China State Council premier to discuss nuke issue in Pyongyang

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PYONGYANG, October 4 (Itar-Tass) - Premier of the Chinese State
Council Wen Jiabao is arriving in the North Korean capital on Sunday with
a delegation to hold talks on the problem of denuclearisation of the
Korean Peninsula and issues of the development of bilateral relations. He
is expected to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il.
In mid-September, Kim Jong-Il received here member of the Chinese
State Council Dai Bingguo who acted as a special envoy of Chinese
President Hu Jintao. According to local reports, the North Korean leader
assured the high guest that Pyongyang is ready to discuss its nuclear
programme at consultations both in the bilateral and multilateral formats.
Observers believe that the visit of Wen Jiabao to North Korea may
promote the return of Pyongyang to the table of the six-sided talks on the
settlement of the nuclear problem on the Korean Peninsula. In April,
Pyongyang said it refused to further participate in the consultations of
the "six."
The meeting agenda is also expected to include issues of the
development of cooperation between China and North Korea that this year
mark the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations. In
March, head of the North Korean cabinet Kim Yong Il paid an official visit
to Beijing.
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.Altai power deficit to be liquidated by small HPPs - Berdnikov.


GORNO-ALTAISK, October 4 (Itar-Tass) - Power deficit in the Altai
Republic that has no own sources of electricity generation will be
liquidated by means of building a gas turbine electric power station and a
cascade of three small hydropower plants on the Chuya River, head of the
republic Alexander Berdnikov said here.
In the view of experts, the capacities of these plants that are
currently being built, after the commissioning of the first of them in one
or two years, will be enough to fully meet the electricity demand of the
RF subject (100 megawatts) and to open new production facilities.
Berdnikov noted that at present the design and estimate documentation
of the Maima gas turbine electric power station with the capacity of 96
megawatts is coming to an end. The tentative construction cost is 3.5
billion roubles. The issue of its construction was coordinated this March
with the head of Gazprom's daughter company - Mezhregiongaz, Nikolai
Isakov, during his visit to Gorno-Altaisk. It was announced then that a
private investor will build this station in 1.5 years, and gas producers
will supply it with fuel from the Barnaul-Biisk-Gorno-Altaisk gas pipeline.
The republic's head also specified that for several reasons the plans
to build a hydropower plant on the Katun River have been dropped. It has
been decided to build small HPPs instead. It is first of all a cascade of
three electric power plants on the Chuya River with the total capacity of
70 megawatts. The design and survey work has been completed on the first
of the plants named Chibit and the investor has been determined. The
volume of private investments in this project will reach 2.5 billion
roubles. Besides, the front end engineering design for the construction of
a small HPP on the Uimen River has been carried out. The construction of
small HPPs on the republic's rivers will be carried out also in the
future, said Berdnikov.
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.British energy secr to visit Moscow for UK-RF energy dialogue.

LONDON, October 4 (Itar-Tass) - British Secretary of State for Energy
and Climate Change Ed Miliband on Sunday is departing for Moscow on a
two-day visit to take part in the British-Russian energy dialogue. The
secretary's spokesman said that the sides are expected to sign a joint
Memorandum of Intent in the sphere of energy saving technologies.
According to the spokesman, London attaches major importance to the
visit of Miliband and hopes for the resumption of close cooperation
between Great Britain and Russia in the energy sphere after a period of
certain stagnation.
Itar-Tass learnt that the British delegation also intends to discuss
the issue of energy security, in particular, Russian natural gas supplies
to the European Union.
The current visit if Miliband is important because it can open a new
page in relations between Great Britain and Russia. According to London
sources, he is the first member of the UK cabinet to visit Moscow after an
almost 50-year interval caused by a chill in relations between the two
countries.
After Ed the arrival of his senior brother - Foreign Secretary David
Miliband is expected in Moscow in early November.
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Days of Kaliningrad region opening in Lithuania.

VILNIUS, October 4 (Itar-Tass) - The Days of the Kaliningrad region in
Lithuania will be opened in a festive ceremony at the Congress Palace in
Vilnius on Sunday. The event is to promote the establishment of closer
ties between the Baltic republic and Russia's westernmost region in the
economy, trade and humanitarian sphere.
The Russian embassy to Lithuania told Itar-Tass that taking part in
the events will be a major delegation of Kaliningrad headed by governor
Georgy Boos. The delegation comprises businesspeople, scientists,
pedagogues, artists, sportsmen and youth. The Days' programme is arranged
so that to give a comprehensive idea of the life of the Kaliningrad region
and which plans it has and what it can offer its partners.
Boos will hold a meeting with Lithuanian Economics Minister Dainius
Kreivys at which the parties may discuss the Baltic nuclear power plant
that is planned to be built in the Kaliningrad region by 2016. Lithuania
for its part will shut down its Ignalina NPP before December 31, 2009.
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