Riga, Moscow mayor's offices committed to broader bilateral

RIGA, July 11 (Itar-Tass) -- The capitals of Latvia and Riga are
committed to broader bilateral cooperation, Riga Mayor Nil Ushakov said at
a meeting with a Moscow city administration senior official on Friday.

"Our capitals have possibilities to cooperate not only in business but
also in the fields of culture and sport," the head of the consumer market
and services department in the Moscow city government, Vladimir Malyshkov,
said after the e meeting with Ushakov.
"It is necessary to improve transport communication between Riga and
Moscow. This will facilitate contacts between entrepreneurs," he added.
Ushakov said, "It will become more or less clear by October what joint
projects we will implement."
Riga Vice Mayor Ainars Slesers, who attended the meeting, said the
development of transport service between the two cities would be important.
"We need to cooperate with the neighbouring countries at a time of
crisis, and one of them is Russia," he said.
Ushakov told Itar-Tass earlier that Riga would be interested to
develop cooperation with Moscow in such fields as transit, tourism,
culture and education.
"Russian-speaking residents of Riga have to maintain constant cultural
dialogue with Russia in order to preserve their language and culture," he
said.
Malyshkov invited Ushakov to visit Moscow in September during the City
Day celebrations and attend an economic forum to be held in October.
At the first meeting of a newly-elected Riga City Council chairman of
the major Russian-speaking bloc Centre of National Concord Nil Ushakov won
a majority of votes in the elections for the post of Riga mayor.
This bloc won a confident victory at the Riga legislative elections on
June 6, receiving 26 out of 60 seats.
Ushakov, 33, graduated as an economist. Before going into politics he
had been a successful journalist, working for a number of Latvian
newspapers and television. For several years he worked for Itar-Tass in
Latvia and was editor-in-chief of the First Baltic Channel's news service.

.Second A/H1N1/ flu case registered in Latvia.

RIGA, July 11 (Itar-Tass) -- The second A/H1N1/ flu case has been
registered in Latvia.
The virology department of the Infectology Centre of Latvia has
clinically confirmed the second flu case. A biological sample was supplied
by a district hospital where a woman patient had been admitted with
symptoms characteristic of the new flu. She had recently visited Mexico.
Medics in the district hospital suspected she might be infected with
the new flu and immediately asked the Infectology Centre of Latvia to do
laboratory tests.
"The patient will most likely be transferred to the Infectology Centre
of Latvia for further treatment," Centre acting Director Jazeps Keiss said.
The first A/H1N1/ case in Latvia was registered at the end of June.
The new flu was found in a woman who had returned to Latvia by a flight
from Berlin on June 21. She had also visited the United States and Canada.
Earlier, former Director of Infectology Centre of Latvia Baiba
Rozentale said there would be no epidemic of A/H1N1/ flu in Latvia.
The director of the Latvian Institute of Organic Synthesis, Ivars
Kalvins, said earlier that the flu would reach Latvia sooner or later
because people actively travel and visit different countries.

.Russian minister says no plans to force digital television upon
people.

MOSCOW, July 11 (Itar-Tass) -- Russian Minister of Mass Communications
Igor Shchegolev said his ministry would not twist anyone's arms when
introducing digital television services in the country.
"If there is no wish and stimulus to move on to digital television, a
person will have the right to receive analogue signals for quite a long
time," he said.
When asked whether any category of the population will be given
digital television receivers for free, the minister said, "It will depend
on the position of the regions."
"We think that regions should also participate in the digitalisation
programme," he said, adding, "Local authorities are better aware of who
may need such assistance."
"As the economic situation improves, this issue will be considered and
the decision will be made on how to help people get access to digital
television," Shchegolev said.
He said digital television would cost "either as much as a new TV set,
if you wish to change it, or as a receiver".
"We believe that when mass production of receivers begins, the price
will drop, and a receiver will cost around 30 U.S. dollars," he said.
"The introduction of digital television is an important aspect of
providing people in the country with necessary information so that they
had the same access across the country as Muscovites do," he said.
According to the minister, it will take about 120-127 billion roubles
for setting a digital television network in the country. "Of that amount,
about 80 billion roubles will be provided by the federal budget and the
rest by participating enterprises and possibly by regions and other
off-budget organisations," he said.
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