NATO-Russia Council to meet to prepare ministerial meeting.

BRUSSELS, June 19 (Itar-Tass) - The preparation for the first after
the conflict in Georgia meeting of the foreign minister of Russia and NATO
will be the central issue at a meeting of the NATO-Russia Council on
Friday at the ambassadors' level.


The meeting of the foreign ministers of
Russia and countries of the North Atlantic Alliance is to take place in
Korfu (Greece) on June 27 simultaneously with the OSCE ministerial meeting.
Russian Ambassador to NATO Dmitry Rogozin told Itar-Tass that the
Russia-NATO ministerial meeting "will make it possible to re-launch the
full format political dialogue that was interrupted on the NATO initiative
after the Russian response to Georgia's aggression against South Ossetia."
The restoration of the political dialogue will also "open the way for the
resumption of military cooperation, including interaction on Afghanistan,
resumption of Russia's participation in the NATO antiterrorist operation
in the Mediterranean "Active Endeavour," as well as cooperation in the
fight against pirates near the Somalia coast."
The NATO-Russian Council meeting will also continue the discussion of
the initiatives on the improvement of the principles and mechanisms of the
work of this body. According to Rogozin, the aim of these initiatives is
to ensure uninterrupted work of the NATO-Russia Council and prevent the
recurrence of the situation of last August when "in the conditions of the
serious crisis the work of the Council was blocked."
The work of the NATO-Russia Council at the level of ambassadors was
resumed on April 29 - almost 9 months after NATO under the tough pressure
of the United States froze the work of this body as a result of the
conflict in South Ossetia. It was earlier planned to hold the ministerial
meeting on May 19, however, political difficulties, including the Georgian
war games and a scandal with the expulsion by NATO of 2 Russian diplomats,
as well as technical difficulties impeded this, because this ministerial
meeting did not coincide with the working schedule of US Secretary of
State Hillary Clinton.
The current meeting of the NATO-Russia Council at the level of
ambassadors is only the third since the resumption of the Council's work.
Thus, the rhythm of its work so far greatly differs from the period ahead
of the South Ossetian conflict when Russian and NATO ambassadors were
meeting practically every week.
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.Infoforum Eurasia 2009 to discus CIS information security matters.

KAZAN, June 19 (Itar-Tass) - The fifth "Infoforum Eurasia 2009" that
is opening in the capital of Tatarstan Kazan on Friday will discuss issues
of information security in countries of the Commonwealth of Independent
States (CIS).
"The theme of the meeting organised by the security committee of the
State Duma (lower house of RF parliament) is "International aspects of
information security," First Deputy Information and Communications
Minister of Tatarstan Yuri Bagrov told Itar-Tass. "Taking part in it are
more than 100 representatives of legislative bodies of Belarus,
Tajikistan, Moldova, Uzbekistan and other CIS countries," he noted.
According to the official at roundtable discussions the forum
participants will consider issues of electronic document circulation,
problems linked with the transfer of personal data, as well as the
protection of children in the Internet. An exhibition will be organised
within the forum where enterprises of the IT industry of Kazan and other
cities of the country will present their state-of-the-art technologies.
The "Electronic government of Tatarstan" will present its own stand.
Members of CIS parliaments intend to work out common approaches to the
working out of normative-legal acts in the sphere of information security
and to exchange experience with the colleagues, said Bagrov.
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