A new Deputy Chairman has been appointed at Bank24.ru recently. Former counselor to the chairman Tatiana Kislitsina will become Deputy Chairman after this appointment has been approved of by the main division of the Bank of Russia in Sverdlovsk Region. Ms Kislitsina’s responsibilities will include supervising the performance of tellers and collectors as well as monitoring cash turnover, reports the bank’s press officer.

A group of experts of Metallurgical Industrial Complex of Nizhniy Tagil (part of Evraz Group) attended the International Metallurgical Forum in Moscow on March 22, 2007. The event was devoted to the 15th anniversary of the International Union of Metallurgists; about 200 companies from Russia, the Ukraine, Byelorussia, Georgia, Germany, Austria, and other countries took part in the forum. The team of Metallurgical Industrial Complex of Nizhniy Tagil was headed by CEO Alexei Kushnarev. The Complex representatives presented their report on the company’s development. Metallurgical Industrial

‘The possible limitations on the import of Indian rice won’t affect our stores as the share of Indian produce in our assortment of different kinds of rice is insignificant,’ the spokesperson for Kirovskiy supermarket chain Olga Nagibina said to UrBC. In the meantime, Rosselkhoznadzor (the state agricultural watchdog) intends to limit the import of rice, sesame, and peanuts from India beginning from May 1, 2007, which has been brought about by a lot of low-quality produce imported recently.

The city council held a meeting of Yekaterinburg medical committee to discuss performance of the local hospitals and clinics in 2006, reports the council’s press officer. The city was quite successful in implementing the four strategic projects referred to as Health of Little Dwellers, Three Steps to Long Life, Yekaterinburg as the Region’s Medical Center, and the National Health Project. According to head of Yekaterinburg Healthcare Administration A. Prutkov, the latter received 455 million RUR worth of investments in 2006. Children’s hospitals 5 and 11 and central municipal clinics 2, 3, 6,

Head of Rostechnadzor (the state environmental, technological, and nuclear safety watchdog) Konstantin Pulikovskiy arrived in the Urals on March 26, 2007. The agenda of his visit covers meeting the regions’ leaders, checking out the sites of Mayak Production Association (Chelyabinsk Region), Chelyabinsk Metallurgical Industrial Complex, Beloyarskaya power station and PnevmoStroyMachine, and evaluating the results of complex examinations of the Urals’ largest industrial enterprises, reports the spokesperson for Rostechnadzor in Ural Federal District.

‘Last year, Roszdravnadzor (the state healthcare watchdog) examined 807 healthcare and pharmaceutical entities based in Sverdlovsk Region, which resulted in 43 warnings and 13 reports placed with courts. 249 medical establishments and 184 pharmaceutical companies were provided with licenses (compared to 232 and 102 in 2005, respectively), yet the number of licenses to entities involved in handling drugs and psychotropic agents went down from 32 to 24, which is a little suspicious,’ says Galina Burdina of Sverdlovsk Region division of Roszdravnadzor. ‘Among the main offenses were lack of

‘In my opinion, it is only reasonable to put up no more than two Auchan supermarkets in the city’s suburbs; if they are located in the center of Yekaterinburg, this will increase congestion and force a number of local stores to close down,’ Valeriy Bubnov, General Director of Uniland Yekaterinburg, said to UrBC. ‘Besides, I don’t think fair completion among private companies allows for support of players from other fields of business, especially when it comes to foreign companies,’ Mr. Bubnov said. The whole issue originated when Sverdlovsk Region Governor Eduard Rossel suggested putting up

‘Deputy Mayor Vladimir Kritskiy chaired a meeting of an ad hoc committee regarding action that needs to be taken to protect investors from dishonest builders. The meeting was attended by the local council executives, representatives of the Federal Financial Market Service, public prosecution authorities, and Sverdlovsk Region Duma deputies,’ reports Vasiliy Ganzhin, Chairman of Right to a Dwelling, an NGO. ‘The committee arrived at a decision to take some preventive steps in respect of Noviy Grad, the local builder that owns a number of land allotments and keeps collecting money from the

Concern Kalina published its annual report for 2006 (drawn up according to the International Financial Reporting Standards) on March 22, 2007. The company’s revenues and gross profit reached the point of $344,150,000 and $154,879,000 respectively, which is 19.4% and 14.8% better than in 2005. Kalina’s net profit amounted to $15,374,000, which is 34.9% less than a year earlier. Their EBITDA came to $37,983,000, which falls short of the previous year’s figures by 1.4%, reports the company’s press officer.

Vice President of Russian Railways Sergey Kozyrev was appointed acting Head of Sverdlovsk Region Railways, says Moscow-based spokesperson of Russian Railways. The Board of Directors of Russian Railways decided at a meeting in Moscow on March 20, 2007 that Head of Sverdlovsk Region Railways Shevket Shaidullin should resign. The reasons for Mr. Shaidullin’s resignation were to have been announced at a briefing scheduled for 2 PM on March 22, 2007, but this press conference was put off indefinitely.