Dpty FMs to discuss draft agt on Caspian safety Wed.

BAKU, November 3 (Itar-Tass) - The discussion of a draft multilateral
agreement on safety in the Caspian Sea is to be continued here on
Wednesday at a meeting of the Deputy Foreign Ministers of the littoral
countries. The Russian delegation is led by Deputy Minister of Foreign
Affairs Sergei Ryabkov.
This is already a fourth meeting of the experts of the Caspian Five in
such a format and the second one over the past month, an official at the
Azeri Ministry of Foreign Affairs pointed out.
The Ministry official emphasized that the intensification of the work
on the document is associated with the forthcoming Caspian summit, due to
be held in Baku on November 18, at which the five-sided agreement on the
safety at sea is expected to be signed. Considering this, participants in
Wednesday's meeting are to elaborate the text of the document so as to
present it to the presidents for endorsement.
At the previous meeting in Baku early in October, the experts
coordinated many basic provisions of the draft agreement. Azerbaijan's
Deputy Foreign Minister Khalaf Khalafov said, "The sides succeeded in
making considerable headway in fixing certain clauses of the document".
The diplomat believes that adoption of the agreement will be a substantial
contribution to matters concerning the refinement of the legal regime of
the Caspian and will promote cooperation among the littoral countries in
various fields.
The drawing up of the agreement on safety in the Caspian Sea was
entrusted to Azerbaijan at the second summit of the Caspian countries in
Tehran in 2007.

.RF President, Qatari Emir to discuss coop'n, int'l issues.

MOSCOW, November 3 (Itar-Tass) - Efforts to deepen cooperation between
the Russian Federation (RF) and the State of Qatar in the gas sector are
to be discussed here on Wednesday by RF President Dmitry Medvedev and
Qatar's Emir Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, who arrived in Moscow on Tuesday
for an official visit, a Kremlin press service official has told Itar-Tass.
The press service official said, "Our two countries have common
intention to strengthen constructive political interaction and step up
mutually beneficial cooperation on a broad spectrum of areas."
"This refers primarily to the deepening of Russo-Qatari interaction in
the gas sphere, including that within the framework of the Forum of Gas
Exporting Countries (FGEC)," the Kremlin official pointed out.
"Russia and Qatar attach much importance to the development of FGEC as
an effective international organization which is called upon to ensure the
protection of the rights and interests of (gas) producers and users, and
to render the world market of energy resources more transparent and
stable," the press service oficial added.
Dmitry Medvedev and Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani are to discuss key
aspects of cooperation in the trade-and-economic and investment fields.
"It is planned to examine promising joint projects in the oil and gas
sector, the sphere of high technologies, infrastructure, nuclear power
engineering, and agriculture -- both in the territory of Russia and in the
territory of Qatar," the Kremlin official said.
The Qatari side manifests interest in a project for construction, in
conjunction with NOVATEK, of a plant for the liquefaction of natural gas
on the Yamal Peninsula. In July this year, the Gazprom EP International
received an invitation from the Qatari side to participate in a tender for
the conduct of oil and gas operations in Qatar.
Kremlin analysts also point out that the two counrties "have
good prerequisites for the establishment of contacts between the financial
organizations of Russia and Qatar -- with a view toreaching out to
establishing investment funds and banks". "The signing of a Memorandum of
Understandig between the VTB Bank and Qatar Holding LLC on the sidelines
of the (present) visit will be the first step along this road," the press
service official stressed.
"During the (upcoming) talks at summit level, it is also planned to
compare positions on a whole lot of items that are on the global and
regional agenda," the presidential administratio official said. "These
include the situation in the Middle East, the strategic dialogue between
Russia and the Cooperation Counci of the Arab states of the Gulf, Iran's
nuclear programme, and the state of affairs in Iraq, Lebanon, Sudan, and
Yemen," the press service official specified.
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