at a press conference on Wednesday.
"In the latest year the company received 20 comments from the European Civil Aviation Commission (ECAC) concerning deviations of the technical documentation used in Russian aviation from EU standards," Boldyrev said, adding that other Russian carriers have received similar comments.
"We have been invited to a preliminary session of the European commission to be held on October 3, where we will defend our position," Boldyrev said, added that for now Pulkovo had analyzed all the EU comments and drawn conclusions.
"On some we have taken measures, and on others we have not and will not," he said.
Pulkovo, which operates about 40 aircraft, is currently merging with Rossiya airlines. SUIT TO ANNUL SAKHALIN-2 STUDY POSTPONED
Moscow's Presnensky Court has postponed until October 17 the hearing of a suit filed by natural resource watchdog Rosprirodnadzor to annul a State Environmental Expert Review (SEER) for the Sakhalin-2 feasibility study.
Rosprirodnadzor representative Dmitry Kolosov said in the court on Thursday that the Russian Natural Resource Ministry has not yet signed the decree annulling the SEER.
"If the Natural Resource Ministry decree is signed by October 17, then there will be no grounds for our suit, and it will be withdrawn," Kolosov said.
The Natural Resource Ministry decided earlier to annul decree No. 600 from July 15, 2003, approving a State Environmental Expert Review of the feasibility study for the development of the Sakhalin-2, Piltun- Astokhsky and Lunskoye fields. MOL MAY INVEST IN BLUE STREAM EXTENSION TO EUROPE
Hungarian oil and gas company MOL may invest in the construction of a gas pipeline to southern Europe through Turkey, which would enlarge the Blue Stream project, member of the Gazprom Management Committee and head of the Department of Gas Transportation, Underground Storage and Utilization Bogdan Budzulyak said.
"MOL would most probably take part in the project as an investor and a client," Budzulyak said in a recent statement. MINISTRY PROPOSES TWO MACRO-REGIONS IN EASTERN RUSSIA
The Russian Regional Development Ministry has proposed an initiative to form two eastern macro-regions: Irkutsk and Vladivostok- Khabarovsk, Regional Development Minister Vladimir Yakovlev told the 4th Baikal Economic Forum on Wednesday.
A comprehensive development program for the lower Angara River region will become the first step toward creating a Siberian macro- region, he said. Aluminum smelters, the Boguchansk hydroelectric power plant and other enterprises can become centers of development.
The East Siberia-Pacific Ocean oil pipeline, port special economic zones in Nakhodka and recreational special economic zones in the Baikal region will contribute to the effort, Yakovlev said. INVESTMENT IN FIXED CAPITAL IN RUSSIA UP 12.6% IN AUGUST
Investment in fixed capital in Russia grew 12.6% year-on-year to 410 billion rubles in August, the Federal State Statistics Service (Rosstat) said.
Analysts polled by Interfax expected fixed capital investment to grow 10.4% in August 2006.
Investment rose 9.2% year-on-year in August 2005.
Meanwhile, the overall number of unemployed people in Russia fell by 67,000 in August compared to July and totaled 5.363 million people at the end of the month, the Federal State Statistics Service (Rosstat) said.
The unemployment level thus dropped to 7.2% of the economically active population in August from 7.3% in July. ALMAZ TO SELL SIX ZUBR HOVERCRAFT TO CHINA
St. Petersburg's Almaz shipbuilding company is planning to
sign a
contract with China next year on the sale of six Zubr
air-cushionlanding ships (NATO designation Pomornik).
Project 1232.2 Zubr is the world's largest air-cushion landing ship designed to carry military hardware and landing units, to deliver them to shore and provide covering fire. MELIKIAN APPOINTED CHAIRMAN OF BANKING SUPERVISION COMMITTEE
Deputy Central Bank Chairman Gennady Melikian has been appointed chairman of the Banking Supervision Committee, the Central Bank said.
Melikian currently heads the chief inspectorate for credit organizations at the Central Bank.
First Deputy Central Bank Chairman Andrei Kozlov, who was assassinated on September 14, previously headed the Banking Supervision Committee. UDMURTNEFT SHAREHOLDERS REELECT BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Udmurtneft shareholders reelected the company's board of directors and confirmed a new auditor at a special session on September 12.
The new Udmurtneft board includes Rosneft Vice President Mikhail Stavsky, director of the Rosneft capital construction department Vadim Yegorov, director of the Rosneft department for property and corporate governance Sergei Khotochkin, Udmurtneft General Director Gani Gilayev, and three representatives of China's SINOPEC: Wu Minglin, Zhai Huihai and Ye Jifeng. FIVE POLICEMEN SHOT DEAD IN GROZNY
Five members of the Russian Interior Ministry's temporary force have been killed in a shooting in the Staropromyslovsky district of Grozny, Chechen Prosecutor Valery Kuznetsov said. CIS & BALTICS UZBEKISTAN TO GET RUSSIAN ARMS AT INTERNAL PRICES - IVANOV
Russian Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov says Uzbekistan will soon be getting Russian military equipment at internal Russian prices.
"As soon as Uzbekistan concludes the legal formalities on joining the CSTO, Uzbekistan will automatically be included in our legislation concerning supplies of Russian military equipment and weapons at internal Russian prices," Ivanov said on Wednesday night at the meeting of the Russian and Uzbek defense ministers with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Sochi. REFERENDUM ON RUSSIA-BELARUS UNION MAY BE HELD IN DECEMBER
A referendum on the further development of the Union of Russia and Belarus may be held in December, Union State Secretary Pavel Borodin told a Thursday press conference at the Interfax main office.
"In fact, everything is ready to hold the referendum and discuss the Union Constitutional Act and legislative, executive and controlling agencies," he said. SHELL MAY SIGN LARGE MINERAL DEVELOPMENT CONTRACT IN KAZAKHSTAN
Royal Dutch Shell may soon sign a contract on the development of a new field in Kazakhstan, Dutch Ambassador to Kazakhstan Klaas van der Tempel said after presenting his credentials to Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev.
"We hope that the Shell Company, which already has
certain
interests in Kazakhstan, will soon sign a very large contact
on thedevelopment of a new field," he said. EURASEC PREPARES FOR HIGH-SPEED CONTAINER RAILROAD TRAFFIC
The Eurasian Economic Community (EurAsEC) is preparing for a pilot test of high-speed container railroad traffic between Urumqi (China), Brest (Belarus) and Moscow, EurAsEC Secretary General Grigory Rapota told Interfax in Astana on Thursday.
"Technical aspects of the pilot project of high-speed
container
railroad traffic from Urumqi to Moscow and Brest are
underconsideration. The first container train may depart this year," he said. OSCE REJECTS TRANSDNIESTRIA REFERENDUM, CALLS FOR RESUMPTION OF TALKS
The leader of OSCE mission in Moldova Louis O'Neill confirmed that his organization does not recognize the referendum on independence that was held in the self-proclaimed Transdniestrian Moldovan Republic.
Speaking at a press conference in Chisinau on Wednesday, O'Neill faulted the referendum for being unilateral and claimed that democratic conditions had not been created for it, that voters had been pressured and intimidated, and therefore the voting was not free.
The organizers of the referendum neglected world opinion and the referendum questions were formulated in a very complicated manner, he said.
O'Neill said the results of the referendum demonstrated it had been undemocratic, saying it is difficult to believe that 97% of citizens might have the same position on this important issue.
The OSCE continues to support Moldova's territorial integrity and granting Transdniestria special status within the Republic of Moldova, he said.
Copyright 2006 Interfax News Agency. Source: Financial Times Information Limited.
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