February 12, 2014. Sverdlovsk Region is interested in strengthening its ties with Great Britain in the hi tech sectors such as machine-tool building, the aerospace industry, science, and education. Governor of Sverdlovsk Region Evgeny Kuivashev and Her Majesty's Consul General for Ekaterinburg Neil Semple spoke about the two territories' cooperation prospects in the course of a business meeting, Governor of Sverdlovsk Region's Information Policies Department says. A trade delegation from Britain is going to arrive in Yekaterinburg in June. 'I have already asked those in

February 12, 2014. Governor of Sverdlovsk Region Evgeny Kuivashev asked Sverdlovsk Region Government to look into the possibility of putting up a utility pipe manufacturing plant in the area. According to the Governor of Sverdlovsk Region's Information Policies Department, Sukhoi Log will be considered as the possible site for the plant, as over 35,000 people there had no access to the central water supply system for over a week due to a recent accident. 'We always need things in this sector, including materials. This federal constituency has perhaps one of the longest water supply

February 12, 2014. 12.02.2014. MegaFon's MegaFaces Pavilion was opened in the Olympic park on the day the opening ceremony was held in Sochi. Volunteers from Russia, Japan, and Côte d'Ivoire became the first faces of the Olympics. Their large-scale 3D portraits were featured on the facade of the pavilion, the company's press service reports. On February 7, the long-awaited opening of MegaFon's innovative pavilion took place at the Olympic park. The enormous portraits on the facades aroused great interest in the visitors to the games, including Minister for Mass

February 12, 2014. Starting from 2014, Rosstat will no longer publish any data on foreign investments in Russia, Prime refers to head of Rosstat Alexander Surinov as saying. Prior to 2014, Rosstat and the Bank of Russia kept supervising foreign investments, but the data were quite different because different methods were used, and the respondents surveyed as well as the sources of information used were also different. The legislative changes now made the Bank of Russia the only official body to keep track of the foreign investments into the country. The new law came into effect in 2014.

February 12, 2014. According to experts' estimates, the Olympics-hosting countries usually experience a stock market increase, while their national currency grows stronger thanks to a greater foreign investment inflow, Bank Koltso Urala reports. Head of the bank's Planning & Analytics Department Igor Zadorin says that the foreign media are currently taking a greater interest in the Olympics and in Russia on the whole. These current conditions are quite conducive to business negotiations and attracting new investments into the country. For one, there still remains a question of

February 11, 2014. Ural Airlines announced a sale on the summertime flights bound for popular tourist resorts on the coast of the Black Sea. Between February 10, 2014 and March 10. 2014 tickets from Yekaterinburg to Sochi, Gelendzhik, Anapa, and Simferopol are available for only 4,000 RUR, the airline's press service reports. Ural Airlines' customers can buy the cheapest tickets for Yekaterinburg-Sochi flight for 4,000 RUR (excluding the fees and charges), the cheapest tickets for Yekaterinburg-Anapa are available for 7,000 RUR,the same goes for Yekaterinburg-Gelendzhik flights, and

February 11, 2014. The solemn opening ceremony of the Sochi 2014 Olympics proved that this year's Games are going to become the most mobile ones in history. Of all the visitors to the event, 15% used their 4G networks to share their emotions with the whole world. These were precisely these mobile phone users who generated half of all the traffic within MegaFon network, says the telecommunications provider's press service. The Winter Olympics in Sochi were the first-ever games to offer visitors high-speed mobile Internet connection within the 4G network. The ceremony was attended by

February 11, 2014. A phase-out of imports program for spare parts, equipment, and expendable materials was implemented successfully at Chelyabinsk Tube Rolling Plant (ChTPZ) Vysota 239 department last year. Thanks to the 'white metallurgists' new improvement suggestions that were put to practice, the enterprise saved some 50m RUR, ChTPZ press service reports. For one, switching from the German supplier of spare parts for the working tools to a Russian one made it possible to halve both the expenses and delivery time. Then, the department's repair team learned how to make

February 11, 2014. Yekaterinburg police are now looking for a man who used another person's passport to take out 294,000 RUR worth of loans from a bank and decided not to pay them off. Criminal action was taken, with charges of fraud, so the suspect could face up to two years in prison, says the Russian Internal Affairs Ministry's Main Administration in Sverdlovsk Region's press service. According to the investigative team, the man inserted his photograph into somebody else's passport and used it to take out loans in five local banks, using one the same scheme every time.

February 11, 2014. Turkish Airlines Istanbul-Yekaterinburg flight was delayed by two hours, Yekaterinburg Airport's press service informed UrBC. Koltsovo Airport representatives explained that the friction coefficient was insufficient for this particular aircraft of Turkish Airlines, even though the other air carriers' liners were fit enough for landing. According to the airport's interactive announcement board, the flight arrived in Yekaterinburg at 10:05 AM.

