Deputy Head of Sverdlovsk Region Government for Social Policy Vladimir Vlasov chaired a meeting of the regional Healthcare Committee to discuss their performance in 2006 and plans for this year. The authorities spent over 22 billion RUR on the so-called state-funded guarantees; the total number of investments in the national projects and state programs amounted to 26 billion. The population loss went down 8%, or to 20,000 people, birth rate rose 3% and reached the point of 10.7 infants per 1,000 people, with the town of Aramil reaching the level of the stable year 1996 (15.4 infants per 1,000

The average price of a square meter of a Yekaterinburg-based dwelling comes to 56,000 RUR at the moment. This figure can be applied to both existing homes and buildings under construction, Deputy Mayor Vladimir Kritskiy announced at a press conference. ‘I believe the introduction of a number of mortgage lending programs was one of the key factors that determined the dramatic increase in housing prices in 2006. So, I don’t think the same hype is likely to occur in 2007; the prices will probably go up 20% to 25%. Even now, the price growth rate tends to slow down and the market appears to be

Yekaterinburg is going to host the 5th International Conference on Heating Equipment Restoration, Maintenance, and Repair on March 28-30, 2007. According to the spokesperson for Ural Turbine Plant, the conference is aimed at information exchange and experience-sharing. The participants (executives of RAO UES of Russia, territorial power generating companies, power stations, contractors, and machine-building enterprises from Russia, Ukraine, Byelorussia, Kazakhstan, Europe, and Japan, as well as faculty of industrial colleges) are to discuss the ways of upgrading equipment, using advanced

‘The reason for canceling our contract with IKEA Torg (Trade and Real Estate) Ltd. was zero profitability. IKEA only offers disadvantageous working terms; their prices don’t keep up with the inflation rate (12% in 2006 plus the statistical inflation), which made us lose about 30% of profits,’ Sales Director of Urallesprom Evgeniy Perov said to UrBC. ‘What is more, the raw stuffs and electricity prices soared last year; besides, our outgoings went up due to pay rises. IKEA Torg, however, refused to consider these factors, and we had to cancel our contract with them,’ Mr. Perov explained.

‘The decision of Chelyabinsk Tube-Rolling Plant’s shareholders to pass a dividend for 2006 may have been caused by their wish to reinvest the profits in order to get better dividends in the future. If the shareholders choose to reinvest, they thus declare that their company has some excellent investment opportunities, but the ROE (return on equity) coefficient of Chelyabinsk Tube-Rolling Plant does not look like it. It’s actually lower than the average figures in this branch,’ maintains Vsevolod Chaschin of Blagodat Securities Investment Company. The Board of Directors of Chelyabinsk

A meeting of Union of Sverdlovsk Region Entrepreneurs and Manufacturers took place in the Government House of Yekaterinburg on March 22, 2007, reports the spokesperson for the Governor of Sverdlovsk Region. In his report, Chairman Vladimir Semenov said that the gross regional product had gone up 400 billion RUR over five years (from 200 billion in 2002 to 600 billion in 2007). The investments in the Ural companies’ fixed capital rose to 133.8 billion RUR; the average wage of an industrial worker increased from 3,200 RUR to 13,900 RUR a month. The volume of foreign investments amounted to

Governor of Sverdlovsk Region Eduard Rossel held a meeting devoted to the development of the region’s rural areas on March 22, 2007, reports the Governor’s press officer. The local players sold us 7,000 tons of milk last year; the figure is expected to rise to 10,000 tons this year and to 20,000 tons in 2008; the producers are also estimated to supply 20,000 tons of meat in two years’ time. ‘There are 239,732 agricultural households in the Mid-Urals today, but only 65,000 rural dwellers actually raise cattle. This is obviously very little. There are a few reasons for this: for one thing, the

‘The discussions of a possible ban on the use of IL 86 planes for flying Russian tourists to Egypt have been going on for the last five years, but the decisions have always been favorable for these airplanes since Egypt itself is interested in our travelers,’ says the spokesperson for Ural Airlines. ‘There are two possible outcomes right now: according to the first scenario, Russian aviation authorities, including the Department of Transport, will negotiate for the use of IL 86 planes, as this is what quite a few Russian carriers and their customers want. The second scenario means the planes

The division of Rospotrebnadzor (the state consumer rights watchdog) in Yekaterinburg summed up the results of its activity in 2006. The agency received more than 2,000 complaints from the local residents, which is almost twice the previous year’s number. Complaints regarding unsuitable living conditions experienced a particularly dramatic increase. The city dwellers are mainly concerned with the poor state of entrances, hallways, and basements in their apartment blocks as well as low quality of cleaning and garbage collecting and lack of regular overhauls. People are also unhappy about the

