Torrential rains cause river water rise, floods in Sakhalin.

YUZHNO-SAKHALINSK, July 16 (Itar-Tass) - Torrential rains have caused a steep rise or water levels in the rivers on the Far-Eastern island of Sakhalin, causing the introduction of an emergency situation regime in one of the districts of the regional capital Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk where about 50 private houses have been flooded.

At the time of reporting, the authorities were considering a possible
evacuation of 130 residents.
Sakhalin division of the Russian Ministry for Emergence Situations
and Civil Defense /EMERCOM/ and the city mayoralty have dispatched four
operative groups to the zone of inundation.

.Russian-German top level consultations due in Munich.

MOSCOW, July 16 (Itar-Tass) - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and
Germany's Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel are expected to chair the
eleventh round of top-level Russian-German consultations opening in Munich
Thursday.
The consultations are attended by Russian and German government
officials and are the key annual event in bilateral relations.
Since the first round that took place in 1998, the consultations are
held alternately in Russia and Germany.
A big number of officials representing the economic, humanitarian and
cultural sectors of government activity are taking part in this year's
round
On the Russian side, the delegation includes Finance Minister Alexei
Kudrin, Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliyev, Economic Development Minister
Elvira Nabiullina, Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko, Natural Resources
Minister Yuri Trutnev, and Education and Science Minister Andrei Fursenko.
"Strategic partnership between Russia and Germany is marked by
maturity and is insusceptible to momentary shifts in the political
environment," Russian President's aide Sergei Prikhodko said.
"Given the recent critical tendencies in world politics and economy,
this partnership has won the status of a factor that helps stabilize the
Euro-Atlantic space," he said.
"This political stability relies on a multi-aspect dialogue between
the two countries that makes possible a fruitful resolution of virtually
any emerging problems," Prikhodko said.
"Without a doubt, personal contacts between President Medvedev and
Chancellor Merkel make up the backbone of this inter-state rapport," he
said. "It's the two leaders who will set the tonality to the
consultations."
As the sides draw up provisional results of the current relations,
they will give special focus to practical steps under the 'partnership
modernization concept' that was adopted at the previous round of
consultations.
"A number of important projects have been launched under its
provisions and some of these projects concern innovative cooperation,
energy saving and energy efficiency," Prikhodko said.
"As the financial and economic crisis is going on, it's extremely
important for Russia and Germany, which is Russia's leading trade partner
in the EU, to maintain a big trade turnover and large investment
projects," he said.
"Ramified economic relations between the two countries serve as the
drive engine of the entire compound of traditional bilateral
relationship," Prikhodko said.
He recalled that bilateral trade hit a record 67.2 billion U.S.
dollars at the end of 2008 versus 32.9 billion at the end of 2005.
On the face of it, officials on both sides note a substantial slowdown
in trade increase.
"In this connection, the sides will consider not only linear measures
of state support for and stimulation of trade relations, but also the
possibility of a speedier transition to new forms of interaction, the
cooperative ones, in the first place," Prikhodko said.

Mudslide washes out section of railway in Sakhalin.

YUZHNO-SAKHALINSK, July 16 (Itar-Tass) - A mudslide has washed out a
section of the railway connecting the northern and southern parts of the
Russian Far-Eastern island of Sakhalin.
It occurred between the stations of Zaozyornoye and Makarov, officials
at the press service of the Sakhalin branch of the OAO Russian Railways
/RZD/ said.
Train traffic at this section of the line has been suspended.
Repair teams have been rushed to the site and railway officials
promise that best efforts will be made to restore the line to full
operating capacity by night hours.
Also Thursday, torrential rains caused a steep rise or water levels in
the Sakhalin rivers, forcing the authorities to introduce an emergency
situation regime in one of the districts of the regional capital
Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk where about 50 private houses had been flooded.
At the time of reporting, the authorities were considering a possible
evacuation of 130 residents.
Sakhalin division of the Russian Ministry for Emergence Situations
and Civil Defense /EMERCOM/ and the city mayoralty dispatched four
operative groups to the zone of inundation.
-0-kle


Delete & Pr