Head of Sverdlovsk Region Government Viktor Koksharov met the People’s Republic of China’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Yang Jiechi at Koltsovo airport of Yekaterinburg on May 14, 2008. Viktor Koksharov welcomed the Chinese delegation and said he hoped the officials would have a good and fruitful time in the hospitable Urals.

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of sole traders’ deposits and other investments in VUZ Bank valid for 91 to 180 days went down by 45.08% (from 139.374 million RUR to 76.537 million RUR) in January-April 2008.

Nakhimov Plaza, the trade and office center at 9 Vainer St. in Yekaterinburg is still being put up rather slowly. Aston Group has claimed earlier that the building would be finished in the summer of 2008; however, even the outer walls haven’t been fully finished yet. A billboard located next to the construction site reports the building was to have been commissioned as early as the last quarter of 2007. Aston Group acts as the broker for the building and, according to Chairman Vyacheslav Trapesnikov, all the delays have been caused by the limited area of the construction site. At the same

According to the Central Bank of Russia, volume of loans given by SberInvestBank to sole traders despite overdraft went down by 47% (from 1.5 million RUR to 805,000 RUR) in January-April 2008.

URSA Bank’s assets (calculated in accordance with the Russian Accounting Standards) came to $7.5bn, which is 1.5 times better than a year earlier. The bank’s own funds doubled and reached $1.29bn in the meantime. URSA Bank’s profit amounted to $65.2m in the first quarter of 2008, which is 2.7 times better than in January-March 2007. The bank’s net loan portfolio reached $5.8bn in April 2008, which exceeds the figures for last April by 1.7 times. As for the bad debt, its share came to 4.1% of the total loan portfolio volume on April 1, 2008, while the bank’s reserves fully make up for the

‘Most unit investment trusts did not do very well in the first quarter of the year and actually showed some negative dynamics. This was the case of CIT Fortis Investment and Maxwell, for instance,’ Unicom Partner’s Deputy Corporate Marketing Director Dmitriy Emerov said to UrBC. In the meantime, Unicom Partner has recently announced that its contracts with CIT Fortis Investment and Maxwell management companies were cancelled. ‘Unicom Partner intends to focus on trust management and banking services for the time being. However, we might resume our cooperation with the unit investment trusts

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of loans given by Sverdlovsk Gubernskiy Bank to for-profit self-regulatory organizations for 181 days to 1 year dropped by 100% (from 12 million RUR to zero) in January-April 2008.

Owing to a large amount of papers the applicants have to prepare in order to apply for the development of Udokanskoye ore deposit in Chita Region (as the deposit is quite unique in many ways) as well as in order to make sure the tender is as transparent as it can be, the Russian Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment decided to prolong the application deadline by 30 days. The original deadline was May 14, 2008. The Ministry hasn’t received any applications yet, their press officer reports. Udokanskoye deposit’s capacity has been estimated at 187,000 tons of ore a year, which will

According to the Central Bank of Russia, volume of loans given by UralTransBank to natural persons for 31 to 90 days went down by 75.15% (from 2.105 million RUR to 523,000 RUR) in January-April 2008.

Uralmash Machine-Building Corporation has recently signed a contract with Ahangarancement, the cement works located in Ahagaran, Uzbekistan. The contract is related to the delivery of two mill frames. The total weight of the machinery has been estimated at 100 tons, the spokesperson for the corporation said to UrBC. The first frame is to be delivered in December 2008, the second one – in February 2009. The spokesperson for the corporation reports this is the company’s first contract with an enterprise located in the CIS. Uralmash will probably sign another contract with Uzbek Kuvasaicement in