Putin to visit harvester-making plant in Rostov region.

MOSCOW, July 6 (Itar-Tass) - Russian President Vladimir Putin will on
Monday pay a working visit to the Rostov region. He will visit the
Rosselmash harvester-making plant and will hold a meeting with the plant's
directors, the Russian government press service reports.

This is Putin's second visit to Rosselmash since December 2008 when he
discussed ways of developing farm machinery building. After the premier's
trip the Russian government adopted a package of measures designed to
support Russian manufacturers of agricultural machines. First and
foremost, the government raised import customs duties for some types of
imported harvesters to no less than 120 euros for 1 kilowatt of the engine'
s power.
Second, the ownership fund of the open joint-stock company
'Rosagroleasing' was increased by 25 billion roubles of which 20 billion
should be spent on purchasing domestic agricultural machinery.
"The main purpose of the forthcoming trip is to get acquainted with
the implementation of decisions made in December 2008 and to assess the
efficiency of measures to support the industry," the press service went on
to say.
The Rosselmash harvester-making plant is a member of the New
Commonwealth industrial union. The total number of workforce together with
affiliated companies is around 10,000 people. The plant's production
output accounts for 17% of the world and 65% of the Russian market of
agricultural machinery.
A rotor harvester, TORUM, is a milestone in the plant's development.
Its serial production was launched in March 2009. More than 20 design
solutions that were used to produce TORUM are protected by patent. The
economic efficiency of the new harvester is such that is doesn't have the
upper level for productivity.
In April 2009 the plant launched batch production of a new energy
vehicle. It is meant for mowing down and windrowing cereals, spiked crops,
grain legumes as well as grits and fodder. The machine will be
particularly useful in the low-yield fields in the Russian midland, the
Altai territory of Russia and in Kazakhstan that harvest cereals in two
phases.
Rosselmash is planning to launch serial production of a new fodder
harvester in October 2009.

.Turkey to welcome Christian pilgrims in its soil.

ISTANBUL, July 6 (Itar-Tass) - The Turkish Ministry of Culture and
Tourism is interested in developing Christian pilgrimage in Turkey.
"It's in our interests that Russian citizens come to Turkey not only
for recreation but also as religious tourists," the Turkish Deputy
Minister of Culture and Tourism Ozgur Ozaslan told the Patriarch of Moscow
and All Russia Kirill at a meeting on Tuesday.
The meeting was held in the St. Irina Church. It was never used as a
mosque in the post-Christian time when Byzantine fell after being
conquered by the Ottoman Empire. The church has a museum and a concert
hall.
For his part, Patriarch Kirill said that there were many Christian
holy sites in the territory of Turkey that are of interest to Orthodox
Christians.
"Pilgrimage and tourism to Israel are well-developed in Russia but it'
s only now that out citizens are opening Turkey as a place of holy sites
where they would like to pray," the patriarch went on to say.
Patriarch Kirill believes that cold winter season will be the best
time for pilgrimage. "The dead season for beach tourists is good time for
pilgrims," he noted.
"The first groups of our pilgrims have already started to arrive in
here, and I am grateful to the Turkish side for giving our people not only
an opportunity to see but also to pray because there's no pilgrimage
without a prayer," the head of the Russian Orthodox Church said. He added
that a lot of things remained to be done to develop the infrastructure and
the religious aspect.
Patriarch Kirill and Ozgur Ozaslan saw a photo exhibition of Christian
sites located in the territory of modern Turkey.
Russian General Consul in Istanbul Alexander Krivenko said that the
most popular pilgrimage routes in recent years have been to Efes and
Kappodokia where churches belonging to the 6th, 11th and 12th centuries
have been preserved.

.Russian, Belarusian interior ministers to meet in Altai.

BARNAUL, the Siberia, July 6 (Itar-Tass) - A united board meeting of
the Ministries of Internal Affairs of Russia and Belarus will be held in
the Belokurikha resort in the Altai territory from July 6 to 8, the press
service of the main interior department for the Altai territory told
Itar-Tass.
Russian Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliyev and his Belarusian
opposite number Anatoly Kuleshov will take part in the meeting.
"The board plans to discuss cooperation between law enforcers in the
two countries - how to prevent economic crimes and new forms of
information sharing," the press service went on to say.

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