Putin arrives in Sverdlovsk region, to tour three def plants.

YEKATERINBURG, December 8 (Itar-Tass) - Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has arrived in Sverdlovsk Region, where he will carry on a series of meeting in Nizhny Tagil later Tuesday on the development of the defence-industry complex of the Russian Federation (RF).

The Head of Government is to hold a meeting on the provision of the RF
Armed Forces with modern specimens of armour and automotive hardware and
tour three defence enterprises of the region: the Nizhny Tagil Institute
for the Testing of Metals, the Uralvagonzavod machine building company,
and the Ural railway engineering plant.
The Premier is also to meet with Sverdlovsk Region Governor Alexander
Misharin.

.PNA FM to discuss Palestine-RF coop'n, MidEast sit'.

MOSCOW, December 8 (Itar-Tass) - Riyad al-Maliki, Foreign Minister of
the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), arrives here on Tuesday for a
three-day working visit at the invitation of Russian Minister of Foreign
Affairs Sergei Lavrov.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Andrei Nesterenko said, "The sides
are to consider in detail bilateral cooperation with emphasis on practical
assistance to the Palestinians in the solution of urgent tasks facing them
in the efforts to establish an integrated, strong and effective
government, state institutions, to overcome acute socio-economic problems
and establish normal life of the Palestinian people".
Nesterenko pointed out that during al-Maliki's meetings in Moscow
"priority attention will be devoted to the state of affairs in the
Palestinian-Israeli peace process and the situation in the Middle East as
a whole".
"The Palestinian Minister's visit to Russia reflects a high level of
trust and mutual understanding in Russo-Palestinian relations, and
reaffirms special importance that both sides attach to the development of
bilateral coordination on regional and international problems of current
concern," Nesterenko emphasized.
Upon specially emphasized that the PNA's present head Mahmoud Abbas is
regarded in Russia as a generally recognised leader of the Palestinian
people, the diplomat reaffirmed "the unchanged nature of Russia's
principled stand in support of the earliest realization of the legitimate
aspirations of the Palestinian people for establishing an independent and
viable state". He said the Madrid principles that correspond to the
resolutions of the United Nations Security Council, the Arab peace
initiative, and the roadmap provisions are the basis for that.
"Russia has been always coming out and will continue to do so in
defence of the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people. In this
context, such tasks as complete termination of the building of Israeli
settlements on Palestinian territories, lifting of the blockade of Gaza,
and the ensurance of free travel for the Palestinians require an urgent
solution," Nesterenko said.

.EAG, CSTO to sign memo of understanding at Guilin.

BEIJING, December 8 (Itar-Tass) - The two-day 11th plenary session of
the Eurasian group (EAG) on counteraction to the legalisation of
criminally obtained incomes and to the financing of terrorism opened in
Guilin (Guangxi-Zhuang Autonomous District of the People's Republic of
China). The session is presided over by Oleg Markov, Russian presidential
aide, who chairs this organisation.
The session is being attended by the directors and representatives of
financial monitoring agencies, and other authorised agencies of the EAG
member-countries (Belarus, Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Russia,
Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan), as well as by experts from countries and
internantional organisations that have observer status at EAG.
They will discuss reports on progress made in developing national
regimes for counteracting the legalisation of criminal incomes and to the
financing of terrorism, trends and risks of money laundering and terrorism
financing trends and risks that are characteristic of the Eurasian region.
A Russian delegation source told Itar-Tass on Tuesday that
participants in the session are focusing on matters concerning
counteraction to the legalisation of incomes obtained through the
embezzlement of budget resources, the use of foreign-trade operations to
legalise criminal incomes and those obtained through the trafficking of
narcotics, psychotropic substances, and other matters.
A Memorandum of Understanding is to be signed during the session
between the EAG and the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO)
Coordinating Council of the chiefs of competent agencies for counteraction
to the trafficking of narcotics.
The signing of the document is aimed at enhancing cooperation between
the two organisations, at raising the effecitveness of joint efforts to
counteract the trafficking of narcoticvd and the legalsation of
drugs-related incomes, as well as at strengthening the anti-narcotic and
financial security belts around Afghanistan.
The session follows Monday's meetings of the EAG working groups on
estimates and legal matters, typologies, technical assistance, as well as
the meeting of the Provisional working group on operational guidance.
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