Super Cup Rubin-CSKA match opens Russian football season.

MOSCOW, March 7 (Itar-Tass) -- A Super Cup match between the
Kazan-based Rubin and Moscow's CSKA opens Russia's new football season on
Sunday.
The match will start in Luzhniki Bigger Sport Arena at 14:00 Moscow
time. Referee Stanislav Sukhina will be assisted by Alexei Kharlamov and
Igor Lapidus.
The Super Cup match has been opening the football season since 2003.
The Cup is contended by the Russian champion and the winner of Russian Cup
of the previous year. In the first six seasons, the Super Cup was won by
the national champion, while in 2009, CSKA, the winner of the Cup of
Russia, broke the tradition. CSKA won four Super Cups, in 2004, 2006, 2007
and in 2009.
The Super Cup is a challenge prize, so only its copy is handed over to
the winner. But if a club wins the Cup for three times running or five
times in all, the prize stays with the club.

.Chinese deputy chairman to visit Russia in March.

BEIJING, March 7 (Itar-Tass) -- Chinese deputy chairman Xi Jingping
will pay an official visit to Moscow in March, Chinese Foreign Minister
Yang Jiechi told journalists on Sunday.
During his visit, Xi Jingping will attend the opening ceremony of the
Year of the Chinese Language in Russia.
The Chinese foreign minister said relations with Russia were of "top
priority for China" and expressed the hope for their further devlopment.

.Chinese foreign minister calls relations with Russia top priority.

BEIJING, March 7 (Itar-Tass) -- Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi
said on Sunday relations with Russia were of top priority for Beijing.
"The Chinese-Russian relations of strategic partnership are an example
of international relations, especially of relations between great powers,"
the Chinese minister told journalists within the framework of the
parliamentary session. "At the current stage these relations are
characterised as mature, stable, healthy and energetic."
According to Yang Jiechi, this year, the two sides will exchange
visits and hold talks between heads of state, heads of government and
parliamentary speakers. Thus, Chinese deputy chairman Xi Jinping will pay
an official visit to Moscow and will attend the opening ceremony of the
Year of the Chinese Language in Russia.
The Chinese foreign minister expressed the hope Chinese-Russian summit
meetings will promote further progress of the bilateral relations, which
are bound to become "better and better."
Yang Jiechi hailed the Russian-Chinese agreement on Russian oil
supplies. According to the minister, construction of an oil pipeline from
Russia to China is expected to be completed by the end of 2010, and in
early 2011 the pipeline will start pumping oil.

.Chinese foreign minister says cooperation with Russia has vast
potential.

BEIJING, March 7 (Itar-Tass) -- Cooperation between China and Russia "
has a vast practical potential, Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said
on Sunday.
"The two countries support each other in issues of basic interest.
Russia and China have identical or similar stands on many international
and regional problems, they maintain close contacts with each other," the
minister said.
In 2009, China and Russia signed a number of agreements in the spheres
of power supplies, oil, gas, coal, nuclear power generation and high-speed
railways, he noted.

.Russian economy becoming more attractive to investors-expert.
7/3 Tass 044

OTTAWA, March 7 (Itar-Tass) -- Russia's economy is showing positive
tendencies, it has resumed its attractiveness for investors, National Post
columnist David Pett said in his feature.
Unlike China, Brazil or India, a group of countries with emerging
economies known under the acronym BRIC, Russia used to attract much less
attention, however, in 2009 it demonstrated impressive advance. Having
stable basic economic indexes and still attractive possibilities, Russia
is likely to repeat this success in the future, he wrote.
According to the columnist, in the height of the financial crisis, the
Moscow Stock Exchange index dropped by 74 percent in five months,
afterwards it has sky rocketed by 175 percent, more than in any other BRIC
state, even Brazil, where such index went up by 130 percent.
Russia's economic growth rates are expected to reach four to six
percent in 2010, which is less than in India (seven percent) or China (9.5
percent), but still higher than in industrially developed countries,
including Canada, which expects growth rates of 2.6 percent, he maintained.
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