Putin to attend URP conf in Kislovodsk on Tuesday.

MOSCOW, July 6 (Itar-Tass) - Prime Minister Vladimir Putin of the
Russian Federation (RF) and leader of the United Russia party (URP)
travels to the North Caucasus Federal District on Tuesday for a two-day
working tour.
While in Kislovodsk, Putin will attend a plenary session of the
Interregional conference of the URP regional branches to discuss the theme
"The Strategy for Socio-Economic Development of the North Caucasus up to
2020. A Programme for 2010-2012", and chair a meeting on the construction
and modernization of airports in the RF, the RF government press service
announced.
Tuesday's URP conference is second such forum. The first one was held
in Novosibirsk in April of this year and focused on the development of the
Siberian Federal District up to 2012.
During its first stage, held in Kislovodsk this past Monday, July 5,
the URP conference considered 89 projects from seven regions of the North
Caucasian Federal District. The participants selected one most significant
and interesting project from each region. All of the selected projects
will be presented during Tuesday's second stage of the conference.
"The aim of the discussion of the selected projects at the conference
will be ways to implement them with a view to facilitating socio-economic
development in the region and intended to serve as the basis for the
district's development up to 2012," a government press service official
pointed out.
"More than 300 delegates and guests will attend the conference,
including officials from federal agencies, regional governors, mayors,
business people, the secretaries of the party's regional branches,
teachers, scientists, public opinion leaders, and representatives of youth
organizations," the press service official specified.
On July 7, Putin will chair a meeting on the construction and
upgrading of airports in the RF. Those present at the meeting, which is to
be attended by members of the government and the heads of the relevant
federal agencies, "will discuss prospects for the development of airports
in Russia and measures of additional support for the transport sector," a
government official said.
Putin will have a videoconference to hear reports on the modernization
of some airports in different parts of the country.
The civil aviation register includes 328 airfields. Russia's network
of airfields has shrunk by 973 airfields since 1992. Forty-six percent of
paved runways and 18 percent of natural-surfaced ones need renovation.
Only 65 percent of airfields have lighting equipment.
The development of Russia's network of airfields in 2000-2009 was
carried out under the sub-programme "Civil Aviation" of the federal target
programme "Modernization of the Transport System of Russia" (2002-2010)
financed in the amount of more than 85,812 million roubles.
Over 306,668 million roubles will be disbursed for the development of
ground infrastructure of the airfields under federal target programmes in
2010-2015. This will allow 127 airports and three airfields of educational
establishments to be upgraded.
With a view to expanding the investment potential of the airports,
work is under way to transfer them to the constituent entities of the RF.
As a rule, the shares of Federally-owned joint-stock companies -- and, in
individual cases, the property of the airport complexes -- are transferred
against the regions' guarantees of investments in the development of those
airport complexes.
As of now the owners of such shares are Moscow (Vnukovo airport), St
Petersburg (Pulkovo), Krasnoyarsk Territory (Yemelyanovo and Igarka), the
Republic of Bashkortostan (Ufa), Omsk Region (Omsk-Central and Tara), and
a number of others.