Margelov visits Israel to boost parliamentary ties.

TEL AVIV, January 18 (Itar-Tass) - The head of the Federation Council'
s international affairs committee, Mikhail Margelov, arrived in Israel on
Sunday to step up interparliamentary relations, an official in the Russian
delegation told Itar-Tass.

"This visit is aimed at strengthening relations between the Federation
Council and Israel's parliament. The visit was initiated on one hand by
Margelov and on the other hand - by Israeli parliamentarians Zeev Elkin
and Robert Ilatov (who are co-chairs of the Israel-Russia Parliamentary
Friendship Association)," Margelov's spokeswoman Varvara Paal said.
On Monday, Margelov will meet with parliamentary speaker Reuven Rivlin
and on Tuesday - with Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman.
On Wednesday, the Russian parliamentarian is expected to meet with
President Shimon Peres, Defence Minister Ehud Barak and parliamentary
opposition leader Tzipi Livni.
On Thursday, Margelov will meet in Ramallah with Palestinian National
Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and will attend a friendly football
match between Russian and Palestinian teams.



.Yanukovich leads presidential race - preliminary results.

KIEV, January 18 (Itar-Tass) - The head of Ukraine's opposition Party
of Regions, Viktor Yanukovich, leads the country's presidential election
with 33.99 percent of votes, according to the first preliminary results
from the central election commission.
Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko comes second with 29.50 percent.
The election returns cannot be considered legally competent as only
0.5 percent of protocols from the election commissions have been processed.
The counting of votes continues in Ukraine.


.Mironov to speak at Asia-Pacific Parliamentary Forum session.

SINGAPORE, January 18 (Itar-Tass) - Russian Federation Council speaker
Sergei Mironov will make a speech at the session of the Asia-Pacific
Parliamentary Forum in Singapore and will meet with the country's
authorities.
The delegation of the upper house of Russian parliament led by the
speaker will take part in the annual session of the Asia-Pacific
Parliamentary Forum that opens on Monday.
Parliamentarians should draft proposals to ensure legislative support
for the ways of getting out of the crisis - these issues were discussed at
the APEC summit in Singapore last November, Mironov told Itar-Tass.
"We should draft proposals for translating into reality decisions made
at the summit taking into account national programs of every country and
common interests," he said.
He recalled that at the APEC summit Russian President Dmitry Medvedev
stressed that the crisis can be overcome only through broad international
cooperation. The Federation Council's delegation prepared two draft
resolutions on anti-crisis measures and energy security.
The Federation Council speaker will make a report on political and
security problems in the region on the first day of the session.
"The countries face common tasks of overcoming negative trends in
economy, the financial sector, environment, the fight against terrorism
and local conflicts; territorial claims and unresolved disputes exist,"
Mironov said.
He stressed that to resolve these problems "everything should be calm
in our common home and targeted at tackling all, even the most acute
contradictions."
Mironov expressed confidence that the role of the Asia-Pacific Region
"will grow in the world." At present, the region accounts for over 50
percent of the world GDP and around 50 percent of the global trade.
During his visit to Singapore Mironov will meet with the country's
president, prime minister, parliamentary speaker and business
representatives.
"I would like to study Singapore's achievements in information
technologies, in particular a program similar to our electronic
government," the speaker said adding that "the country's experience in
tight and effective fight against corruption" is also interesting.
The Asia-Pacific Parliamentary Forum was set up in January 1993. It
brings together 27 countries. Laos hosted the previous session. Three
years ago parliamentarians met in Moscow.

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