Russia's deputy premier arrives in fishermen's town on Kurile islands

KITOVY, Iturup Island, May 15 (Itar-Tass) - Russia's Deputy Prime
Minister Sergei Ivanov has arrived at the Far Eastern island of Iturup,
which is part of the Southern Kurile range of islands.
He will get familiarized with the Kurilsky port station in the Kitovy
Bay and the new Iturup airport, which is under construction now.
Also, Ivanov will chair a conference devoted to the special-purpose
federal program 'The Social and Economic Development of the Kurile Islands
in the Period of 2007 though to 2015.
Ivanov is making a working trip to the Far-Eastern regions, with focus
given to the island of Sakhalin and the Sakhalin region, to which the
Kurile Islands belong.
He is accompanied by Transport Minister Igor Levitin, Economic
Development Minister Elvira Nabiullina, Natural Resources Minister Yuri
Trutnev, Regional Development Minister Viktor Basargin, and Sakhalin
region governor Alexander Khoroshavin.
On the eve of departure for the Far East, Ivanov told reporters in
Moscow he visited the Kuriles for the first time in 2005.
"Back then, I was appalled by the huge abyss between the beauty of
nature there and the total shortage of infrastructure," he said,
"That's why I was among the initiators of the Kurile Islands
development program," Ivanov said. "Now I'd like to review its
implementation together with some of our ministers. We'll see how the
airdromes, port and wharfs are being built."
He said special attention should be given to the construction of roads
there.