New oil refinery in Tatarstan to be commissioned in autumn.

KAZAN, May 6 (Itar-Tass) -- A new oil refinery in Tatarstan will be
commissioned this autumn, the republic's President Rustam Minnikhanov said.
"The plant should be launched in the autumn. One hundred-forty billion
roubles have been used, and 200 billion roubles will be used by the end of
the year," the president said at a working meeting with Prime Minister
Vladimir Putin.
According to Minnikhanov, the oil refinery's capacity will grow to 20
million tonnes.

.Putin opens seven sport facilities in Kazan.

KAZAN, May 6 (Itar-Tass) -- Prime Minister Vladimir Putin opened seven
new sport facilities in Kazan on Wednesday.
The construction site of a new football stadium became the central
part of the event. It was hooked up to other sport facilities, centres and
a swimming pool by a videoconference. "I declare new sport facilities of
the 27th World Universiade 2013 open," Putin proclaimed to joyful cries
and applauses.
About 15,000 athletes, students and volunteers attended the ceremony.
The bright sun and hot weather did not spoil the day.
"People in Tatarstan are well aware of what modern life and modern
quality of life are, and pay a great deal of attention to the development
of sports," Putin said.
He noted that 9,000 sport centres and stadiums were already operating
in the republic, and 150 new ones were opened in 2009 alone.
The prime minister thanked Tatarstan's first President Mintimer
Shaimiyev who had done much for the development of sport in the republic.
"I am confident that the new leadership of Tatarstan will do everything
possible to make life here nicer and more interesting," Putin said.
He congratulated the residents of Tatarstan on big sport achievements
and expressed hope that new sport facilities built for the student games
would be available not only to professional athletes but to all people.
Tatarstan President Rustam Minnikhanov assured Putin that another 26
sport facilities would be commissioned in the republic by the end of the
year.

.UAE oil minister optimistic about access to Turkmenistan's gas
resources.

WASHINGTON, May 6 (Itar-Tass) --The United Arab Emirates is
negotiating with Turkmenistan for access to its gas fields and believes in
the success of the talks, UAE. Oil Minister Mohamed al-Hamli told
Bloomberg in Ashgabat.
"We want to invest and we've been conducting negotiations for a long
time. We have a special relationship with Turkmenistan. There is a genuine
interest and a genuine determination with both countries to exploit this
possibility," he said.
The UAE has "good chances" of winning an offshore block in
Turkmenistan, al-Hamli said. "We have the resources, we have the financial
incentive to invest and we have also a number of partners who are
experienced in this field that are happy to join us, so we are really very
optimistic."
Alex Munton, an analyst at Wood Mackenzie Consultants Ltd., believes
that "the interest seems purely to be a commercial one at the level of
UAE. companies, rather than the government of the UAE. having an
overarching political interest."
Bloomberg says that demand for Turkmen natural gas has declined due to
the global financial and economic crisis, while the UAE has a sovereign
welfare fund of 328 billion U.S. dollars, which it is willing to invest in
gas-rich Turkmenistan, seeking fuel for its own use.
Turkmenistan produced about 68 billion cubic metres of gas in 2008 and
plans to increase this amount to 250 billion cubic metres a year by 2030.
Part of this gas may go to Nabucco, a planned pipeline that would bring
Caspian-region gas to Europe via Turkey from 2014.

.Putin, Minnikhanov lay flowers at Kazan's Eternal Flame war memorial.

KAZAN, May 6 (Itar-Tass) -- Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and
Tatarstan President Rustam Minnikhanov laid flowers at the Eternal Flame
war memorial in Kazan ion Wednesday.
The war memorial was built to perpetuate the memory of Tatarstan's
residents who fought on the battlefields and worked on the home front
during World War II.
Putin talked with war veterans and congratulated them on VE Day
traditionally celebrated in Russia on May 9. He noted that Kazan had
changed beyond recognition over the past ten years.
The war veterans agreed that life has become better and said the Tatar
president tended their every need.
"Your president in young but experienced," Putin replied, speaking of
Minnikhanov.

.New START to be submitted to US Senate for ratification May 7 - Lugar.

WASHINGTON, May 6 (Itar-Tass) -- The new U.S.-Russian strategic
offensive arms reduction treaty (START) will be submitted to the Senate
for ratification on May 7, Senator Richard Lugar told Itar-Tass.
Lugar, who is a ranking minority member in the Senate Committee on
Foreign Relations, said the text of the treaty would be submitted by the
U.S. administration to the Senate this week, specifically on May 7.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said earlier that U.S. President
Barack Obama and he had agreed to carry out ratification procedures
"simultaneously" to avoid awkward situations on both sides.
-0-zak/