Putin to chair discussion of N Caucasus strategic development.

SOCHI, September 6 (Itar-Tass) -- Russia's Prime Minister Vladimir
Putin will chair a meeting on social and economic development of the North
Caucasus on Monday. The president's envoy in the North Caucasus Federal
District Alexander Khloponin will present a Strategy of the social and
economic development of the region, the government's press service said.
The document was prepared in line with the decisions of the
interregional conference of the United Russia Party in Kislovodsk on July
6.
"The participants in the meeting will discuss Vnesheconombank's
affiliated development institution in the region and the state guarantees
for investment projects there," the press service said.
Over the conference in Kislovodsk, Putin said that the investment
fund, organised by the government, would get additional six billion
roubles for the projects in the North Caucasus. Russia's Finance Ministry
will secure state guarantees for up to 70 percent for loans to develop
projects in the region, he said.
It is necessary "to attract more private investments and to make the
North Caucasus brand more attractive for investors," he said then.
"The region will have new development institutions soon, and first of
all an affiliate of Vnesheconombank in the North Caucasus," Putin said.
"It will be responsible for the choice and further supervision of the
projects, as well as for the attraction of private investors."
Putin also ordered to develop the tourist potential of the region and
to organise a mountain ski cluster there.
"The North Caucasus' every region has something to offer in skiing,
ethnography or in family resorts, and we are going to organise a united
mountain ski cluster from the Caspian Sea to the Black Sea," he said.
The purpose of the discussion in Sochi is to provide further
development of the North Caucasus regions, additional jobs and to develop
and improve the inter-ethnic relations there.
"The Strategy's tasks are: active development of the basic sectors -
industry, energy, transport, agriculture, construction, tourism; further
development of healthcare and education, municipal services, sports;
better use of natural resources and recreational potential of the region;
preservation and development of the cultural heritage, improvement of the
national identity and inter-ethnic relations," the press service said.
By 2025, the annual growth of the gross product is expected to make
7.7 percent, the regional budgets are expected to grow by four times, the
average wages should be increased by 2.5 times, the region should provide
400,000 new jobs and lower the unemployment from 16 to five percent.
Russia's Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin, Vnesheconombank's CEO
Vladimir Dmitriyev and Sberbank's CEO German Gref are expected to take
part in the meeting.

.BP to sell its assets in North Sea and earn up to $10 billion.

LONDON, September 6 (Itar-Tass) -- The British Petroleum Company plans
to sell to Russia's TNK-BP Company a big stake of its assets in oil fields
in the North Sea, the UK media reported on Monday.
BP expects to earn between five and ten billion dollars, which it
needs for the reimbursement of own losses and the damage to the sides in
the Gulf of Mexico accident.
BP's expenses to remove oil from the Gulf made eight billion dollars,
and the company plans to sell its share in its North American Prodhoe Bay
deposit for 20 billion dollars.
Sources in the company claim BP decided to sell more assets, than it
had been planned earlier, and thus to earn between 30 and 40 billion
dollars.


.State Duma opens autumn session in new format.

MOSCOW, September 6 (Itar-Tass) -- Deputies of Russia's State Duma
come back from summer holidays, and the autumn session will begin on
September 7.
The deputies plan to discuss bills on the consequences of the peat
fires and the anomalous heat wave in Russia.
The past summer "makes us think thoroughly about prevention measures,"
the State Duma's chairman Boris Gryzlov said. "Thousands of people lost
their houses and the fires killed dozens, that is why such tragedies
should be prevented in future."
He promised that the amendments, initiated by the government, will be
discussed as a priority. The amendments cover material aid in emergencies,
he explained.
Traditionally, autumn sessions are devoted to the budget. Before
October, the government should present a draft of the budget for 2011 and
for the coming three-year period. The first reading is due on October 20.
The State Duma expects the presidential bill on the police so that the
law may come into force on January 1, 2011.
Besides, the deputies will discuss the new Russia-USA START. They
expect to ratify it before the year ends. The only condition to follow is
that the discussion and ratification should go simultaneously with the US
counterparts.
The State Duma's new format will mean that the deputies will come for
three sittings a week instead of two in the past. The sittings will be
organised on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Fridays twice a month. Thus over a
month, the deputies will spend one week in their regions and the other in
factions and committees.

-0-kar


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