March 24, 2014. Pervouralsk New Pipe Plant (PNTZ, a member enterprise of ChTPZ Group) and Uralvagonzavod Scientific & Production Corporation signed a cooperation agreement in the field of cadre training. The document was signed right after the closing ceremony of the annual conference of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs that was, among other things, dedicated to setting up a totally new employment structure and employment terms as well as to improving the quality of industrial cadre training, PNTZ press service reports. It was suggested that companies could learn from

March 24, 2014. Visa and MasterCard blocked all of SMP Bank’s card transactions this morning without any preliminary warning, the lending institution’s press service reports. ‘Our customers, however, can take out any amount of money via our ATMs and cash desks as well as via any of the 23,000 ATMs that the United Settlement System comprises,’ the bank reports. All the other transactions, including cashing in on deposits and payment transactions, are available as usual and without any restrictions. The bank has not been informed on cancellation of services on the correspondent accounts abroad

March 24, 2014. As of March 18, 2014, 21.3bn RUR worth of taxes flew in Sverdlovsk Region budget, which was 0.9% less than a year earlier. The corporate income tax revenues were down by 27.5% (2.3bn RUR), yet the personal income tax revenues rose by 22.7% (the same 2.3bn RUR), Sverdlovsk Region Finance Ministry reports. ‘In 2014, Sverdlovsk Region’s economy has been stagnating so far, which tells upon the local budget revenues,’ the ministry explains. All in all, 21.3bn RUR worth of obligatory payments were made to the federal constituency’s budget as of March 18, 2014. This comes to 14.2% of

March 24, 2014. Sverdlovsk Region Public Property Management Ministry made 19 of its most popular services available electronically. 11 more services will become available online within the next two years, the Ministry’s press service says. All in all, the Ministry offers locals 30 types of government services, including 18 services in the field of land law, 10 services in the field of cultural heritage protection, and 2 other types of services. Converting government and municipal services into an electronic format is one of the key areas in the government system of governance’s at the

March 24, 2014. A walking tour of the would-be fan zone for the world football championship of 2018 was coordinated in Yekaterinburg recently. The zone will be 1.5 hectares big and is large enough to host 5,000 to 7,000 people. The site will probably be ready by the beginning of summer. A 60-square-meter screen (Russia’s biggest) will be installed there, the city news portal says. ‘Yekaterinburg will host the World Cup matches in 2018, so this year the Mid-Urals’ capital can have a rehearsal of sorts. The rehearsal will consist in creating a fan zone in our Central Culture & Leisure Park