United Company RUSAL was registered in Cyprus, says Chairman of the Board Viktor Vekselberg. Most assets will still be classed as Russian, he explains; the registration in Cyprus is needed, however, to enter the global market. The new company unites a number of aluminum plants (Bratsk, Krasnoyarsk, Novokuznetsk, Sayanogorsk, Khakas Aluminum Smelters, Achinsk Alumina Plant, Nikolaev and Boksitogorsk Alumina Refineries, Friguia Alumina Plant (Guinea), Compagnie des Bauxites de Kindia (Guinea), Bauxite Company of Guyana, a stake in the Queensland Alumina Refinery (Australia), as well as ARMENAL,

‘The number of Russian air carriers tends to go down: there were only 182 operating airlines at the beginning of 2007 against 252 companies in 2002. About half of the former players had to leave since they failed to meet the certification requirements; another half had to close down for economic reasons,’ head of Ural division of Federal Transport Surveillance Agency Anatoly Telegin said at the 4th air travel conference Urals’ Open Sky 2007 on April 13, 2007. ‘95% of all domestic flights are performed by the country’s top 30 air carriers (including Ural Airlines), the remaining 5% of flights

The final tour of Russia’s Best Banker contest has recently taken place in Moscow. The event was coordinated by the Association of Regional Banks of Russia, the Association of Russian Banks, and the Finance Academy under the Government of the Russian Federation Some leading Russian bankers, including First Deputy Chairman of the Bank of Russia Georgiy Luntovskiy, First Executive Vice President of Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs Alexander Murychev, President of the Association of Russian Banks Garegin Tosunian, President of the Association of Regional Banks of Russia Anatoly

‘The city council compiled a database of people who invested their money in housing construction in Yekaterinburg but appear to have been deceived by the builders. In addition, a special investor file has been created that is used to compile the database. What is more, an ad hoc committee is now trying to sort out these people’s problems,’ chairman of Right to a Dwelling Vasiliy Ganzhin said to UrBC. ‘Among other things, the committee will look into affairs of Noviy Grad, the local developer; it is now considering withdrawing their misused land allotments in Artelniy Lane and

The city council hosted a meeting of the logistics committee devoted to final preparations for the 3d Small Business Congress; the meeting was chaired by First Vice Mayor Alexander Yakob. The forum will take place in the Big Hall of the town house on April 17, 2007, with over 200 local entrepreneurs and 100 guests expected to attend the event. Sverdlovsk Region is reported to be Russia’s No. 3 in terms of small business development; Yekaterinburg, hosting 72% of all regional small and medium-scale enterprises, leads the way. These businesses produce about 18% of everything made in

The law-enforcement agencies of Ural Federal District had been inspecting most of the local civil services for the last three months to find out that enormous number of civil servants violated the law by concealing their entrepreneurial activity, failing to produce accurate income statements or to hold impartial tenders for goods and services rendered for state and municipal purposes. Over 800 violations were revealed altogether, including 200 offenses in Tyumen Region and more than 170 in Sverdlovsk Region. In order to respond accordingly, the district’s public prosecution authorities

According to the spokesperson for the Administration of Russian Federation Public Prosecution Authorities in Ural Federal District, over 4,200 instances of violating a citizen’s right to a timely salary have been revealed since the beginning of the year. Over 445 illegitimate acts have been impugned, 358 executives were officially warned, and 2,200 prosecutor’s claims were placed with courts as a result. Administrative suits have been filed against 635 repeated offenders, with 14 perpetrators probably to be disqualified. Seven such cases have already been heard in court. N. Filatova (director

MegaFon Ural, the mobile operator, has recently introduced a new, totally unlimited tariff suitable for communication in any spot of Russia. Territory, as it is known, thus provides virtually endless opportunities for business interaction. The fixed monthly fee covers all the outgoing calls to both mobile and landline phones in Russia provided the user is located within the coverage area of MegaFon Ural; all the ingoing and outgoing calls to mobile and landline phones in Russia provided the user is located within MegaFon’s on-network roaming zone. Territory is the best tariff scheme for

Deputy Minister for Economics and Labor of Sverdlovsk Region Anatoly Ogloblin coordinated the meeting of the committee for development and implementation of Sverdlovsk Region productive forces in 2006-2015. This time, the committee tried to analyze the banking sector development, look into small business dynamics, and estimate the potential of the region’s scientific research centers. According to First Deputy Minister for Economics and Labor Nikolai Bespamyatnikh, most of the goals defined in the developmental schemes for last year were achieved. Moreover, most of the target figures were

Experts from the Plenipotentiary Representation of Russian Federation President in Ural Federal District looked into the area’s socio-economic development in the two months of 2007 to find out that the better part of these months’ success has been due to impressive industrial growth of Tyumen and Chelyabinsk Regions. The regions’ manufacturers are doing particularly well, so is the housing business: 447,400 square meters of dwellings have been commissioned since the beginning of the year, which is twice the amount of January-February 2007. 5,040 apartments have been put up altogether compared