Metallurgical Industrial Complex of Nizhniy Tagil (part of Evraz Group) produced its first set of rails for Turkish State Railways (TCDD). The railway company requested 4,000 tons of rails; some of them have already been shipped to Turkey, with the second shipment to be sent in mid-June. Metallurgical Industrial Complex of Nizhniy Tagil is currently negotiating for more supplies in the next two years, EvrazGroup’s press officer reports.

Rostourism has recently updated its lists of travel agents who managed to submit all the right applications and get on the United Federal Register. Only five Yekaterinburg-based ravel agents were actually able to make it: Ural Travel Company Ltd., Europort Ltd., More Travel Russian Club Ltd., Mega Tour Travel Company Ltd., and ProfService Ltd. The rest have only got until June 1, 2007 to apply for the registration. 'Beginning from June 1, 2007, unregistered travel agents will no longer be able to operate on the market. In case they try to, they will have to face a criminal suit and an

Regional statisticians report that retail trade turnover in Sverdlovsk Region grew by 27.3% in January-March 2007 against the first quarter of 2006, reaching 82.3 billion RUR. Yekaterinburg’s share came to 66.3%. In twenty-seven municipalities, retail trade growth rates exceeded the region’s average.

SKB-Bank experts report more mortgages were given to Russian banks’ customers in the first quarter of 2007 than a year earlier. Sverdlovsk Region with its 2.7 billion RUR worth of mortgages was No. 7 on the Top 10 list. 12.6 billion RUR worth of loans were issued in Moscow, Moscow Region with its 5.2 billion RUR worth of loans was No. 4 on the list, 5.5 billion RUR worth of loans were issued in Saint Petersburg, 5.6 billion RUR worth of loans were issued in Tyumen Region, banks of Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Region provided their customers with 3.06 billion RUR worth of loans, those based in

Ural Treasures Bank held its annual general meeting on May 30, 2007. The meeting resulted in the shareholders’ decision to approve of the bank’s annual report for 2006 as well as the balance sheet and appoint Yekaterinburg Audit Center the bank’s auditor. The new Board of Directors was elected as well. These are Deputy Head of Sverdlovsk Region Government Oleg Gusev, Vice Presidents of Ural Financial Holding Irina Lukyanets and Konstantin Pyzhov, Ural Treasures Bank CEO Ilya Markov, Chairperson of Mechel Bank Elena Nesterova, Counselor of Ural Financial Holding Anton Tretyakov, and President

The Ural Bank for Reconstruction and Development was declared one of Russia’s Top 200 largest commercial banks list in the first quarter of 2007 by Kommersant Dengi magazine. The bank also hit Ural Federal District’s Top 3 list (as was the case last year); its equity capital amounted to 27,571,017,000 RUR and its net wealth rose to 28,690,942,000 RUR on April 1, 2007 the bank’s press officer reports. ‘The Ural Bank for Reconstruction and Development was announced to have the most developed retail services in Ural Federal District; it also was Russia’s No. 29 in terms of individual

Czech Travel Center is going to operate in Yekaterinburg until the end of the year; the decision was taken by First Deputy Head of Sverdlovsk Region Government Vladimir Molchanov and First Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade of the Czech Republic when the two met at Sverdlovsk Region’s presentation in the Czech Republic. This information was reported by the spokesperson for Governor of Sverdlovsk Region.

Sverdlovsk Gubernskiy Bank placed its balance sheet data as of March 1, 2007 on the corporate website. According to these data, the bank’s assets placed with crediting organizations went down 69% between February 1, 2007 and March 1, 2007 (or from 97,091,000 RUR to 29,531,000 RUR).

'Aviaprad currently owes Koltsovo airport 500 million RUR,’ Governor of Sverdlovsk Region Eduard Rossel announced at a recent press conference relating to the airport’s attempts to offer Ural Airlines’ slots to Aviaprad. 'Given the great debt this carrier has, one cannot help questioning this company’s future,’ the Governor said.

According to a rating published by Kommersant Dengi magazine (published on May 28, 2007), URSA Bank hit 20th on Russia’s Top 20 largest banks list in terms of net wealth and 22nd on Russia’s Top 20 largest banks list in terms of equity capital. 'URSA Bank was No.7 in terms of being the most customer-friendly and No. 12 in terms of most developed retail services and investments by natural persons; it was also 24th in terms of profits and 15th in terms of attracted investments and securities,’ the bank’s press officer reports.