‘A company has to undergo bankruptcy proceedings after it has been found insolvent in order to pay off its debts to creditors. All the actions a trustee in bankruptcy takes are targeted at satisfying the creditors’ claims, possibly through putting the company’s assets up to auction,’ Irina Kaleeva of Jus-Cogens Ltd. said to UrBC relating to HydroSpetsStroy Ltd. (general contractor of Noviy Grad, the local developer). ‘People who invested their money in the would-be buildings now need to apply for the contract annulment, claim their money back, and demand that they be included in the list of

The division of Rospotrebnadzor (the state consumer rights watchdog) in the Republic of Dagestan found critical amounts of pesticides in fresh pomegranates imported from Azerbaijan without any quality or safety certificates; in fact, the pesticide content exceeded the upper limit six or seven times. Rospotrebnadzor’s division in Yekaterinburg has already planned to check the quality of pomegranates in local stores, with emphasis laid on whether the shops have documents that indicate the origin, quality, and safety of fresh fruit imported from Azerbaijan. These inspections are targeted at

Evraz Group is planning to buy a 5.003% share holding of Metallurgical Industrial Complex of Nizhniy Tagil. Mastercroft Limited, the company’s subsidiary that owns 94.997% of the Complex, has offered 65.541 million shares to the minority shareholder; these shares are to be acquired before May 29, 2007 for 63.72 RUR ($2.45) apiece. The total cost of the 5.003% share holding will thus come to 4.18 billion RUR, reports the spokesperson for Evraz Group.

A facilities manager and a test-pilot of Airbus, a globally recognized aircraft constructing corporation, visited the premises of Ural Airlines in Yekaterinburg in mid-March, reports the company’s press officer. The French experts say they aim to build up cooperation ties with their Ural partners as well as make sure Airbus planes are used effectively and safely. Actually, large foreign companies normally choose to sign leasing agreements only with well-reputed Russian carriers and keep controlling their use of aircraft throughout the whole period. This time, Airbus executives tested the

Viktor Chirkov, head of the local division of Rospotrebnadzor (the state consumer rights watchdog), responded to questions on consumer rights protection that were posed by the readers of Vecherniy Yekaterinburg newspaper on March 15, 2007. One of the complaints was related to possible violation of sanitary regulations in Yekaterinburg-based Auchan, reports the spokesperson for Rospotrebnadzor in Yekaterinburg. ‘The current legislation prevents us from doing scheduled inspections in Auchan as this food retailer has not been around for two years yet. A customer complaint, however, gives us

The Board of Directors of Chelyabinsk Tube-Rolling Plant suggested on March 18, 2007 that the general shareholder meeting should result in the decision to pass a dividend for 2006, says the company’s official report produced on March 21, 2007 in compliance with the obligatory reporting of information that could influence a company’s stock price or affect its investment activity.

‘The Egyptian authorities have been trying to ban the use of IL 86 planes for transferring Russian tourists to Egypt for a few years already, but we are hoping this ban will never be imposed, for it is advantageous for neither them nor us,’ Director of Inna Tour Travel Agency Inna Averyanova said to UrBC. ‘IL 86 is very economical compared to, for instance, TU 154, which is why, should these planes be forbidden to fly to Egypt, prices will soar and the number of travelers will drop. In the meantime, Egypt is a country whose economy largely depends on tourism, and the possible ban would mean

‘We haven’t been selling more strong drinks produced by Ukraine-based Nemiroff in the last two months,’ goods manager of Napoleon food store Oksana Sinchuk said to UrBC. ‘The sales have remained the same over the last few months; the product has obtained its niche and has a stable number of niche customers,’ she said.

‘The recent arrival of Auchan drove us out of Yekaterinburg’s Top 5 food retailers list; yet we are hoping to climb back this year by dint of outdoing one of the local players,’ Alexander Raisikh, CEO of Zvezdniy supermarket chain, announced at the conference devoted to regional trade. ‘The presence of federal and transnational players on the local market has definitely been affecting the current status quo. We’ve lost 2% to 3% of our profits because of Auchan, for example,’ Mr. Raisikh said. ‘As for Ramstore, is does not appear to influence things greatly. I believe a lot of local food

‘The arrival of foreign builders in the region is bound to develop our construction business in the best possible ways. These companies introduce new ways of working, advanced technologies, and modern standards. At the same time, they ensure effective management and logistics coordination, whereas the builders themselves are usually regional dwellers, which means we get plenty of local skilled workers due to the training they provide. This is why Sverdlovsk Region welcomes all the foreign builders,’ Sverdlovsk Region Governor Eduard Rossel announced at a briefing on March 22, 2007.

Bank24.ru and Colvir Software Solutions Ltd. contracted for the supply and introduction of CBS-2, the core banking system, on March 19, 2007. Bank 24.ru decided it needed a new banking system after its client base doubled and the company decided to break into the federal market. The bank conducted a tender in order to make the best choice there is among both Russian companies (Escape-M, Quorum, R-Style Software Lab, Financial Technologies Center, and Diasoft) and foreign businesses (Forbis Ltd. of Lithuania and Colvir Software Solutions Ltd. of Great Britain) and finally decided on Colvir