ADB to finance Turkmen section of Kazakh-Iran railway.

ASHKHABAD, February 19 (Itar-Tass) -- The Asian Development Bank
agreed on Thursday to loan 225 million dollars to Turkmenistan for the
construction of a 200-kilometer section of the North-South railroad that
is to link Kazakhstan and Iran.

Turkmen government press service said the loan was agreed by President
Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov and ADB President Haruhiko Kuroda.
The signed memorandum of understanding concerns the construction of
the railway linking Bereket-Gyzylgan in Uzbekistan with Uzen in
Kazakhstan. It is the northern part of the Turkmen section that totals 460
kilometers. The funds will go to build the track and buy railway engines
and equipment.
The Islamic Development Bank is financing the construction of the
southern Turkmen section of the railway. In December 2009 it provided 371
million dollars for the construction of the Bereket-Etrek 256.5
kilometer-long railway to Iran.
Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Iran signed the agreement to build the
Uzen-Gyzylgan-Bereket-Etrek-Gorgan railway in October 2007. The
North-South corridor is some 700 kilometers long with Kazakhstan having
140 kilometers, Turkmenistan - 460, and Iran - 90. The start-up is
scheduled for December 2011.

.Russian defense minister to discuss cooperation with Finland.

HELSINKI, February 19 (Itar-Tass) -- Russian Defense Minister Anatoly
Serdyukov will meet Finnish President Tarja Halonen and Defense Minister
Jyri Hakamies on Friday to discuss regional security and bilateral
military cooperation, his spokeswoman Irina Kovalchuk said.
The Russian Defense ministry recalled that up to 2000
military-technical cooperation with Finland was based on annual protocols
for Russian arms deliveries against payments with Finnish goods. However,
Finland stopped appropriating budget funds for military-technical
cooperation with Russia and insists that Russia can supply its arms only
as repayment of its sovereign debt to Finland.
As for violations of Finland's air space by Russian military cargo
planes in 2006-2007, the ministry said the problem has been settled. It
said the violations occurred because of a narrow corridor (only 9
kilometers). In 2007 and 2008 Finnish, Estonian and Russian experts held
consultations on air traffic over the Gulf of Finland and agreed concrete
measures to prevent such violations.
"The Finnish side has voiced no claims since then," the ministry said.

.Russia's Sechin to discuss gas prices, NPP in Turkey.

ANKARA, February 19 (Itar-Tass) -- Russian Deputy Prime Minister Igor
Sechin in charge of energy issues will discuss on Friday natural gas
delivery terms to Turkey, the construction of new oil and gas pipelines,
as well as Russian participation in the construction of a planned nuclear
power plant in the country.
Turkish Energy and Natural Resources Minister Taner Yildiz said his
country wants to lower prices for Russian natural gas and revise gas
supply contracts based on "take-or-pay" principle.
The nuclear power plant issue is also of significance, as Turkey
cancelled in 2009 the tender for its construction in the Mediterranean
port of Mersin. A Russian-Turkish consortium bid at the tender and
proposed to build four reactors with a total capacity of up to five
gigawatt. Turkey later said it is interested in the NPP and may shortly
resume the construction plan. Russia is interested in cooperation,
according to Sechin.
The talks will also focus on such energy projects, as Blue Stream-2
gas pipeline, Samsun-Ceyhan oil pipeline, and the South Stream gas
pipeline. Turkey allowed research for the latter project in its
territorial waters in the Black Sea.
Sechin is accompanied by Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko, chief
executive officers of Transneft Nikolai Tokarev, Rosneft Sergei
Bogdanchikov, Atomstroiexport Dan Belenky, Gazprom Deputy CEO Valery
Golubev, and Rosatom representatives.
Bilateral trade turnover exceeds 33 billion dollars, but Moscow and
Ankara say it is possible to raise it to 100 billion.

.India puts into service Russian MiG fighters for aircraft carrier.

HANSA AIR BASE, February 19 (Itar-Tass) -- India will on Friday make
operational the first batch of Russian MiG-29K fighters for the aircraft
carrier "Vikramaditya" (former "Admiral Gorshkov"), which was sold to
India several years ago and is currently being upgraded at the Sevmash
shipyards in Severodvinsk. The carrier is expected to join the Indian navy
in 2012 and in the meantime the fighters united in the Black Panther wing
will be deployed at Hansa air base.
Indian Defense Minister Shri A K Antony and Russian Industry Ministry
Viktor Khristenko will attend the ceremony. Russia-trained Indian pilots
will fly the MiGs.
The contract for 16 MiG-29K is a part of the Admiral Gorshkov
1.5-billion dollar deal signed in 2004. Aircraft purchases account for 526
million dollars.
Alexander Fomin, deputy head of the Russian Federal Service for
Military and Technical Cooperation, which supervises arms trade, told Tass
the ceremony "will be a major event illustrating the level of our military
and technical relations."
"It is a further step to strengthen our relations and the defense
might of India," he said.
India is expected to buy yet another batch of 29 MiG-29K fighters
worth 1.2 billion dollars. Fomin said the deal is likely in a month.
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