November 12, 2013. Russian President Vladimir Putin opened the plenary session of the 10th Interregional Russia-Kazakhstan Cooperation Forum today. He said 76 Russian Federation constituencies were currently doing business with different territories in Kazakhstan. Over 200 cooperation agreements were signed, and the two countries’ bilateral trade turnover increased by 4 times in the last year. ‘Investments in Kazakh economy came to $1bn in the first half of 2013 alone, which is 40% more than a year earlier,’ Putin said. He said that the two countries needed to cooperate within the framework

November 12, 2013. 12,687 people found a job through Yekaterinburg Employment Center in January-October 2013, the center’s press service says. All in all, 20,351 people applied to the center over the given period, and 70,651 people placed their queries as to the current labor market situation. Also, 3,993 applicants wanted some job counseling. The share of people who found jobs over this period was 48.4% of applicants; as of November 1, 2013, 3,315 people are registered with the center as jobless. The city’s official unemployment rate is 0.45%. Sverdlovsk Region-based enterprises submitted

November 12, 2013. Russian Copper Company is exhibiting its achievements at the 10th Interregional Russia-Kazakhstan Cooperation Forum and is presenting an innovative stand with visual displays of the company’s mining projects in Russia and Kazakhstan. The Russian Copper Company Group is one of Russia’s top three copper producers and has been investing actively in Kazakhstan. In 2004-2012, the investments on the company’s part amounted to over $500m. On the first day of the exhibition, RRC’s stand was visited by an official delegation consisting of Deputy Minister for Regional Development

November 12, 2013. Russian President Vladimir Putin promised at the All-Russian local governments conference that the personal income tax revenues into local budgets would be calculated for the next three years, Kommersant reports. The Mayor of Khabarovsk asked the President to instruct the Russian Government to set long-term norms and minimum figures for the tax revenues into municipal budgets, including the PIT. The President agreed that the tax revenues transferred into the local budgets by the federal constituencies should be more or less fixed and long-term, as this was the only way ‘to

November 12, 2013. Deutsche Bank AG awarded SKB-Bank for the great quality of handling foreign currency payments. In 2012, 97.4% of payments SKB-Bank took through Deutsche Bank did not need any additional processing, the bank’s press service reports. ‘Reducing payment transaction expenses and improved service are becoming increasingly important in today’s competitive environment. Deutsche Bank values its long-term relationship with SKB-Bank greatly and hopes for ongoing cooperation,’ the letter accompanying the award states. In fact, quite a few foreign correspondent banks point to the