Russian minister to travel to Finland to discuss bilateral economic cooperation.

HELSINKI, April 8 (Itar-Tass) -- Russian Industry and Trade Minister
Viktor Khristenko will travel to Helsinki on Thursday to discuss bilateral
economic cooperation.
During the trip, Khristenko is schedule to have talks with his Finnish
Minister of Economic Affairs Mauri Pekkarinen and representatives of
Finnish industry, and visit several enterprises, the Russian embassy in
Finland told Itar-Tass.
Russia is one of the top three economic partners of Finland. The two
countries are implementing joint projects indifferent fields: energy,
environmental protection, wood processing, information technologies, and
nanotechnologies.

.Medvedev, Obama to evaluate presidential commission, discuss key
issues.

PRAGUE, April 8 (Itar-Tass) -- Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and
U.S. President Barack Obama will meet on Thursday to evaluate the work of
the presidential commission in all fields and discuss nuclear security,
non-proliferation and international issues, presidential aide Sergei
Prikhodko said.
"Medvedev and Obama are expected to inventory the commission's work in
order to intensify practical cooperation and rivet attention to finalising
and implementing major joint projects in the trade, economic, scientific,
technical, humanitarian and cultural spheres," the presidential aide said.
The Russian-American presidential commission was set up by the
decision of the heads of state at the Moscow Summit in July 2009. At
present, the commission, coordinated by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei
Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, includes 16 working
groups covering all key aspects of cooperation between the two countries,
such as arms control and international security, counter-terrorism, fight
against illicit drug trafficking, development of business relations and
trade-economic cooperation, nuclear energy and nuclear security, civil
society, and educational and cultural exchanges.
"During the upcoming meeting, Medvedev and Obama are expected to
continue the strategic dialogue on the strengthening of the
non-proliferation regime, nuclear security, including in the context of
the forthcoming Nuclear Security Summit in Washington to take place on
April 12-13," Prikhodko said.
"International issues include Iran's nuclear programme, the Middle
East settlement, the situation in Afghanistan, the strengthening of
security in the Euro-Atlantic region, and other pressing global problems,"
the presidential aide stressed.
According to Prikhodko, "the heads of state are planning to discuss an
agenda for further contacts in 2010."
"We are working with American colleagues to determine the date of
Dmitry Medvedev's return visit to the United States after Barack Obama's
visit to Moscow in July 2009," Prikhodko said. "Now it is our turn and we
do not rule out that this issue will be specified in Prague," he added.
The Russian and U.S. leaders are also planning to meet in Washington
in April as part of the Nuclear Security Summit, in Canada in June at the
G8 and G20 summits, and in Japan in November during the APEC summit.

.French state secretary to visit Russia to kick off Nord Stream
project.

PARIS, April 8 (Itar-Tass) -- French State Secretary for Foreign Trade
Anne-Marie Idrac will travel to Russia on Thursday to attend a ceremony
that will kick off the construction of the Nord Stream gas pipeline.
In early March when Russian President Dmitry Medvedev was in France on
a state visit, the French industrial group Gaz de France-Suez and Russia's
Gazprom signed a protocol on France's participation in the project.
The document also allows Gazprom to make additional supplies of up to
1.5 billion cubic meters of natural gas top Gaz de France using Nord
Stream from 2015.
Gaz de France acquired a 9-percent stake in the Nord Stream Company
that operates the pipeline.
"Our colleagues in Gaz de France and we believe that Nord Stream will
not just strengthen cooperation between the companies, but will facilitate
the development of the energy industry on the continent and will become
another factor of success for long-term Russian-French partnership in the
gas sector," the Gazprom press service quoted Miller as saying.
"Joining the Nord Stream shareholders and increasing the purchases of
Russian natural gas will allow Gaz de France to contribute to the energy
security of Europe, including the North-West, where the group is one of
the major electricity producers and has a big portfolio of contracts with
end electricity and gas consumers," Gaz de France CEO Gerard Mestrallet
said.
In December 2006, the companies signed an agreement that extended
contracts for the supply of Russian natural gas to France till 2030. They
also agreed on additional gas supplies via Nord Stream. The amount of gas
to be supplied by the pipeline to Gaz de France under the current contract
is 2.5 billion cubic metres.
According to experts, natural gas consumption in Europe will increase
by about 200 billion cubic metres in the next decade.
-0-zak/


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