Putin arrives in Istanbul to attend CICA conference.

ISTANBUL, June 8 (Itar-Tass) -- Prime Minister Vladimir Putin of the
Russian Federation has arrived here on Tuesday for a working visit. He
will attend a plenary meeting of the Third Conference on Interaction and
Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (CICA) at the level of Heads of State
and Government.
The Russian Premier is expected to make a report at the morning
session, and hold a series of bilateral meetings.

.Investments in Magadan region run at over 1,200 mln rbls.

MAGADAN, June 8 (Itar-Tass) - Investments in the Magadan Region for
various programmes amount to over 1,200 million roubles, the press service
of the region administration announced in a report made available to
Itar-Tass on Tuesday.
The funds will be used to build strategically important roads leading
to gold-bearing areas in Omsukchan District: Palatka-Kulu-Neksikan and
Omsukchan-Kubaka. Investments will be also channeled into building and
modernizing schools, boiler-rooms, apartment houses, and other facilities,
the press service report said.
A road between the Magadan Region and the Chukotka Peninsula will be
also built in implementation of the Federal programme for "The Economic
and Social Development of the Far East and Trans-Baikal Area Within a
period Ending in 2013". The new branch road will originate from the Kolyma
Highway that links Magadan and Yakutsk. The road will then run across
Omsukchan, Omolon, Bilibino, and Komsomolsky to reach Anadyr to link the
road systems of the Magadan Region and the Chukotka Autonomous Area.
In result, this will make it possible to launch an economic
development of new territories in Magadan Region and Chukotka, and will
enable the inhabitants of the Chukotka Peninsula to get to Magadan,
Yakutsk, Khabarovsk, and Vladivostok by using their own transport vehicles.

.Int'l conf on craftwork training to open in Yekaterinburg.

YEKATERINBURG, June 8 (Itar-Tass) - Specialists from Russia and five
European countries will participate in the 2nd international conference on
the theme of "Professional Education of Craftwork Training Specialists".
The forum, opening here on Tuesday, is held on the initiative of the
Robert Bosch Foundation (Germany) under the auspices of the Association of
German Foundations promoting "Professional Education in Eastern European
Countries".
An official at the Russian State Professional Pedagogical University
(RSPPU), which is one of the organizers of the conference, has told
Itar-Tass that the forum will involve more than 50 representatives from
Germany, Romania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Moldova, Ukraine, and Russia.
"Eleven educational projects to train specialists in craftwork are
being implemented in these countries with support from private German
foundations," the RSPPU official pointed out.
The purpose of the conference is to generalize experience in
implementing craftwork education projects, stimulate further joint
activities among its participants in vocational craft training, and work
out proposals and recommendations for public and state organizations in
the sphere of the training of craftwork specialists.
The forum will continue till June 10.

.Kazakhstan to turn over CICA presidency to Turkey Tue.

ISTANBUL, June 8 (Itar-Tass) - Kazakhstan is to turn over the
presidency of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building
Measures in Asia (CICA) to Turkey at a ceremony here on Tuesday.
This is second and concluding day of the Conference, at which Vietnam
and Iraq will be made CICA members and Bangladesh will be granted the
status of observer.
The local press points out that CICA forum has become one of the most
marked international events and has riveted the attention of the world
press. High-level delegations from 20 member-countries of CICA have
already arrived here. The arrivals include Presidents Nursultan Nazarbayev
of Kazakhstan and Ilkham Aliyev of Azerbaijan, the leaders of Afghanistan,
Syria, and Palestine, as well as Heads of Government and Foreign ministers.
The Russian delegation, headed by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, is to
take part in the summit on Tuesday and hold a series of bilateral
meetings. The Russian Head of Government will discuss current and
forward-looking economic and political matters with Aliyev, Nazarbayev,
and with the host of the summit, Turkish Premier Tayyip Erdogan.
Kazakhstani Foreign Minister Kanat Saudabayev has recalled that CICA
is reckoned an Asian analogue of the Organisation for Security and
Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and that the member-countries account for
one-third of the world's gross product.
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu pointed out that the purpose
of the Conference is to raise the influence and effectiveness of CICA.
"We have held a joint session together with the OSCE officials for the
first time within the framework of a ministerial meeting (June 7). Its aim
was to work out a strategy to raise the level of confidence within the
region of our responsibility," Davutoglu said.
The Kazakhstani minister said, for his part, that the nearest aim of
the participants' work is to establish a permanently functioning OSCE-CICA
joint forum.
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