GM-Avtovaz takes summer holidays.

SAMARA, July 18 (Itar-Tass) - GM-Avtovaz in Togliatti, western Russia,
said it will take summer holidays from July 19 to August 1.
"During a regular shutdown of the assembly line maintenance activities
with the equipment will be held," the company's press service said.
As of August 2, the car-making plant will begin its work in a normal
mode. As of September 21, the plant will begin to work in two eight-hour
shifts five days per week.
GM-Avtovaz is a joint venture that was set up by Russia's carmaker
Avtovaz, U.S.' General Motors and the European Bank for Reconstruction and
Development. The joint venture's car production began on September 23,
2002.
In the first six months of 2010 the Togliatti-based plant rolled off
its assembly line 16,454 cars Chevrolet Niva, up by 58 percent as against
the same period of 2009.
Under the state program for concessional lending 4,921 cars were
retailed and under the old car utilization program 1,693 cars were
scrapped.



.US Deputy Secretary of State begins visit to Bishkek Sunday.

BISHKEK, July 18 (Itar-Tass) - U.S. Deputy Secretary of State James
Steinberg arrives in the Kyrgyz capital on Sunday to discuss stronger
bilateral cooperation and the upcoming parliamentary elections in the
republic this autumn, the press service of the Kyrgyz government told
Itar-Tass.
"Within the framework of his visit Steinberg will discuss these issues
with Kyrgyz President Roza Otunbayeva," the press service said.
Moreover, in Bishkek the U.S. top official will meet with
representatives of the civil society, including human rights activists and
leaders of non-governmental organizations.
According to preliminary information, Steinberg is expected to visit a
transit center at the former U.S. airbase at Manas airport, where the
international anti-terror coalition has been deployed within the framework
of the Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan since December 2001.
The U.S. Deputy Secretary of State will visit Kyrgyzstan within the
framework of his Asian tour, during which he will visit Tajikistan,
Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Mongolia and Japan.



.Leningrad region to lease over 150 lakes for fishing.

ST PETERSBURG, July 18 (Itar-Tass) - Russia's Leningrad region plans
to lease 157 lakes for organizing sport and amateur fishing. The region's
authorities will announce a tender for 47 lakes already in August.
The creation of fishing farms and tourist camps will help to fill up
the local budget and to provide new jobs, Sergei Muravyev, the head of the
North-West territorial department of the Russian federal fishing agency
Rosrybolovstvo, told Itar-Tass.
Moreover, a leaseholder will have to take care of the lake, protect it
from poaching and breed different fish species, he said.
Muravyev noted that in the neighbouring Finland the annual fish output
from sport and amateur fishing reaches 1.5 billion euros, in the United
States - 28 billion dollars, while the industrial fishing accounts for
only 6 billion dollars.
Vyacheslav Makhrovets, the head of the fishing department, the
Leningrad region's committee on agricultural and industrial complex, said
only 1,800 of the 3,000 lakes in the Leningrad region are suitable for
fishing activities. However, on the region's largest lakes such as Lake
Ladoga and Lake Onega the industrial fishing is economically
non-advantageous.
"If such lakes with the area of around 1,000 hectares are leased to an
effective investor, it will be more useful for sport and amateur fishing
activities," he said.
Leningrad region governor insists that tenders for the lake lease
should take into account the opinion of the local population and
non-governmental organizations.
"If we take a wrong approach in this business, this can evoke a
negative reaction. A man should have the choice, whether to go fishing for
free or to pay for this," the governor said.
Lake Ladoga has 53 fish species, including salmon, trout, white fish,
vendace, smelt, bream, rudd, asp, catfish, pike perch, river perch, pike,
burbot, etc. Some of them such as Atlantic sturgeon and Volkhov whitefish
are put on the Russian Red List of endangered species.
Lake Onega, which is almost by half smaller than Lake Ladoga, is a
home to 47 fish species. The lake is known for starlet, dace, saber fish,
char, eel and lamprey.

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