The division of Rospotrebnadzor (the state consumer rights watchdog) in the Republic of Dagestan found critical amounts of pesticides in fresh pomegranates imported from Azerbaijan without any quality or safety certificates; in fact, the pesticide content exceeded the upper limit six or seven times. Rospotrebnadzor’s division in Yekaterinburg has already planned to check the quality of pomegranates in local stores, with emphasis laid on whether the shops have documents that indicate the origin, quality, and safety of fresh fruit imported from Azerbaijan. These inspections are targeted at

Evraz Group is planning to buy a 5.003% share holding of Metallurgical Industrial Complex of Nizhniy Tagil. Mastercroft Limited, the company’s subsidiary that owns 94.997% of the Complex, has offered 65.541 million shares to the minority shareholder; these shares are to be acquired before May 29, 2007 for 63.72 RUR ($2.45) apiece. The total cost of the 5.003% share holding will thus come to 4.18 billion RUR, reports the spokesperson for Evraz Group.

A facilities manager and a test-pilot of Airbus, a globally recognized aircraft constructing corporation, visited the premises of Ural Airlines in Yekaterinburg in mid-March, reports the company’s press officer. The French experts say they aim to build up cooperation ties with their Ural partners as well as make sure Airbus planes are used effectively and safely. Actually, large foreign companies normally choose to sign leasing agreements only with well-reputed Russian carriers and keep controlling their use of aircraft throughout the whole period. This time, Airbus executives tested the

Viktor Chirkov, head of the local division of Rospotrebnadzor (the state consumer rights watchdog), responded to questions on consumer rights protection that were posed by the readers of Vecherniy Yekaterinburg newspaper on March 15, 2007. One of the complaints was related to possible violation of sanitary regulations in Yekaterinburg-based Auchan, reports the spokesperson for Rospotrebnadzor in Yekaterinburg. ‘The current legislation prevents us from doing scheduled inspections in Auchan as this food retailer has not been around for two years yet. A customer complaint, however, gives us

The Board of Directors of Chelyabinsk Tube-Rolling Plant suggested on March 18, 2007 that the general shareholder meeting should result in the decision to pass a dividend for 2006, says the company’s official report produced on March 21, 2007 in compliance with the obligatory reporting of information that could influence a company’s stock price or affect its investment activity.

‘The Egyptian authorities have been trying to ban the use of IL 86 planes for transferring Russian tourists to Egypt for a few years already, but we are hoping this ban will never be imposed, for it is advantageous for neither them nor us,’ Director of Inna Tour Travel Agency Inna Averyanova said to UrBC. ‘IL 86 is very economical compared to, for instance, TU 154, which is why, should these planes be forbidden to fly to Egypt, prices will soar and the number of travelers will drop. In the meantime, Egypt is a country whose economy largely depends on tourism, and the possible ban would mean

‘We haven’t been selling more strong drinks produced by Ukraine-based Nemiroff in the last two months,’ goods manager of Napoleon food store Oksana Sinchuk said to UrBC. ‘The sales have remained the same over the last few months; the product has obtained its niche and has a stable number of niche customers,’ she said.

‘The recent arrival of Auchan drove us out of Yekaterinburg’s Top 5 food retailers list; yet we are hoping to climb back this year by dint of outdoing one of the local players,’ Alexander Raisikh, CEO of Zvezdniy supermarket chain, announced at the conference devoted to regional trade. ‘The presence of federal and transnational players on the local market has definitely been affecting the current status quo. We’ve lost 2% to 3% of our profits because of Auchan, for example,’ Mr. Raisikh said. ‘As for Ramstore, is does not appear to influence things greatly. I believe a lot of local food

‘The arrival of foreign builders in the region is bound to develop our construction business in the best possible ways. These companies introduce new ways of working, advanced technologies, and modern standards. At the same time, they ensure effective management and logistics coordination, whereas the builders themselves are usually regional dwellers, which means we get plenty of local skilled workers due to the training they provide. This is why Sverdlovsk Region welcomes all the foreign builders,’ Sverdlovsk Region Governor Eduard Rossel announced at a briefing on March 22, 2007.

Bank24.ru and Colvir Software Solutions Ltd. contracted for the supply and introduction of CBS-2, the core banking system, on March 19, 2007. Bank 24.ru decided it needed a new banking system after its client base doubled and the company decided to break into the federal market. The bank conducted a tender in order to make the best choice there is among both Russian companies (Escape-M, Quorum, R-Style Software Lab, Financial Technologies Center, and Diasoft) and foreign businesses (Forbis Ltd. of Lithuania and Colvir Software Solutions Ltd. of Great Britain) and finally decided on Colvir