Mayor of Yekaterinburg Arkadiy Chernetskiy accepted a project known as All Colors Invited and targeted at facilitating the introduction of new foreign representations and consulates in the city; these are expected to attract additional investments in the city’s economy. There are currently fifteen consulates in Yekaterinburg, with the number expected to rise to twenty in a few years’ time, the spokesperson for the city council reports. In addition, over 500 branches of international corporations are predicted to have been established in Yekaterinburg by 2015 against only 200 representations

‘The only way to support local meat producers at the moment is to impose quotas on meat imported from Poland,’ press officer of Sverdlovsk Region Ministry of Agriculture and Food Anatoly Feoktistov said to UrBC. Things turned critical in the first place due to large amount of meat imported to Russia both legally and illegally, which made purchasing prices plummet as well as created enormous difficulties for local producers in terms of selling their pork on the regional markets.

‘The court hearing regarding the criminal suit of Ural Investment and Construction Company Vyacheslav Borisov CEO (involving accusations of large-scale fraud) that has been scheduled for June 6, 2007 had to be postponed due to the accused’ illness,’ Vasiliy Ganzhin, head of Right to a Dwelling, a non-governmental organization, said to UrBC. ‘Verkh-Isetskiy Court of Yekaterinburg decided to put the hearing off and meet again on June 14, 2007. Mr. Borisov is kept in detention at the moment,’ Mr. Ganzhin said.

‘Thanks to the wide spread and availability of car loans, borrowers who only used to be able to afford Russian cars can now buy a medium-price-range foreign one. Yet the buyer’s choice is normally influenced not only by the price and the range of options a car can offer but also by the cost of further maintenance. Even though Geely Otaka is not much more expensive that, for example, Lada, its maintenance, repair, and spare parts are much more costly,’ Iyul Motor Show’s press officer said to UrBC. The first Geely Otaka cars were produced in Novouralsk on June 5, 2007. Its producers claim the

Over 35,000 graduates are going to be looking for a job this summer; Yekaterinburg’s market, however, only needs 19,000 people. There are also going to be 16,000 vocational school-leavers, with 29,000 vacancies available for them. The region’s industrial enterprises are also in dire need of skilled workers that could meet modern requirements, despite the obvious oversupply of engineers. ‘We just can’t count on vocational schools with their obsolete equipment,’ says Anatoly Pavlov, Chairman of Legislation and Self-Government Committee under the regional House of Representatives.

Sverdlovsk Region Duma deputies looked into the project on developing the region’s agriculture in 2007-2009 and voiced their concerns over the need to protect the local pork producers after both legal and illegal import of meat to Russia rose dramatically and made prices plummet. Regional producers have already complained about the hard time they are having trying to sell their pork on Sverdlovsk Region markets. Meanwhile, the Minister for Agriculture and Food has not made his position clear yet, and no effective measures aimed at protecting the local farmers and consumers from the foreign

According to the Central Bank of Russia, volume of natural persons’ deposits and other investments in UralTransBank valid for 91 to 180 days went down 75% (from 124.077 million to 30.959 million) in January-April 2007.

Russian Federation Minister of Emergencies Sergey Shoigu is going to arrive in Yekaterinburg in order to participate a meeting of the regional Civil Defense and Emergencies Committee on June 15, 2007, the spokesperson for Governor of Sverdlovsk Region reports. The meeting will also be attended by other ministry representatives as well as by civil defense commanders, heads of rescue and recovery teams, and their Kazakh colleagues. The agenda of the meeting covers issues related to interregional cooperation in terms of protecting both the population and the area in case of emergencies.

Governor of Sverdlovsk Region Eduard Rossel suggested that his administration should approve of the project aimed at setting up a non-profit partnership known as Ural Pharmaceutical Holding, the spokesperson for the Governor reports. According to Boris Charniy (CEO of Territorial Obligatory Medical Insurance Fund), Ural Pharmaceutical Holding would comprise scientific research institutes and centers, colleges, universities, and pharmaceutical enterprises as well as retail and wholesale dealers. ‘The Organic Synthesis Institute under the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Ural division, Ural Medical

MegaFon Ural, one of the region’s manor mobile operators, resumed its White Nights special offer on June 7, 2007. The offer provides for free calls within the operator’s network from midnight till eight AM, with text messages only priced .3 RUR (VAT included). The offer is available to of MegaFon’s subscribers, regardless of the tariff scheme they use, only costs 10 RUR (VAT included) to subscribe to, and is valid through September 30, 2007. The monthly fee amounts to 30 RUR (VAT included) in Kirov, Kurgan, Sverdlovsk, Chelyabinsk, and Perm Regions and in the Republics of Komi and Udmurtia;

URSA Bank’s Chelyabinsk-based subsidiary evaluated the results of its Super-Agent 2007 contest on June 2, 2007; the contest was held on April16-May 31, 2007 and involved over 50 realtors from 34 real estate agencies. In order to apply for a prize, a realtor had to try to process as many URSA Bank’s mortgage loans as possible. Elena Puchnina of Kvartirniy Otvet Agency won the first prize (a laptop), with three other shortlisted candidates receiving smaller prizes. ‘Our agency was very lucky, as we’ve actually won two times (one of our employees won the fourth prize), which is just delightful.

