April 29, 2013. The annual general meeting of Ural Airlines shareholders took place on April 25. The agenda of the meeting covered points such as deciding on the members of the Board of Directors, approving the company’s annual report for 2012 and of the accounting report, distribution of profit at the end of the financial year, approval of related party transactions, and so on, the airline’s press service reports. The year 2012 was quite special in that there emerged a number of positive factors that ensured an increase in the company’s production output: the number of aircraft the airline

April 29, 2013.In 2013, the growth of Bank Svyaznoy’s loan book will slow down to 20% to 30% a year. This is a drop down from the previous 130% caused by the Central Bank’s regulatory measures, the bank’s majority shareholder Maxim Nogotkov said in his interview to Prime. Credit cards issued to private individuals currently make up the better part of the loan book; however, Svyaznoy had to halt the issuance of cards for three months (from December to March) due to the Central Bank’s recommendations to stop attracting private individuals’ savings so actively: the regulator is always wary of an

April 26, 2013. Uralvagonzavod Scientific & Production Corporation won a tender for the delivery of 1,200 oil cisterns to Federal Freight Company, the corporation’s press service reports. The news became known when Russian Railways Trading House announced the results of an open tender for the right to sign a freight carriages delivery contract with the enterprise. According to the company’s decision, UBT-Uralvagonzavod that took part in the tender on Uralvagonzavod Corporation’s behalf was declared the winning bidder in two lots for the delivery of 1,200 oil cisterns in April and May

UrBC, Chelyabinsk, April 16, 2013. Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) is planning to increase its share on the key metal-consuming industries’ market in the future, MMK Business Development & Efficiency Management Director Evgeny Redin said at the 5th International Industrial Forum on Reconstruction of Industrial Enterprises. According to the company’s top manager, MMK’s strategy is now targeted at raising the share of domestic shipments in the total sales structure, which has to do with the fact that the home market is now growing faster than the global one and with the fact that

UrBC, Moscow, April 22, 2013. On April 17, laureates of the National Environemntal Prize known as ERAECO 2012 were awarded in the course of Moscow International Environmental Forum. Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) was declared the laureate for its Sheet-Rolling Department 11 Project in the Setting up Green Facilities category. The department in question houses cold-roll Mill 2000 that is currently unique to Russia. The facility is mainly meant for making high quality cold-rolled and galvanized rolled stock for the Russian car manufacturers and the world’s leading carmakers’

April 26, 2013. EXPO 2020 Coordination Committee has announced a contest for the best slogan for the World Universal Exhibition in Yekaterinburg. The news was disseminated via EXPO 2020 Yekaterinburg Facebook page, the spokesperson for Yekaterinburg Council reports. ‘If you are in favor of holding EXPO 2020 in Yekaterinburg, take part in our slogan contest! Think of a slogan for the exhibition to be held in the Urals’ capital and this will be your statement perhaps that will represent World Exhibition in Yekaterinburg in 2020! The most unusual, interesting, and creative slogans will be

April 26, 2013. Sverdlovsk Region Vice Premier Alexander Petrov held a meeting with the representatives of Wikov Holding based in the Czech Republic, Sverdlovsk Region Government’s Press Service & Information Department reports. The meeting included a presentation on the holding’s production capacity and a discussion of possible options for the mutually beneficial cooperation between the Czech company and Sverdlovsk Region-based enterprises. ‘We are actually interested in buying the Czech machinery, but our preferred priority would be to set up joint ventures in Sverdlovsk Region, in the

April 26, 2013. In March 2013, the amount of unpaid taxes and levies, including fines and tax sanctions, decreased by 795m RUR, or 2.9% in Sverdlovsk Region and came to 27.91bn RUR on April 1, 2013, the press officer of Sverdlovsk Region division of Russia’s Federal Tax Service reports. It should be noted that this drop was both due to the main debt declining by 506m RUR (2.6%) and due to the debts in fines and tax sanctions declining by 288m RUR (3.4%). According to the fiscal authorities’ data, over 182,000 claims with demands to pay levies and taxes (totaling to 5.987bn RUR altogether)

April 25, 2013. Uralvagonzavod came up with a report on the results of all innovational activity in the company in the first quarter of 2013. In these three months, workers from Uralvagonzavod Scientific & Production Corporation’s head plant submitted 69 improvement proposals, 52 of which have actually been incorporated into the production process. Workers from 30 different divisions of the company took part in this improvement effort, and the target figures for the amount of this innovational activity were met 100%, the corporation’s press service reports. The actual economic effect thus

April 25, 2013. A meeting of the Expert Council under the Russian Federation Ministry for Economic Development took place in Moscow today. The meeting was aimed at assessing the business plans proposed by the potential residents of the Titanium Valley Special Economic Zone – Urals’ Machines and Praxair Titanium Valley, the press service of the special economic zone project reports. Now there are currently three registered residents in the Titanium Valley: Ural Optical Plant, Sinersis, and StroyDiesel-Composite. This means that about 10 hectares out of the 72 hectares allocated for the first

