UN SG to discuss Russia-UN cooperation, Mideast, Afghanistan, Iran, Sudan.

MOSCOW, March 18 (Itar-Tass) -- U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
will meet Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow on Thursday to
discuss interaction between Russia and the U.N., as well as the situation
in the Middle East, Afghanistan, Iraq, and Sudan.


Ban Ki-moon and Lavrov will discuss "the search for solutions to the
problems facing the international community through the prism of the need
for a stronger central and coordinating role of the U.N.," Foreign
Ministry spokesman Andrei Nesterenko said.
The participants will also discuss such important issues as the
situation in the Middle East, the settlement in Iraq, the situation in
Sudan, nuclear non-proliferation, disarmament, and U.N. humanitarian
assistance.
A joint statement on cooperation between the U.N. Secretariat and the
Secretariat of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation will be signed
by their heads, Ban Ki-moon and Nikolai Bordyuzha.
On Friday, March 19, Ban Ki-moon will attend a ministerial meeting of
the Quartet of international mediators.
He expressed hope that the meeting would give a new boost to the
dialogue between Israelis and Palestinians and inspire them to resume
direct talks as soon as possible.
"The meeting is called in order to discuss the difficult situation
that has formed in the Middle East settlement process, as well as ideas
that the Quartet may offer the sides in order to create conditions for the
talks' resumption," Lavrov said earlier.
The Quartet on the Middle East, sometimes called the Diplomatic
Quartet or Madrid Quartet or simply the Quartet, is a foursome of nations
and international and supranational entities involved in mediating the
peace process in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

.Unit No 2 at Volgodonsk NPP to generate first electricity Thursday.

MOSCOW, March 18 (Itar-Tass) -- Unit No. 2 at the Volgodonsk nuclear
power plant in southern Russia will generate the first electricity on
Thursday.
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Rosatom head Sergei Kiriyenko will
attend the unit No. 2 commissioning ceremony.
The integrated energy system of South Russia and the North Caucasus,
which incorporates the Volgodonsk nuclear power plant, supplies
electricity to 11 regions with a population of 17.7 million people.
"Currently, only one unit with a VVER-1000 reactor with a capacity of
1.035 megawatts is in operation. It generates about 15 percent of the
annual output of electricity in South Russia," Rosatom said.
The Volgodonsk nuclear power plant "is a unified project employing
VVER-1000 reactors that are built not only in Russia but in several other
countries as well.
The construction of unit No. 2 began in 2006 and proceeded at an
accelerated pace. Rosatom hopes that the commissioning of unit No. 2, to
be followed by unit No.3 in 2014, will "make a contribution to the success
of the Winter Olympic Games in Sochi".
"The capital of the 2014 Olympics will have no electricity problems
thanks to the capacity of these two new units of the Volgodonsk nuclear
power plant," experts said.
The power plant's all four units should start operating at full
capacity in 2016.
The commercial launch of a new power unit at the Rostov nuclear power
plant in 2010 will create new jobs and generate more tax revenue for the
federal and regional budgets, Vice Prime Minister Sergei Sobyanin said
earlier.
In late December 2009, Sobyanian watched the first fuel assembly being
loaded into power unit No. 2.
"Today's event is very important for the atomic industry," he said.

.Latvian PM ready to lead minority government.

RIGA, March 18 (Itar-Tass) -- Latvian Prime Minister Valdis
Dombrovskis said he was ready to lead a minority government.
"I am ready to run a minority government," Dombrovskis said on
Wednesday.
He said consultations with parties on possible cooperation would begin
on March 18. "Consultations will begin tomorrow. We have to act promptly,"
he added.
Following the People's Party's secession from the government, the
other political forces from the ruling coalition have stated their
readiness to work in the minority government led by Dombrovskis, but
admitted that the People's Party's decision has surprised them.
In order to ensure the stability of the government, the ruling
coalition has decided to have talks with the opposition Latvian First
Party/Latvian Way, which has formed a ruling coalition with the biggest
Russian-speaking Harmony Centre in the Riga Duma, and its leader, Ainars
Slesers, is Riga Vice Mayor.
Being in opposition, the Harmony Centre has nevertheless expressed
readiness to support the Dombrovskis government but only if it starts
drafting a budget for 2011 immediately.
"The Harmony Centre is ready to sacrifice its rating by supporting in
all possible ways the minority government led by Dombrovskis if it tells
society before the elections what decisions will be in store for Latvia
after the adoption of the budget for next year," One of the Harmony Centre
leaders, Janis Urbanovic, who heads the centre's parliamentary faction,
said.
-0-zak/


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