Ukraine, Israel sign agreement on visa-free travel.

KIEV, July 22 (Itar-Tass) -- Ukraine and Israel have signed an
inter-governmental agreement on visa-free travel.
The document was signed during Ukrainian Foreign Minister Konstantin
Grishchenko's visit to Israel on Wednesday.
Citizens of the two countries will be able to go to each other's
country, travel through it or stay in it for 90 days without a visa. A
person can do so once every six months.
"Our peoples have a common historical heritage because Ukrainians and
Jews lived together for centuries," Grishchenko said at a press conference.
"Ukraine has become home to one of the biggest Jewish communities, and
the Ukrainian community is one of the biggest in Israel," he said.
"All this facilitates active Ukrainian-Israeli dialogue, as well as
the fact that Israel is one of the key partners of Ukraine in the region,"
Grishchenko said.
He also noted the importance of bilateral talks on free trade and
liberalisation of air travel regulations.

.Armenia-RF military-technical cooperation becomes more substantive.

YEREVAN, July 22 (Itar-Tass) -- Military-technical cooperation between
Armenia and Russia becomes more substantive, National Security Council
Secretary Artur Bagdasaryan said after a visit to the country by a
delegation of Russia's Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation.
The sides decided to set up joint ventures in order to develop the
defence industry.
"This is the first time such a high-ranking delegation from Russian
defence enterprises visited Armenia to familiarise itself with the
possibilities of the relevant sector in the country and discuss in detail
prospects for the development of the Armenian defence industry,"
Bagdasaryan said.
"We saw a positive attitude on the part of Russian entrepreneurs," he
added.

.Lavrov to attend Russia-ASEAN ministerial meeting.

HANOI, July 22 (Itar-Tass) -- Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov
will attend the annual Russia-ASEAN ministerial conference on Thursday,
July 22.
The purpose of the conference is to prepare the second Russian-ASEAN
summit to be held in Hanoi in autumn.
Moscow expects the summit to "give an additional impetus to Russia's
interaction with the Association," Foreign Ministry spokesman Andrei
Nesterenko said.
"In the Russia-ASEAN format the foreign ministers will discuss the
state and prospects for further development of political, economic and
humanitarian cooperation," the official said. "High on the agenda will be
preparation for the second Russia-ASEAN summit in Hanoi this autumn that
will give a fresh impetus to our cooperation with the Association."
The ASEAN Regional Forum is an effective platform for security
dialogue on multilateral cooperation in such areas as nuclear
non-proliferation, emergency response, the fight against terrorism, piracy
and other types of trans-national crime.
"The agenda of the ASEAN Regional Forum includes the formation of
regional architecture in the Asia-Pacific Region and the exchange of
opinions on pressing international problems," the ministry's official said.
At the forum the Hanoi Plan of Action will be adopted to implement the
ASEAN Vision 2020 Statement that stipulates concrete steps towards
multilateral cooperation in regional security.
Lavrov is expected to hold bilateral meetings with Vietnam's President
Nguyen Minh Triet and other top officials as well as his counterparts from
countries of the Asia-Pacific Region.

.Finance Ministry suggests raising oil, gas production tax.

MOSCOW, July 22 (Itar-Tass) -- The Russian Finance Ministry suggested
raising the oil and gas production tax in a bid to increase budget
revenues.
"We believe it necessary to increase the natural gas production tax
from next year," head of the ministry's department of tax and customs
policy, Ilya Trunin told Itar-Tass.
The ministry insists that the tax should be raised by 61 percent of
the current level from 2011 and then adjusted to inflation annually. "That
will be 6 percent stating January 1, 2012, and 5.4 percent in 2013," the
official said.
The ministry suggests raising the oil production tax not from 2011 but
from 2012 by 5 percent and by another 5.4 percent in 2013.
Trunin recalled that the current base rate is 419 roubles per tonne
and it "has not been revised, just like the natural gas production tax,
for a long time."
"We believe that this measure will, first, alleviate budget
consequences from various benefits and tax holidays for the production of
natural resources, and, second, will effectively differentiate the tax,"
the official said.
In his opinion, a higher natural gas production tax will increase
budget revenues by more than 51 billion roubles from 2011, by 60.4 billion
roubles in 2012, and by 69 billion roubles in 2013.
A high oil production tax will generate an additional 78 billion
roubles in budget revenue in 2012, and 147 billion roubles in 2013.
The Finance Ministry's measures are designed to increase overall
budget revenues by 200 billion roubles in 2011, by 370 billion roubles in
2012, and by 500 billion roubles in 2013.
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