Monument to Russian poet opened in Eritrea, East Africa.

ASMARA, Eritrea, November 29 (Itar-Tass) -- Thousands of people
gathered in the central square of Asmara, the capital of the East African
State of Eritrea Saturday for a gala ceremony devoted to the opening of a
monument to Alexander Pushkin, the landmark Russian poet of the 19th
century, whose great-grandfather was born in this part of the African
continent.

Thousands of residents of Asmara gathered for the ceremony in one of
the city's most vivid squares that was given Pushkin's name five years ago.
The author of the monument is the acclaimed Russian sculptor Nikolai
Kuznetsov-Muromsky and the architectural layout of the project was
performed by Moscow architects Maria Ozherelyeva and Mikhail Sudakov.
A Russian delegation took part in the event. It was chaired by movie
actress Yelena Drapeko, who is a deputy chairperson of the committee for
culture at Russia's State Duma.
The delegation also included the President of the Russian-Eritrean
Friendship Society, Igor Novosyolov, the Vice-President of the same
society, Valery Melnikov, experts from the Russian Chamber of Commerce and
Industries, and a group of Russian reporters.
The organizers invited the Russian ambassador in Asmara, Igor
Chubarov, to attend.
On the Eritrean side, the list of VIP participants included Asmara
mayor Tevelde Kelati, government officials, and the Patriarch of the
Eritrean Orthodox Church, Abune Dioskoros.
A capsule with soil from Pushkin's grave at the Holy Mountains
Monastery in Russia's North-West Pskov region was laid at the foundation
of the monument.
"Welcome to the homeland of your ancestors, dear Alexander
Sergeyevich," Mayor Kelati exclaimed in his speech.
Yelena Drapeko read out an address by the Duma Speaker, Boris Gryzlov.
The architectural ensemble of Pushkin Square in Asmara will change in
the future, as a compound of the Russian Cultural Center with a library, a
bookstore, a club and a school of the Russian language to be built there.
Pushkin's works translated into the Eritrean language of Tigrinya have
been entered in the curricula of Eritrean general schools as of this year.
Russia and Eritrea, which had been a province of Ethiopia before
previously, established diplomatic relations in May 1993.
Many of the current government officials in this country graduated
from Soviet universities and colleges, and today's Russia continues
issuing grants to Eritrean students.
The Eritrean authorities have signed protocols of cooperation with a
number of Russian colleges, including the MGIMO University of Diplomacy.
Eritrean President Isaias Aferwerke said in an interview with
Itar-Tass that the opening of a monument to Pushkin in Asmara is an
important event in the country's cultural life and a milestone for
bilateral relations.
"This action doesn't mean at all that Eritrea is making claims of any
kind to kinship with the great poet's ancestors but it definitely
testifies to the interest towards our own history and to the respect we
pay to this outstanding poet.

.Russian, Turkmenistani Presidents to discuss broad economic ties.

MOSCOW, November 29 (Itar-Tass) - President Gurbanguly Berdimuhammedow
of Turkmenistan is expected to make a working visit to Moscow Sunday as
part of a regular - and quite intense - Russian-Turkmenistani political
dialogue at top level, the Kremlin press service said.
"Russian leaders praise friendly relations with Turkmenistan and
attack significance to the further deepening and expansion of the mutually
beneficial cooperation in politics, trade, education, culture, and other
areas," the press service said. "Quite a few things have been done in
recent years to develop bilateral relations, which are obviously on the
rise now."
It is expected that Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Gurbanbuly
Berdimuhammedow will focus their discussions on the buildup of trade and
economic relations.
The Kremlin press service recalled that Medvedev made an official
visit to Turkmenistan in July 2008.
In April 2007, Berdimuhammedow made a working visit to Moscow, and his
state visit to Russia took place from March 24 through March 26 this year.
Progress of multisided Russian-Turkmenistani cooperation is quite
obvious, the press service officials said.
Russia occupies position number one on the list of Turkmenistan's
trade partners, as it accounted for 39.2% of the country's foreign trade
last year. More specifically, it accounted for 50.5% in exports and 16% in
imports.
Last year's trade turnover /exclusive of Turkmenistani gas exports/
more than doubled in size and reached $ 910 million versus $ 453.7 million
in 2007.
Trade between the two countries continued growing in the first months
of this year in spite of the global economic and financial crisis. The
volume of transactions reached $ 832.9 million from January through
September, inclusive of $ 801.8 million of imports from Russia.
Russia mostly exports machinery, equipment, transport vehicles,
chemical products, metals and metal products, foodstuffs, and unprocessed
agricultural products.
Turkmenistani exports to Russia /exclusive of natural gas/ mostly
consist of chemicals, textiles, and mineral products.
At this moment, the sides are faced with the task of diversifying
their bilateral trade and building up the sector of high-tech products and
commodities with the high rate of processing, the Kremlin press service
said.
Still, cooperation in the fuel and energy sector is likely to have
major place at the talks, too.
The press service indicated in this connection that Russia and
Turkmenistan maintain a stable relationship in that sphere. This stability
relies on the long-term Agreement on Cooperation in the Gas Industry,
which the two countries signed in 2003 to ensure supplies of Turkmenistani
natural gas to Russia through to 2028.
"The Presidents will consider prospects for expanded cooperation in
the agricultural sector, in transport, in telecommunications, and in the
supplies of machine-building industry products," Kremlin officials said.
Turkmenistan has a total of 138 enterprises where the Russian
businesses have stocks. The countries' business communities have
registered 124 joint projects and commercial contracts worth almost a
billion U.S. dollars.
Major Russian manufacturers - Gazprom, LUKOIL, RZD, KAMAZ, Itera,
Stroitransgaz, Mobile Telesystems, and some others - have taken firm
grounds in the Turkmenistani economy.
Dmitry Medvedev and Gurbanbuly Berdimuhammedow will also raise the
issue of how to make cooperation between the two countries more efficient
at the regional level. A total of 60 Russian constituent territories
cooperate with counterparts in Turkmenistan, and 65% of bilateral trade
turnover falls exactly on inter-regional transactions.
One of the significant developments in this sphere was the signing of
an agreement with St Petersburg Governor Valentina Matviyenko on economic,
scientific and cultural ties.
Turkmenistani officials and she also discussed the projects for
development of the country's roads and, generally, transport
infrastructures that were designed by a specialized company in St
Petersburg.
The Russian government feels confident that Gurbanguly
Berdimuhammedow's visit will help build up the relations of partnership
across a broad spectrum of areas -- in the bilateral, regional and
multilateral international formats likewise, the press service said.
-0-kle