'We are currently thinking of who is going to become the new general director of Koltsovo airport; as for the former GD Mikhail Maximov, he is guilty of a breach of law as well as of failing to comply with the orders issued by the Ministry of Transport since he chose to change the traditional flight schedule for Ural Airlines (the one the carrier has used for years) more or less ad libitum,’ Governor of Sverdlovsk Region Eduard Rossel announced at a press conference on May 29, 2007. 'Mr. Maximov has received a number of warnings from the Ministry in the past, but he did not seem to

Aramil, Sysert, and Verkhnyaya Pyshma put up most houses (per 1,000 citizens) in Sverdlovsk Region in January-April 2007. No dwellings were commissioned in Volchanskiy, Krasnouralsk, Garinskiy, Staroutkinsk, Malyshevskiy, and Taborinskiy municipalities. These data were presented in the report on the regional cities’ socio-economic development in the four months of 2007 drawn up by Sverdlovsk Region Ministry for Economics and Labor.

A meeting of the city council’s exhibition coordinating committee was held in Yekaterinburg on May 29, 2007. The agenda of the meeting covered issues related to the implementation of the International Exposition Center project in the first quarter of 2007, Yekaterinburg Commodities Market Committee reports. The city is expected to host 179 exhibitions this year altogether; 45 of them have already been organized in January-March 2007. The average number of visitors per exhibition amounted to 8,116 people; the average stand area reached 7.4 square meters; the average number of foreign exhibits

Governor of Sverdlovsk Region Eduard Rossel sent his address regarding the region’s taxation and budgetary developmental strategies in 2008-2010 to Sverdlovsk Region Legislative Assembly, the spokesperson for the Governor reports. For the first time this year, the region’s budget (as well as that of the Russian Federation) is to be adopted for a three-year period.

According to the Central Bank of Russia, volume of nonresident legal entities’ deposits in Uralfinprombank valid for 91 to 180 days went down 100% (from 9.833 million RUR to zero) in January-April 2007.

The Russian Federation Subsoil Resources Agency issued an order regarding early license termination of Uralneft entitling the former to Krasnoufimskiy land patch beginning from October 1, 2007, the Agency’s Licensing Department said to UrBC. In the little time they have, the company has to have the area re-vegetated and wells shut down. The license was actually cancelled because Uralneft actually dealt in illegal oil production, reaching an output of 6,000 tons a year, whereas its license only stated that the company was allowed to engage in some experimental-industrial activity as far as

In January-April 2007, Nizhniy Tagil customs’ Currency Control Department initiated 218 inspections aimed at checking how effectively 23 local exporters complied with the currency regulations. These inspections resulted in 52 administrative lawsuits, with damage claims amounting to $531,070. All the case-related papers have already been placed with the regional division of Rosfinnadzor (the state financial watchdog) 29 cases have to do with failing to meet the requirement that exporters have their money (foreing currency obtained through export of goods) transferred in certain banks over a

According to the Central Bank of Russia, volume of natural persons’ deposits and investments in UralTransBank placed for 31 to 90 days went down 83% (from 3.608 million RUR to 611,000 RUR) in January-April 2007.

26 posts at Russian-Kazakh frontier will be set up in Chelyabinsk Region; the decision was announced by the head of Federal Security Service Frontier Administration in Chelyabinsk Region Oleg Lutskikh at the anti-terrorist committee meeting chaired by Governor Petr Sumin. The attendants also discussed the need for efficient railway check points (the ones available at the moment leave a lot to be desired). The Governor suggested that the committee should write a proposal to this effect to Head of Russian Federation Government Mikhail Fradkov. Besides, matters of anti-terrorist protection at

URSA Bank set up its second mortgage lending center in Novosibirsk at 27 Vatutin St. (The first office is located at 179/4 D. Kovalchuk St.) ‘URSA Bank has for a long time been doing business with realtors in terms of mortgages; actually, this is how the idea of creating a workplace for a realtor in our offices emerged. As far as the new center is concerned, our customers can consult a representative of Pallas Athena agency,’ URSA Bank’s Mortgage Promotion Director in Novosibirsk Anna Bardysheva says. ‘A customer coming to our office would be able to get advice on the best mortgages as well