July 15, 2013. President of American Chamber of Commerce in Russia Andrew Somers says that Sverdlovsk Region authorities are available for communicating with the foreign investors; this was the statement he made at the Innoprom 2013 exhibition in the course of a round table discussion on Russia’s investment appeal. Sverdlovsk Region Government Press Service & Information Administration reports that the round table discussion participants pointed out Sverdlovsk Region’s excellent geographic location: this is actually the core of the country. The area’s investment image is now being shaped

July 15, 2013. July 11 was the first day of the Ural International Industry & Innovations Exhibition/Forum Innorpom 2013. Russian Prime Minister Dmitri Medvedev attended the business part of this large-scale international event. Following a plenary session on Global Strategies, he welcomed the participants of Ural-Africa, an international economic forum that is taking place in Yekaterinburg simultaneously with Innoprom, Yekaterinburg Administration’s press service reports. ‘The Urals are a unique part of our country where the two parts of the world, Europe and Asia, come together in a

July 15, 2013. Ural Airlines presented a number of its new IT services for passengers at the international exhibition Innoprom 2013, the airline’s press service reports. Ural Airlines’ Deputy Director-General Alexei Fomin spoke about the company’s promising developments. For one, he presented the air carrier’s new online check-in system based on the Amadeus Altea platform, the company’s upgraded website, and a new ticket booking solution that makes it possible to book quickly and reliably. ‘My Office’ option is also one of the leading projects: it will be based on the CRM Oracle and Amadeus

July 15, 2013. Russian Prime Minister Dmitri Medvedev and Governor of Sverdlovsk Region Evgeny Kuivashev talked about improving the living standards in and the industrial development of Sverdlovsk Region through a number of large-scale international projects; this discussion took place during their bilateral meeting in Yekaterinburg. According to Governor of Sverdlovsk Region’s Information Policy Department, Dmitri Medvedev feels there should be a direct connection between the work done on promoting Yekaterinburg’s application for the EXPO 2020 exhibition and the future up-to-date, highly

July 15, 2013. ChTPZ presented a project on how the authorities, the armed forces, and the business community could collaborate at the Innoprom 2013 exhibition. According to the company’s press service, the project dwells on a new-generation army of workers. ‘Take ChTPZ, for instance. In this company, yesterday’s high school students come to continue their studies at the Education Center, where they can learn the basics of ‘white metallurgy’ using the most advanced equipment and support from skilled teachers. They get their diplomas and then attain full maturity by serving their terms in the

July 12, 2013. The first resident of Sverdlovsk Region-based Titanium Valley special economic zone started construction jobs on the site. Sverdlovsk Region Government Press Service & Information Department reports that Stroydiesel-Composite is now doing the vertical layout of section 16, so by the end of the summer, the planning will have been completed, and a fence around the resident's industrial site will have been built. Spetsuniversalstroy is acting as the contractor for the project. According to the company director Valery Fadiyev, full-scale construction jobs will begin in

July 12, 2013. A presentation of ACM-ICPC 2014, a computer programming championship for student teams, was given at Yekaterinburg's stand at the Ural International Industry & Innovations Exhibition/Forum, the city council's press service reports. Ural Federal University First Vice Rector Dmitri Bugrov, who is in charge of coordinating the contest, told the visitors to the stand that this Mundial would be held on July 22-25. This year, Saint Petersburg offered the site for holding the ACM-ICPC, and next year, the Urals' capital will take over from the Northern Capital. Every

July 12, 2013. Yekaterinburg authorities are planning to organize a football supporters festival on July 12-13, 2014, when the World Cup is to unfold in Brazil, Deputy Head of Yekaterinburg Administration Sergey Tushin said at the Innoprom 2013 exhibition. He says Yekaterinburg has proved its ability to host football matches in a very professional way quite a number of times. 'The successful coordination of football championships on the city stadiums was made possible thanks to the developed and modern sports infrastructure and strong sports traditions the city has, as well as thanks to

July 12, 2013. The stand of Yekaterinburg Administration was launched at the Innoprom 2013 exhibition today. This year, it is different from the older versions in that it not only features a mere presentation but also serves a site for the exhibition's key events. The stand operation is divided into several sections. The first one is dedicated to signing agreements, the second one is dedicated to debates and discussions. The third one is to be focused on presentations of events and projects. An agreement between Yekaterinburg Administration and OAO Er-Telecom has already been signed

July 12, 2013. First Deputy Head of Yekaterinburg Administration Sergey Shvindt presented the concept of road and street network development in preparation for the world football championship of 2018 in Yekaterinburg at the Innoprom 2013 exhibition. The city council's press service reports that the concept provides for reconstruction and construction of a few scores of key road infrastructure facilities in Yekaterinburg. First of all, Shvindt explains, the preparation will allow the municipal authorities to expand a few key transport junctions in the Central Stadium area.

