Azeri-Russian panel to mull legislative support for coop'n.

BAKU, December 22 (Itar-Tass) - The Azeri-Russian bilateral
interparliamentary commission holds its 8th session here on Tuesday to
consider matters concerning legislative support for trade, economic,
scientific, technical, cultural, and humanitarian cooperation between
Azerbaijan and Russia. A Russian delegation is led by Svetlana Orlova,
Deputy Speaker of the Federation Council upper house of parliament.
The sides are expected to go ahead with work on national legislations
with a view to harmonizing them still further. It is also planned to
examine matters aimed at strengthening and expanding interaction between
the parliaments of the two countries, and to share experience in
legislative activities. Migration policy matters are also expected to be
discussed at this session, just as the panel did at previous meetings.
Within the scope of the visit to Baku, the Russian delegation is to
meet with Azeri Parliament Speaker Oktai Asadov, as well as with veterans
of the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945.

.Khakassia to put new power line into operation Tuesday.

GORNO-ALTAISK, December 22 (Itar-Tass) - A ceremony marking the
putting into operation of a new 220-kilowatt power transmission line (PTL)
Beya-Askiz is held in the Republic of Khakassia (RK) on Tuesday.
The PTL will ensure an uninterrupted provision of the RK, as well as
neighbouring Tuva Republic with electric power on the eve of New-Year's
peak consumption of electricity.
The ceremony will be followed by a ceremonial meeting at which workers
who distinguished themselves in the construction of the PTL will be given
awards, Yelena Vaghina, press secretary of the Khakass enterprise of
mainline electric networks, a branch of the public joint-stock company
"FSK EES" (Federal Network Company -- United Power Grid of Siberia), has
told Itar-Tass.
Vaghina said the new PTL, more than 55 km long, has been built within
two months, a record-short period of time. Usually, it takes about one
year to build such facilities. The process of the construction of the
Beya-Askiz PTL involved 40 special-purpose machines and about 200
specialists who set up about 80 metallic pylons. The overall cost of the
construction of the Beya-Askiz PTL is 750 million roubles.
The energizing of the PTL is utterly essential for the people of
Khakassia and Tuva, as well as for the RK-based aluminium production mill
that are of strategic importance to Russia.
The need to build this PTL arose after the breakdown at the
Sayano-Shushenskoye hydropower station, when the RK, which was a supplier
of electric power to other regions of Siberia, literally overnight turned
into a recipient of electricity from Kemerovo Region and Krasnoyarsk
Territory.
After that emergency, the government of the Russian Federation (RF)
assigned the Federal Network Company to take a number of measures to raise
the reliability of Siberia's power grid. The measures included the
construction of the Beya-Askiz PTL. It augments the supply of energy to
Khakassia and reduces the probability of automatic cuts-off in the event
of emergencies in the republic's power grid.
The PTL's coming into operation will add confidence that the Khakassia
and Tuva housing-and-utilities sector will successfully tide over the
winter. The PTL will make it possible to haul heavy-duty electric trains
from Khakassia to neighbouring regions.
It must be recalled that way back in September the Russian Ministry of
Energy referred to the RK as one of five constituent entities of the RF,
in which interruptions in the supply of electricity to factories and to
the population are possible during the cold time of the year.

.Turkmenistan expects to enhance partnership with RF.

ASHGABAT, December 22 (Itar-Tass) - Turkmenistan, along with energy
cooperation with Russia, expects to enhance bilateral partnership in other
promising areas as well, a republican government official has told
Itar-Tass in comment on the agenda of the forthcoming talks here between
the presidents of the two countries, Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov and Dmitry
Medvedev, who arrived in the Turkmen capital on Monday.
The government official said, "Turkmenistan and Russia have something
to offer to each other. The commodities include Turkmen petroleum products
and textiles, and Russian technologies and equipment. Humanitarian
cooperation also gains in scope with every passing year. A ceremony
marking the opening of a new modern building of the Turkmen-Russian school
named after Alexander Pushkin is timed to coincide with the Russian
President's visit. The new building is a gift from Gazprom which financed
the construction of the school".
At the same time, the official said, terms for the delivery of Turkmen
gas in 2010 and possibly over a longer period are the central item on the
agenda of the talks between the Presidents of Russia and Turkmenistan.
This subject was already discussed at a high level when Medvedev was
invited to attend the concluding phase of the international Silk Road-2009
motor rally and also during the subsequent meeting at Zavidovo, residence
of the President of the RF, on November 29. However, the sides have not
agreed so far on further deliveries of Turkmen gas to Russia, on the scope
of supply and prices.
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