February 10, 2014. 1,777,000, or about 14.1% of all Sverdlovsk Region-based households had their property insured against fire and other damage in 2013. This figure is compatible with the country’s average (14% excluding Moscow and Saint Petersburg), SOGAZ Insurance Group’s Analytic Research & Market Forecast Center reports. As for Ural Federal District, Sverdlovsk Region proved second best insured federal constituency, preceded by Tyumen Region with its 14.5%. 12% of private households are insured in Kurgan Regaion, and 11.1% are insured in Chelyabinsk Region. Accorrding to SOGAZ

February 10, 2014. The number of participatory share lending contracts for the construction of apartment buildings in Sverdlovsk Region rose by 45.9% in 2013 compared with a year earlier, Deputy Head of Sverdlovsk Region division of Rosreyestr Larissa Gashkova said. ‘The increase in the number of such contracts mainly has to do with the fact that there are very few ‘frozen’ construction sites in Yekaterinburg. Besides, the government adopted a number of measures last year to make these deals even more secure. Starting from January 1, 2014, the developer must provide evidence of third-party

February 10, 2014. Sverdlovsk Region Legislative Assembly adopted a draft bill on cooperating with Kostanai Region and Karaganda Region of Kazakhstan. This is a framework agreement that is expected to build more trust in business communities on both sides, the Mid-Urals Ministry for International and Foreign Economic Relations reports. ‘These are framework agreements that do not cost our budget anything, this is only about the legal situation. The agreement is signed not on behalf of this or that person but when the mutual interest of both parties is in place. A cooperation agreement between

February 10, 2014. Experts from Ural Chamber of Real Estate looked into the median price of a dwelling on Yekaterinburg existing homes market, in rubles and in US dollars. According to their findings, the price of apartments dropped from $2,200 to $2,080 between January 7 and February 7, 2014. In Russian rubles, this is 72,235.969 RUR per sq m (exchange rate as of February 7, 2014). The median price of existing homes came to slightly less than 73,340 RUR on February 7, 2014.

February 10, 2014. QIWI Group directed data on a ‘special offer’ run by PlatSystems in Sverdlovsk Region to law-enforcement agencies, the company’s press service informed UrBC. Now PlatSystems used QIWI’s brand to launch a ‘promotion campaign’ in Sverdlovsk Region that consisted in sending out text messages to locals that read they had won the first prize, a 4-million-ruble Lexus LX 570 Premium 5S. The police have already instituted criminal proceedings, as one of the ‘lucky winners’ has already lost 92,000 RUR on this scam. ‘QIWI provided all the data necessary to investigate the fraud upon

February 7, 2014. Sverdlovsk Region was given the 8th position in the federal constituencies appeal rating. Sverdlovsk Region's share of its own income was 79%, the share of debts was 12.9%. In terms of budget rating, however, the constituency was only given the 17th position; it was also assigned the 54th place in the economic development rating, Bank Saint Petersburg's research says. 'The federal budget revenues went down because of the recession, so we have reasonable grounds to believe that some areas might be in trouble due to less subsidies from the federal budget. In

February 7, 2014. Ural Airlines launches a new scheduled flight from Rostov to Saint Petersburg: starting from March 30, 2014, residents of Rostov will be able to travel to Saint Petersburg on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays. Starting from May 26, 2014, the flight will actually be operated daily except Saturday and Sunday, the air carrier's press officer reports. 'Thanks to the convenient schedule, the new flight will make it possible for businesspeople to plan their trips in the most convenient way and save time on connecting flights. Those who would like to walk around

February 7, 2014. Upgrades of the ultrasonic flaw detection unit Atlant meant for testing pipe ends are now complete at Pervouralsk New Pipe Plant (PNTZ, a member enterprise of ChTPZ Group) Hot-Rolled Weldless Pipes Department, PNTZ press service reports. As a result, the improvements now make it possible to test ultrasonically not only the body of their corrosion-resistant pumps but also the ends. The upgrades were two-fold. First, the operation algorithm of one of the main joints – the electroacoustic transducer tank – was adjusted. Then, a roller table was installed into the unit: now

February 7, 2014. Pervouralsk, Serov, Rezh, Kirovgrad, Kamensk-Uralsky, and Yekaterinburg were registered among Sverdlovsk Region-based towns and cities with the highest air pollution rates in the area, Sverdlovsk Region Natural Resources & the Environment Ministry's report on Q4 2013 says. The air pollution in Sverdlovsk Region was at its worst on November 25-27, 2013. This was when a lot of air pollutants were detected in the air. For one, nitrogen dioxide emissions stood at their peak in Yekaterinburg, Kamensk-Uralsky, Kirovgrad, Serov, and Pervouralsk. Increased nitrogen oxide

February 7, 2014. 80% of the Innoprom 2013 exhibitors are going to join this year's exhibition as well, President of Formica Group Maxim Zverkov said at a press conference in Yekaterinburg. 'As the event operator, 80% exhibitor retention signifies good performance for us,' he said. Zverkov also pointed out that new exhibitors would also take part in the exhibition this year. For one, Formica is negotiating with the International Robotics Federation. He said the federation's Japanese representatives are expected to come to Yekaterinburg. 'The robotics federation is a