New regulations for the functioning of the world economy should be drawn up by the widest possible international representation, including up to the level of the United Nations, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on Saturday. Speaking at the closing session of the St Petersburg International Economic Forum, Medvedev said he supported the opinion of [...]
Archives: 18 June 2011
June 18, 2011
June 18, 2011
Time running out for Russian WTO accession warns minister
Russia’s accession to the World Trade Organization could be delayed for years if talks involving the Russian delegation do not succeed in resolving all the remaining issues, Russia’s Economic Development Minister Elvira Nabiullina said on Saturday. “We have to agree all the problematic issues by the end of July,” Nabiullina said, adding that among the [...]
June 18, 2011
Tunis offers Jerba island for Libya talks says Margelov
Tunis is prepared to offer the island of Jerba as a venue for talks on resolution of the situation in Libya, Russia’s Presidential Representative to Africa Mikhail Margelov said on Saturday. “Tunis is ready to offer Jerba for a round table for internal Libyan political dialogue if the Russian Federation and African Union can put [...]
June 18, 2011
Palestinian Authority fears Israeli tax transfer freeze
The Palestinian National Authority will be unable to meet its budgetary obligations if Israel again stops the transfer or tax payments from Palestinians, which make up two thirds of the monthly earnings of the Authority, the PNA said on Saturday. On Friday, Israeli Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz said Israel was ready to stop transfer of [...]
June 18, 2011
Camp for Syrian refugees put up in Iraq
A refugee camp for people who flee restive Syria has been set up in northern Iraqi province of Nainava, As-Salam TV cahnnel said on Saturday. The camp may host up to 4,000 people, but only six families are now living there. Syrian rights organizations have estimated that some 1,300 people have been killed and more [...]
June 18, 2011
Chinese president arrives in Ukraine for talks with Yanukovych
A Chinese delegation headed by President Hu Jintao on Saturday arrived in Crimea where to meet with Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, a RIA Novosti correspondent said. “China and Ukraine are good partners and friends. During the visit we will outline a plan for our relations’ development, share opinions on sensitive international and regional issues,” the [...]
June 18, 2011
Russia, Spain plan to reach $10 bln. turnover
Russia and Spain are going to increase their annual trade turnover to $10 billion, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on Saturday at a meeting with Spanish business elites. At the beginning of the meeting Medvedev said that in 2010 the mutual turnover topped $7 billion, which is 40 percent higher than in 2009. “But it [...]
June 18, 2011
MIT to help set up Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Skolkovo Foundation on Saturday signed a preliminary agreement to establish Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology (SIST), Skolkovo President Viktor Vekselberg said. The agreement, which was signed at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, plans a three-year collaboration between MIT and the Skolkovo Foundation. It is a preliminary statement [...]
June 18, 2011
Iran’s Bushehr plant almost ready
Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant is almost constructed, an all of the works are on schedule, Director of state-owned Rosatom nuclear energy company Sergey Kirienko said on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg Economic Forum on Saturday. “We have an agreed schedule, all of the works are on their final stages…We’ve sent a large group [...]
June 18, 2011
Medvedev promises announcement soon on running for presidency
President Dmitry Medvedev said on Saturday he will announce soon “in a special format” whether he will stand for the Russia presidency a second time in the March 2012 elections.“At the moment when I consider it correct to say directly, whether I will or not, I will go out and do it,” Medvedev said at [...]
June 18, 2011
Broadband boosts democracy says Google chairman
Governments should pursue the goal of adoption of wireless and wired broadband Internet access, as Internet penetration boosts the democratic process, Google’s Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt said at the International Economic forum in St. Petersburg on June 17. “The adoption of fast broadband connection for every city is pro-democratic, pro-citizen, pro-exports and pro-global. It is [...]
June 18, 2011
Government won’t raise payroll taxes again says Kudrin
The Russian government does not plan to increase payroll taxes for social non-budget funds after 2013, including pension funds, Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said on Saturday. President Dmitry Medvedev announced on Friday that the maximum rate for payroll taxes in Russia from 2012 would be reduced to 30 percent from the current 34 percent, and [...]
June 18, 2011
USA beats Russia 32-25 in rugby
The United States Eagles beat Russia 32-25 in a match for fifth place in the Churchill Cup rugby tournament on Saturday in Worcester, England. Russia scored three tries in the match. The result is Russia’s third loss in a row in the tournament, in which second tier rugby nations compete. Russia also went down to [...]
June 18, 2011
Kudrin proposes privatization of 10 pct stake in Alrosa
Russia is to privatize a ten percent stake in Russia’s diamond miner Alrosa by 2012-13, Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said on Saturday. “I will take the decision on privatizing a ten percent stake in the next two years,” Kudrin said, adding he thought the government should maintain a blocking stake in the diamond monopoly. He [...]