Ukraine, RF presidents to discuss energy, aircraft building coop.

KHARKOV, April 21 (Itar-Tass) - Ukrainian and Russian Presidents
Viktor Yanukovich and Dmitry Medvedev intend to discuss here on Wednesday
issues of cooperation in the energy industry and aircraft building spheres.
The two heads of state are expected to summarise the results of the
complicated negotiations in the lowering of Russian natural gas prices for
Ukraine that have been held for more than a month. On Tuesday, the final
details of the gas agreements were coordinated in Moscow by the two
countries' Prime Ministers - Vladimir Putin and Nikolai Azarov.
The cooperation prospect in the sphere of aircraft building will
become one of the main issues on the agenda of the Medvedev-Yanukovich
meeting. They intend to discuss it "in an in-service regime" in the full
sense - at the Kharkov State Aviation Production Enterprise, more commonly
known as the Kharkov Aviation Plant. Created in 1926 the plant is
currently going through an uneasy period, while it can participate in the
creation of the An-148 jet plane that is designed to replace Tu-134. So
the enterprise personnel hopefully expect the results of the two
presidents' talks.
Medvedev and Yanukovich may also touch upon the issue of integration
of the two countries' aviation industry complexes. President of the
Russian United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) Alexei Fyodorov told journalists
in Kiev on Tuesday that the "sides have repeatedly confirmed the interest
in the integration of their aircraft building industries." "This is,
perhaps, the most crucial question for us," he said. According to him,
"the integration mechanism is currently under discussion." Fyodorov
explained that the state status of Ukrainian aviation plants does not
allow the project's implementation, therefore the top priority task is
their corporatisation.
Another issue considered at the meeting is likely to be the trade
relations' problem. Ukraine, in particular, wants to increase the quota on
the supply of steel pipes. Russian experts propose to set it at the level
of 210-220 thousand tonnes per year, while Ukrainian enterprises ask
additional permission for the export of another 40-50 thousand tonnes of
the product.
After the victory at the Ukrainian presidential election in February
Viktor Yanukovich set the task of returning the volumes of trade with
Russia to the level of 40 billion US dollars. In 2009 due to the economic
crisis the trade turnover volume between the two countries dropped to 21.7
billion US dollars. The export dropped by 46 percent, import - by 31.8
percent. This year a considerable growth in the bilateral trade has been
observed, including owing to the low comparison basis. Ukraine's exports
increased in January-February against the same period of 2009 by 56.3
percent and exceeded 1.5 billion US dollars. The volumes of Ukraine's
imports from Russia increased 2.4 times to reach 2.8 billion US dollars.
According to Russian presidential aide Sergei Prikhodko, Medvedev will
be accompanied on his visit by RF presidential administration chief Sergei
Naryshkin, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, First Vice Prime Minister Igor
Sechin and Prikhodko. Also head of the Krasnodar Territory Alexander
Tkachyov, governor of the Belgorod region Yevgeny Savchenko, governor of
the Voronezh region Alexei Gordeyev, governor of the Kursk region
Alexander Mikhailov and governor of the Rostov region Vladimir Chub will
also arrive in Kharkov.
Prikhodko noted that the trip to Kharkov is "a stage of the
preparation of the RF president's official visit to Ukraine scheduled for
the second ten-day period of May. However, before Medvedev's official
visit to Ukraine the two leaders will meet on May 8-9 at jubilee events on
the VE-Day occasion, and they also plan to take part in an informal summit
of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) in Moscow on May 8, the
official noted.
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.Australia FM to discuss investment coop prospects in Moscow.

MOSCOW, April 21 (Itar-Tass) - Australian Foreign Minister Stephen
Smith who arrived in the Russian capital on a working visit on Tuesday
will discuss in Moscow on Wednesday prospects for investment cooperation
and interaction in the energy industry sphere and in agriculture.
Russia and Australia have reached "certain successes in the
trade-economic interaction sphere," Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman
Andrei Nesterenko said. "In particular, the bilateral cooperation in such
spheres as the mining industry, agriculture and energy industry has
received further development," he explained. "Positive dynamics in the
investment cooperation is also observed." "By the 2009 results the trade
turnover between Russia and Australia reached 643.1 million US dollars,"
the diplomat said.
The Australian guest's talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei
Lavrov are planned for Thursday, April 22. "Priority attention at the
meeting will be given to important issues of the bilateral agenda,
including deepening of the bilateral economic ties, improvement of the
contractual legal framework, the two countries' interaction in the
Antarctic sphere," Nesterenko stressed.
The talks' agenda also includes issues of non-proliferation of nuclear
weapons and disarmament, including the Iranian nuclear programme and
problem of the Korean Peninsula, preparation of the NPT Review Conference.
The ministers will also touch upon the climate change problem in the
post-Kyoto period, including with taking into account the Australian Prime
Minister Kevin Rudd's initiative on the creation of the international
institute for the working out of technologies of catchment and storage of
hydrocarbons.
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