April 25, 2013. An incredible increase in the number of privately owned cars has made any noticeable traffic improvements in Yekaterinburg impossible so far, Yekaterinburg Council’s press service reports. Given that the construction and reconstruction of roads and junctions alone are not enough to solve the transport problem, it was decided to implement a well-balanced transport policy targeted at the development of the street and highway network and at making public transport a priority type of transportation. It is expected that as a result, 20 highway sections, 20 road junctions, 2

April 25, 2013. The second stage of Russian football championship for children from orphanages and boarding schools took place in Perm recently. The winners’ cups and trips to Sochi where the final stage of the championship will be held were awarded to the teams from Kirov and Tobolsk, MegaFon’s press service reports. The all-Ural stage of the football championship for children who have no parents was attended by the young sportsplayers from ten different territories in the Greater Urals. The judges’ team was chaired by President of Perm Territory Mini-Football Federation and Director of

April 25, 2013. According to Ural Chamber of Real Estate’s Analytical Department, the average price of one square meter of housing on Yekaterinburg’s existing homes market amounted to 70,872 RUR on April 22, 2013. This figure has remained more or less the same since February; for three months, the average figure has stayed at the level of 70,800 RUR, with only slight variations by 0.1% to 0.2% up or down. One could say the housing prices have finally settled and are not expected to grow any time soon. The trend for the increase in the housing supply that became noticeable at the beginning of

April 24, 2013. The Director-General of Ural Electro-Mechanical Plant Alexander Beloussov was featured in Russia’s Top 100 Industrial Development Leaders third annual rating that focuses on th country’s industrial elite and the best production managers, UEMP press service reports. The rating was instituted by Production Management, a business-oriented web portal, and the selection principle is that the best select the best. Over 500 reputable managers from industrial enterprises, government bodies, and consultant companies chose the most successful managers in the industrial sector who

April 24, 2013. Ural Diesel Engine Plant (a member of Sinara Transport Machines) was visited by the Director-General of SakhaEnergo Nikolai Parnikov. The head of SakhaEnergo looked at the diesel generators assembling department and at the testing station as well as at the diesel energy facility that comprises two 1,000-kilowatt diesel power stations and the unit control system, Sinara Group’s PR Center reports. In February 2013, Sinara Transport Machines and SakhaEnergo signed a contract for the production of 1,000-kilowatt DG 1000C3 diesel generating unit. Ural Diesel Engine Plant developed

April 24, 2013. President of Sverdlovsk Region Union of Industrialists & Employers and BOD Chairman of Pipe Metallurgical Company and Sinara Group Dmitri Pumpyanski was elected the new Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Ural Federal University, the college press service reports. Among the other members of the Supervisory Board are Rector of Higher School of Economics Yaroslav Kuzminov and Chairman of the Strategic Initiatives Agency’s Expert Council for New Projects Promotion Valery Fadeyev, as well as Russia’s Deputy Minister for Education & Science Igor Fedyukin and Head of

April 24, 2013. Yekaterinburg’s Central Stadium will be reconstructed in preparation for the World Cup 2018 with the federal budget money. The decree to this effect was signed by Russian Vice Premier Igor Shuvalov, says Governor of Sverdlovsk Region’s Information Policies Department. ‘It is declared expedient to offer 100% federal budget financing for the construction and reconstruction of stadiums in the following cities…’ Shuvalov’s decree states. This means Yekaterinburg is one of the eight cities that will receive federal funding to have its stadium renovated. The cost of the project has

April 24, 2013. A construction of the Job Training Center for 244 students is now taking place at Seversky Pipe Plant/STZ (a member of Pipe Metallurgical Company). This project falls within the framework of a trilateral agreement between Sverdlovsk Region Education Ministry, STZ, and V.I. Nazarov Polevskoy Vocational School, the press office of Pipe Metallurgical Company reports. The assembly of the metal structures is now 90% complete. The contractor, StroyMontazh, is now working on assembling the floor slabs; the case is expected to be completed by Metallurgist’s Day in mid-July. The

April 23, 2013. UBT is now completing its project on expanding the reservoir park of its oil-based products; the implementation of this project will mean the company will have a strategic fuel reserve on the premises of Uralvagonzavod’s head plant in Nizhniy Tagil. The project took off in 2012 and is expected to be completed in the summer of 2013, the press officer of Uralvagonzavod Corporation reports. All the innovations implemented in the project ensure absolute environmental and industrial safety and offer a number of considerable advantages. For one, an automatic system for measuring the

April 23, 2013. The FIFA will be granted the right to sell and advertize alcohol drinks inside the stadiums and next to them during the World Football Championship 2018 in Russia. The corresponding amendments to the draft bill on World Cup 2018 have been directed by the Sports Ministry to the Russian Government, Izvestiya reports. Under the terms of the said draft law, during the competitions as well as during the drawing for the purpose of matching the teams to play with one another (two days before the preliminary or the final drawing and up to the day immediately following the drawing) ‘it