Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov reported on preparations for the President’s upcoming official visit to Bulgaria. Mr Lavrov said that a number of documents are ready for signature, including a contract for the construction of a nuclear power plant in Belen, a tripartite agreement with Bulgaria and Greece on construction of the Burgas-Alexandropoulis oil pipeline, and an agreement between the Russian and Bulgarian Transport Ministries on establishing a rail crossing between Kavkaz and Varna.
Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin reported on the results of work to establish Russia’s share of the Eurasian Development Bank’s charter capital. The bank will carry out Russian-Kazakh bilateral projects in the energy and mining sectors. Mr Kudrin said that Russia and Kazakhstan will also ask other CIS countries to participate in the bank. The agreement between Russia and Kazakhstan on establishing the Eurasian Development Bank was signed in January 2006. The bank has charter capital of $1.5 billion, of which Russia’s share is $1 billion and Kazakhstan’s $500 million.
First Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov informed the meeting about his upcoming visit to Omsk, where he will hold a meeting at a transport machine-building plant on establishing a large holding to manufacture armoured vehicles and tanks. Mr Ivanov will also visit the Siberian section of the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Institute for Problems of Hydrocarbon Refinery and hold a meeting on developing hydrocarbon refinery and processing capacity.
Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Zhukov informed the meeting about an extension of cheaper rail transport prices for schoolchildren and students.
First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev reported on the results of his visit to Kaliningrad and Murmansk, where coordination between the priority national projects and relevant programmes carried out by the Defence Ministry was discussed.