RF-Nicaragua IGC session to promote bilateral relations-view.

MANAGUA, June 1 (Itar-Tass) - A session of the Intergovernmental
commission (IGC) for trade, economic, scientific, and technical
cooperation between Russia and Nicaragua begins here on Tuesday.
The session will open up great prospects for the development of
relations between the two countries, Igor Kondrashev, the Ambassador of
the Russian Federation to Nicaragua, has told Itar-Tass in an interview,
commenting on the current state of and prospects for the development of
contacts between the two countries.
"Russia and Nicaragua are long-standing and promising political
partners: we cooperate excellently in international organizations. Managua
adheres to a very close position or one similar to that of the RF
practically on all matters," Kondrashev said. He emphasized that Nicaragua
had become the first country after Russia to officially recognize South
Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent states. "On the whole, the Nicaraguans
adhere to the position that is close and understandable to Moscow, despite
all the difficulties and certain pressure" that is being put on Nicaragua
on the part of certain quarters, the Ambassador said.
The bilateral IGC existed in Soviet times as well. However, in the
past 18 years it did not work. In essence, it is the first session of a
renewed IGC that begins on Tuesday at a new stage of bilateral relations.
"It is precisely the elevation of bilateral contacts to a higher stage and
their step-up in the past three years that prompted the need to convene a
session of the IGC for a continuation of its work on permanent basis,"
Kondrashev stressed. He said, "The two countries now have a whole lot of
interesting and promising projects which require periodic coordination and
reviews, which is impossible to do isolatedly, within the scope of any one
Ministry".
"There are very many promising areas, research-intensive ones, too,
for the development of bilateral relations and cooperation," the
Ambassador pointed out. He drew attention to the fact that Russia's trade
turnover with Nicaragua substantially differs from that with other
countries, since a considerable part of it is made up of hi-tech
commodities, machinery and equipment".
The Russian side of the IGC delegation, who meet in Managua on June
1-2, is headed by Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov. Officials of a
number of Russian Ministries and agencies which have projects for
cooperation with Nicaragua have already arrived in the Nicaraguan capital
to take part in the IGC session.
The development of contacts in telecommuications, transport,
fisheries, energy, and in other fields is reckoned most promising.

.Five RF medical centers to open public consulting offices.

MOSCOW, June 1 (Itar-Tass) - The Nation Health League on Tuesday
introduces a unique project for preventive health care: five leading
Federal medical science centers of Russia open public consulting offices
for free medical examinations and registration for a further medical
treatment.
An official at the organizing committee has told Itar-Tass that all
those wishing to check up their heart and blood vessels will be able to
apply to specialists at the A.N. Bakulev cardiovascular surgery research
center of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences (RAMS).
The RAMS Institute of Nutrition will recommend a rational nutrition
regimen and the possibility to get rid of excess weight. The Academician
S.N. Fyodorov Eye Microsurgery Center will receive people who suffer from
eye diseases. Specialists of the Otolaringology Center will examine people
with nasal, throat and ear diseases. The St Petersburg Institute of
Bioregulation and Gerontology, which deals specifically with the problems
of elderly people, will also open a consulting office of its own.
Such offices are to open Pavilion 5 at the All-Russia Exhibition
Center and will function on a permanent basis.

.Rossija co begins flights to Volgograd and Uzbek Karshi.

ST PETERSBURG, June 1 (Itar-Tass) - On the first day of summer, the
State transportation company (GTK) Rossija extends the geography of
flights. On Tuesday the GTK inaugurates regular flights from St Petersburg
to Volgograd and to the Uzbek city of Karshi, a GTK executive told
Itar-Tass.
Flights to Volgograd will be made twice a week on Tuesdays and
Saturdays. Departures from St Petersburg to Volgograd will be at 01:10,
Moscow time, and a return flight at 04:50. Boeing 737-500 airliners will
serve the air route.
The opening of flights to Karshi will broaden the possibilities of
passengers travelling to Uzbekistan. They will be able to get there by a
direct flight at 22:20, Moscow time, on Tuesdays and back at 05: 25 on
Wednesdays. The flights will be made by Airbus A319 airliners.
The GTK Rossija is the leading air carrier in the North-Western part
of the country. The air fleet consists of Western-made airliners of Airbus
and Boeing class of various modifications, as well as the domestically
made regional airliner An-148. Pulkovo and Vnukovo are the basic airports
of the GTK. Before the end of 2010, the GTK will be corporatised and
brought under the control of the Aeroflot -- Russian Airlines Company.
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