Russia 100322 Basic Political Developments

Guatemala Times: President of Guatemala on official visit to Russia

Guatemalan President Alvaro Colom arrives in Moscow later in the day with a package of cooperation proposals. A Russian-Guatemalan summit meeting will take place on March 22, 2010. The visit is taking place at Dmitry Medvedev's invitation. The package of cooperation proposals includes oil and gas, telecommunications, transport and tourism. Guatemala's President Alvaro Colom, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and other Russian top officials will be discussing the possible cooperation mechanisms.

On Monday there will be the signing of a joint declaration and a draft of bilateral deals, including on military technical cooperation between the two countries. President Colom during his visit, the first top-level visit in the history of bilateral relations, will have a meeting with the Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill. Guatemala is home to the one and only Orthodox monastery in Central America.

The Foreign Minister of Russia, Sergey Viktorovich Lavrov, was in Guatemala on the 15th of February 2010 on his first official visit. He meet with Guatemalan President Alvaro Colom, Foreign Minister Haroldo Rodas, the chairman of the National Congress of Guatemala and the mayor of Guatemala City, ex-president Alvaro Arzu.

During his visit the dialogue was focused on the prospects of enhancing bilateral cooperation in various fields, from trade-and-economic to humanitarian, and to exchange views on a wide range of international and regional issues. Also the Foreign Ministers Lavrov and Rodas signed an Intergovernmental Agreement on cooperation in fighting against illicit traffic in and use of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances.

In 2007, the Russian embassy was opened in Guatemala, which had until recently remained one of the few Latin American countries where Russia had no permanent representation at ambassadorial level.

 

Itar-Tass: Trans-Atlantic freight shipment line to be opened in St Petersburg

http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=14941459&PageNum=0

22.03.2010, 04.09

ST. PETERSBURG, March 22 (Itar-Tass) -- Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, his Danish counterpart Lars Rasmussen and Ecuadorian Minister of Industries Xavier Abad Vicuna will take part in the opening ceremony of the trans-Atlantic ocean freight route Guayaquil (Ecuador)-Panama Canal-Rotterdam-Bremerhaven-St. Petersburg, the Russian government’s press service told Itar-Tass.

The Ecubex project is the first direct trans-Atlantic freight shipment route between Russia and Latin America.

Direct ocean service will be carried out once a week by six new ice-strengthened ships of 2,500 TEU equipped with refrigerator facilities. The direct Ecuador-St. Petersburg route is expected to open new markets for Russian exporters (equipment to Chile’s coal mining provinces, fertilizers to Ecuador’s and Colombia’s farms, foodstuffs to Central American and Caribbean countries) and will expand imports of fruit from Latin America.

Itar-Tass: Putin, Halonen to meet with Finnish businessmen in St Petersburg

http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=14941454&PageNum=0

22.03.2010, 01.29

ST. PETERSBURG, March 22 (Itar-Tass) -- Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Finnish President Tarja Halonen, currently here on a working visit, will meet on Monday with Finnish businessmen, the governmental press service told Itar-Tass.

The meeting is expected to be attended by Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov and Economics Minister Elvira Nabiullina.

Like Putin’s previous meeting with Finnish businessmen in June 2009 in Helsinki, this meeting will address both pressing issue of bilateral trade and economic cooperation and would-be joint projects involving industrial potential of Russia, Finland and third countries.

The meeting is expected to focus on the development of cooperation in the timber industry, shipbuilding, power generation, including nuclear, agro-industrial sector, transportation and telecommunications.

Finland ranks 12th among Russia’s foreign trade partners, and 6th among European Union countries. In 2009, Russia was Finland’s number one foreign trade partner. In 2009, Russian-Finnish trade turnover was some 13 billion U.S. dollars, including exports of 9.1 billion U.S. dollars and imports of 3.9 billion U.S. dollars.