July 11, 2013. Canada is going to vote for Yekaterinburg when deciding upon the city that will host the international exhibition EXPO 2020, the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Canada to Russia John Sloan told Mayor of Yekaterinburg Evgeny Porunov in the course of their meeting. The city council's press service reports that the Ambassador spoke highly of the up-to-date look the Urals' capital has, and of the city's advanced development. The two parties talked about the prospects of their possible cooperation. For one, the Canadian officials suggested sharing

July 11, 2013. Ural Airlines is going to present its innovative passenger services at its own stand at Innoprom. This year, Ural Airlines keeps on developing its information services and offers new options to its customers; the services are to grow more personal and will provide a tailor-made approach to every passenger. The presentation will take place at Pavilion 1, Stand 1E7, at 11 AM on July 12. The new services will be reported on by the airline's Director for Quality Alexei G. Fomin. For one, an upgraded website with the advanced Amadeus-based online check-in option, new booking

July 11, 2013. A number of bills aimed at supporting investor activity in Sverdlovsk Region have been adopted by the local Legislative Assembly deputies. According to Sverdlovsk Region Government's Press Service & Information Department, there are three laws altogether – On Changes to Sverdlovsk Region Law on State Support to Investors in Sverdlovsk Region, On Changes to Article 2 of Sverdlovsk Region Law on the Income Tax Rate for Certain Sverdlovsk Region-based Taxpayer Categories, and On Changes to Sverdlovsk Region Law on Introducing Corporate Property Tax. The said set of laws

July 11, 2013. Siberian Agrarian Group stopped all operations at its Mikom meatpacking plant in Kamensk-Uralsky, Sverdlovsk Region. The plant was purchased for 152m RUR in 2011, Interfax reports. 'The city administration received an official notification from the owners that the company stopped operating in Kamensk-Uralsky on June 15,' the city administration representative told the news agency. Now the city employment center says that there are currently 23 people working at the meatpacking plant who are busy bringing everything to a close.

July 11, 2013. Over 1,000 automobiles have been stolen by hijackers since the beginning of the year. 817 out of about 1,000 stolen cars were Russian makes and only 252 were foreign vehicles, Sverdlovsk Region division of the State Road Safety Inspection reports. VAZ-2106 and VAZ-21065 were the most popular cars with hijackers: 123 such makes were stolen, followed by 117 VAZ-2109, VAZ-21093, and VAZ-2114. VAZ-2105, VAZ-21074, with 70 stolen units, were in the third place. VAZ-1111, GAZ, and Chevrolet were stolen least often. As for foreign cars, the ones that were hijacked most often were

July 10, 2013. Ural Airlines keeps offering very good prices on trips to Montenegro. The airline is now launching a special price for Moscow-Tivat-Moscow flights: starting July 11, 2013, tickets will be available for ?250 (round trip) and ?175 (one-way), excluding the fees, the air carrier reports. Ural Airlines’ flights from Moscow to Tivat and back are operated on Wednesdays and Saturdays on the comfortable Airbus liners that have both the economy and the business class sections. You can also benefit from the appealing prices offered on Ural Airlines’ Moscow-Podgorice flight. The tickets

July 10, 2013. Sinara-Transport Machines presented the produce of its Ural Diesel Engine Plant (UDMZ, Sinara-Transport Machines’ daughter enterprise) at the International Maritime Defence Show 2013 in Saint Petersburg. The company’s press service reports that a conference on STM’s advanced developments in the field of diesel engine manufacturing for the Russian Navy and the civilian shipbuilding industry was held for both the partners and the potential customers of the holding. The conference was attended by the leading Russian and foreign shipbuilding companies and shipbuilding industry

July 10, 2013. The passenger traffic came to 1.86m people at Yekaterinburg’s Koltsovo Airport in six months of 2013, which was 10.6% more than a year earlier. The number of passengers on domestic flights rose by 5.4% and reached 924,945 people, the number of passengers on international flights went up by 16.3% and came to 936,975 people, the airport’s press service reports. All in all, 55 air carriers operated 111 kinds of flights at the airport in January-June 2013. Every one in three passengers flew to Moscow; the second most popular destinations were Antalya and Hurghada. Saint Petersburg,

July 10, 2013. The World Student Olympics will be broadcast on Russian TV and on the Internet via MegaFon’s telecommunication channels. The mobile carrier reports that the channels have been offered by order of the primary broadcaster, Sports Broadcasting Non-Profit Organization, and by order of VGTRK, the channel that holds the rights to broadcast the Kazan-based Student Olympics on Russian television. MegaFon offered VGTRK a resource that makes it possible to broadcast seven high-definition television (HDTV) signals. The games will be broadcast on Russia 2, Sport, Sport 1, and Fight Club.

July 10, 2013. Ural Federal University is now among 15 Russian universities that will receive subsidies to make it to the world ratings, RBC reports. All in all, 54 higher educational establishments applied for the subsidies and 36 universities were allowed to compete for them. The selection process was based on such criteria as the strength of the scientific research, appeal of educational programs to college applicants, position in the international college ratings, and some others. In 2013, the winning colleges will be allocated 9bn RUR. Russian President Vladimir Putin said to the Russian