According to the Central Bank of Russia, volume of loans given by Uralfinprombank to profit-making self-regulatory organizations went down 35% (from 255.187 million RUR to 163.752 million RUR) in January-May 2007.

According to the Central Bank of Russia, volume of loans given by AGROPROMBANK Credit to natural persons for a term of 31 to 90 days went down 95% (from 1.07 billion RUR to 46,000 RUR) in January-April 2007.

Governor of Sverdlovsk Region Eduard Rossel chaired a meeting of the supervisory boards of Governor of Sverdlovsk Region Investment Support Fund; the meeting was attended by Chairman of Development Bank Vladimir Dmitriev, the spokesperson for the Governor reports. Mr. Dmitriev commented on the goals and targets of the newly founded bank and said they were fully prepared to actively cooperate with the region’s business community, whereupon First Deputy Head of Sverdlovsk Region Government Galina Kovaleva handed a list of regional investment projects over to Mr. Dmitriev.

‘Geely Otaka cars are not likely to be able to compete price-wise with VAZ 2110, 2111, 2112 cars or Lada Kalina. Firstly, a Geely Otaka car costs 300,000 RUR on average, which is about 60,000 RUR more expensive than Lada Kalina. Secondly, VAZ keeps improving on the car parts and kitting every year, bringing its cars in compliance with the European standards in this regard. This is why you wouldn’t think it very probable that Geely Otaka sedans are going to become Russian cars’ serious rival,’ Sales Manager of Autonom Motor Show Rishat Nigamatov said to UrBC. ‘Thirdly, Geely Otaka buyers might

Khortytsa (aka Hortiza) Distillery has successfully undergone an audit procedure and has been certified in accordance with ISO 22000 international standards. The company’s press officer reports their produce is now brought in full compliance with the ISO 22000 requirements introduced in 2005 by the International Organization for Standardization. These requirements were based on ISO 9001 standards as well as on the principles outlined by НАССР (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points). The standard lays special emphasis on compliance with the legal norms and regulations in terms of

The Federal Antimonopoly Service in Sverdlovsk Region is going to consider the case of Vista Travel Agency on June 14, 2007. Vista (half of whose shares (51%) was bought by Finpromco in March 2007) is facing accusations of violating the federal advertising law and has had a lawsuit filed against them since their ads appear to promote violence. Vista’s ads use slogans like ‘Bury our mother-in-law in the sand for $399’, ‘Throw your mom into the sea for $399’, and ‘I’ll strip my husband of his clothes for $399’. Some admen actually think Vista Travel Agency knew very well that it was going to

Governor of Sverdlovsk Region Eduard Rossel met head of Sverdlovsk Region Railways Vladimir Suprun. The Governor spoke about the acute shortage of carriages for transporting timber, ore, and manufactured goods that many industrial producers in the region were experiencing. It was also decided that problems Sverdlovsk Region Railways had been struggling with lately were to be discussed at a meeting of Economic Issues Board under the Governor of Sverdlovsk Region.

‘We can already predict that the average monthly salary within the region is going to reach 14,000 RUR, which is 25.5% better than a year earlier,’ Sverdlovsk Region Minister for Economics and Labor Galina Kovaleva announced at the regional government meeting on June 6, 2007. The meeting was devoted to compliance of the regional authorities with the President’s address to the Federal Assembly regarding the country’s development in 2007-2008. Regional cabinet members, representatives of the federal authorities, mayors of regional cities, directors of large industrial enterprises and

Ural Airlines Board of Directors decided to gradually do away with its TU 154B airplanes; three planes have already been written off, with the remaining eight planes to follow suit by 2010. These are to be replaced with the medium-range Airbus A320 liners. ‘We go for Airbus planes since they are quite fuel-efficient (two times better than the Russian counterparts) and relatively low on harmful emissions; the noise is kept at the minimum level; then, there is a very smooth and clear maintenance system, and, besides, these liners can boast a comfortable cabin and strict safety requirements,’