Russian deputies, American congressmen to hold joint meeting

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23/2 Tass 4

MOSCOW, February 23 (Itar-Tass) - A delegation of Russian deputies
will on Tuesday take part in the 5th joint meeting of the Foreign Affairs
Committee of the Russian State Duma and the U.S. House Committee on
Foreign Affairs in Washington.
Konstantin Kosachev, the head of the State Duma Committee for Foreign
Affairs, told journalists before the departure that the agenda would
consist of traditional questions of Russian-American relations.
"They include trade and economic (energy dialogue and protection of
intellectual property rights) and humanitarian cooperation, regional
stability problems (Iran, the Middle East, Afghanistan and NATO), arms
control and non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction," Kosachev
said.
According to Kosachev, the Russian representatives would raise the
subject of deployment of the elements of the U.S. anti-missile defence
shield in Romania and ,possibly, in Bulgaria.
"Naturally, we are going to offer this theme to our American
colleagues as the first subject for discussion," Kosachev said.
He noted that the anti-missile defence plans didn't fit in into a
declared line of 'resetting' the Russian-American relations.
" In this part, it consisted in the agreement of the two presidents to
assess the degree of threats to the United States, Europe and Russia and
then agree on joint actions or at least reach some kind of understanding
with regards to unilateral actions that may be taken by either of the
parties," Kosachev explained adding the United States was playing a double
game.
During their stay in Washington, Kosachev and the Russian deputies
will hold consultations with the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign
Relations with an aim to synchronize the ratification procedures of a
future START treaty as well as a number of meetings at the National
Security Council and the U.S. State Department.
As for trade and economic cooperation, the Jackson-Vanik amendment is
supposed to be the main subject for parliamentary negotiations. Leonid
Slutsky, the first deputy head of the Duma Committee for International
Affairs, has described the amendment as a 'petrified anachronism' that in
fact doesn't affect the nature of trade between Russia and the United
States.
"Today, the amendment is a problem of political trust and there are
chances that it's going to be officially lifted, especially with account
taken of the statements made by U.S. President Barack Obama," Slutsky went
on to say. He believes that the amendment's cancellation would become one
of the best symbols of 'resetting' Russian-American relations.
"The most important thing is that logic, pragmatism and sober sense
helps our colleagues on Capitol Hill," Slutsky said.
The format of a joint meeting of foreign policy committees was created
five years ago and has turned into a full-fledged ground for discussion,
contributing to development of meaningful and effective Russian-American
dialogue.
The last meeting between Russian deputies and American congressmen was
held at the Russian State Duma in June 2008.

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. First Olympic Alpine mountain ski facility to be ready by 2011.
23/2 Tass 41

VANCOUVER, February 23 (Itar-Tass) - The Roza Khutor Alpine Ski
mountain resort will become the first Olympic facility of the 2014 Olympic
Games to host test competitions, Russian Vice-Premier Alexander Zhukov
said at the Main Olympic Centre in Vancouver on Monday.
"This is a unique project for Russia since it hasn't had a single
world-class Alpine ski resort so far. Test competitions will be held there
in February 2011 and the Cup of Russia will be held in December. The works
are going according to schedule," Zhukov went on to say.
Zhukov said he was sure that alpine ski courses at Roza Khutor would
become an important heritage of the Sochi Olympic Games.
For his part, the president of the Sochi-2014 Organising Committee,
Dmitry Chernyshenko, said that he was satisfied with the results achieved
at this stage of construction.
"We are sure that the quality of vital facilities like the Olympic
mountain village and the Alpine centre will be top class," Chernyshenko
emphasized.
Vladimir Potanin, the president of Interros holdings, recalled that
the company's total investments in the construction of Olympic facilities
had reached two billion dollars, of which 1.5 billion are meant for the
construction of the Mountain Cluster.
"The project is difficult. We started it from scratch. It provides for
the construction of six facilities, including four in the Mountain
Cluster, as well as a complex of hotels and an International Olympic
University.
"We will certainly use the Canadian experience. The resort's
construction plans pay great attention to environmental programs. Together
with the World Wildlife Fund we are helping to revive extinct species,
such as leopards, at the local natural reserve," Potanin emphasized.

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