Moscow City Duma to elect ombudsman.

MOSCOW, September 23 (Itar-Tass) - Deputies of the Moscow City Duma
(legislature) on Wednesday will elect the city's human rights commissioner.

This post was instituted in the Russian capital this spring. Two
candidates are vying for the post - former prefect of the Central
Administrative District and minister of the Moscow government Alexander
Muzykantsky and human rights defender Valery Borshchev.
Muzykantsky was nominated to the newly instituted post by Moscow mayor
Yuri Luzhkov. This nomination was motivated, in particular, by the fact
that "both on the post of the prefect and as the Moscow government
minister Muzykantsky had to deal with issues of ensuring the rights of
person and citizen."
The Yabloko Party faction in the Moscow City Duma nominated Borshchev
who is professionally engaged in human rights activities since the 1970s.
Representing him in the Moscow City Duma commission deputy from Yabloko
Yevgeny Bunimovich said that Borshchev is "one of the most well-known
human rights activists in the Russian Federation" and recalled his
cooperation with Sakharov and Solzhenitsyn.
By Moscow mayor's decision the size of personnel of the ombudsman is
determined at 29 members and his remuneration is set at 139,400 roubles a
month. The mayor recommended staffing the ombudsman's office "with
discharged specialists of the staff of the commissioner for children's
rights." The position of this magistrate is abolished in the Russian
capital from October 1.
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.Renovated border point for Kozmino oil terminal commissioned.

IRKUTSK, September 23 (Itar-Tass) - The renovated border crossing
point ensuring the work of the currently under construction Kozmino oil
terminal in Russia's Primorsky Territory has been commissioned. The
interdepartmental commission signed the corresponding act, Itar-Tass was
told at the Management Centre of the project for the construction of the
Eastern Siberia - Pacific Ocean (ESPO) oil trunk-line earlier this month.
The renovated sea cargo border crossing point is part of the complex
of facilities of the new oil terminal near Nakhodka. Territories of the
terminal and water area are included in its boundaries. The rated capacity
of the port is up to 400 calls at port and up to 30 million tonnes of oil
annually.
The Kozmino oil terminal within the ESPO project that is being built
is designed for the loading of tankers with the capacity of 80,000 to
150,000 tonnes. Its first stage for receiving and shipment of 15 million
tonnes of hydrocarbons a year is to be commissioned this December. Among
the port facilities are the tank car loading and receiving rack, a high
voltage power transmission line and access roads, a petroleum tank farm
and onshore and offshore structures.
The ESPO pipeline is a planned pipeline system to export Russian crude
oil to the Asia-Pacific markets (Japan, China, Korea). The pipeline is to
be built and operated by Russian pipeline company Transneft.
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.Medvedev arrives in New York to meet US, China, Japan, NATO heads.

NEW YORK, September 23 (Itar-Tass) - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev
has arrived in the United States on a three-day working visit. New York
will be the first leg of Medvedev's trip, he will take part here in the
work of the UN General Assembly, in a summit of the UN Security Council
leaders on nuclear disarmament and will hold about 10 bilateral talks.
In New York Medvedev will stay at the famous Waldorf Astoria Hotel
where he plans talks on Wednesday with Chinese President Hu Jintao, Japan'
s new Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, Austrian President Heinz Fischer and
NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen.
In an interview to CNN ahead of the visit Medvedev noted, in
particular, "We will get good results. Indeed, we are enjoying truly
positive relations with the new Administration: personally mine with
President Obama and other officials' and ministers' with their American
counterparts. It is very important since it is crucial that we still speak
a similar language. Unfortunately, this was not the case with the previous
Administration during its last years, though before we had been able to
come to an agreement on all the issues on our common agenda and, it is no
secret, we still tried to help our American colleagues out in some
situations, particularly after 9/11."
"I hope that this "reset," though it's quite a relative term, will
bring its results."
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.WB approves major loans to India, Hungary and Latvia.


WASHINGTON, September 23 (Itar-Tass) - The Board of Executive
Directors of the World Bank (WB) on Tuesday approved major loans for
India, Hungary and Latvia. According to a WB press release, New Delhi will
get a total of almost 4.35 billion US dollars, including 2 billion US
dollars for the "support the Government's infrastructure agenda and
bolster its economic stimulus programme." This loan is to soften the
global economic crisis effects on the Indian economy, the WB stressed.
The other Indian loans worth 2.35 billion US dollars are provided to
provide assistance in crediting small and medium-sized private companies,
construction and modernisation of power transmission lines in the western,
northern and southern districts of India and for the Andhra Pradesh Rural
Water Supply and Sanitation Project, designed to improve water supply and
sanitation services in 2,600 villages across 6 districts of the state. The
loans have a 30 year maturity including a 5-year grace period. The IBRD
loan to IIFCL has a 28 year maturity including a 7.5-year grace period,
according to the release.
The WB also approved the Financial Sector and Macro Stability Loan for
Hungary in the amount of Euro 1.0 billion (US$ 1.40 billion). This loan
has been prepared as part of an international support package financed
jointly by the International Monetary Fund, the European Commission, and
the World Bank.
The WB also approved a Financial Sector Development Policy Loan for
Latvia in the amount of Euro 200 million (US$ 282.65 million). The
objective of this loan is to support the Government of Latvia in
strengthening its banking sector and maintaining long term financial
stability.
This new loan is part of a joint International Financial Institution
initiative to support banking sectors in Central and Eastern Europe. It
supports a comprehensive financial sector reform program, including
measures that have helped contain the financial sector crisis Latvia faced
at the end of 2008, and structural reforms aimed at enhancing the
resilience of the system to future potential shocks, the WB said.
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