Summits of Shanghai Cooperation Org, BRICS to open in Ufa in 100 days

UFA, March 31. /TASS/. Exactly one hundred days is left until the opening of summits of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and BRICS (an informal association of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and the South African Republic) that will be held at the beginning of July in Ufa, western Urals. Officials at the government to the constituent region of Bashkortostan told TASS almost 27 billion rubles ($ 461.5 million) has been allocated for preparations for the summits. This money consists of allocated from the federal and regional budgets and private investment. "Upon the results of last year, allocations from the federal budget stood at around 14 billion rubles, while the regional budget provided 3.34 billion rubles and private investors, 9.5 billion rubles," an official said. "The total costs will be summed up only when the two summits end." At present, modernization of the airdrome and the international terminal of the Ufa airport is coming to an end. A new passenger terminal with a throughput capacity for up to 800 passengers an hour will be commissioned by the opening of the summit and this will help resolve many of the current problems that airline customers are faced with, the regional president, Rustam Khamitov said earlier. The Congress Hall where the heads of state will have their meetings has been overhauled to meet the standards of the federal protocol. To accommodate participants in the summits and the reporters who will be covering them, more than a thousand rooms at seven new hotels have been prepared. One of the hotels opened on February 27. All in all, Ufa is expected to host up to 10,000 visitors during the days of the summits - members of delegation, experts from various countries, and reporters. "We’ve scrutinized all the organizational aspects involved in receiving specialists and volunteers, as well as security, telecommunications, transport services, and public catering aspects," Rustem Khamitov said. A major reconstruction of buildings that was held as part of preparations for the summits embraced the Bashkortostan concert hall and the Ufa Opera and Ballet Theater where the cultural programme for participants in the summits and guests. An exhibition titled ‘The USSR’s Role in Victory over Nazism and Liberation of the Far East" opens here on April 1. It will continue through to end of July. Organizers of the summits hope the heads of state and/or government of the participating countries will express their stance on the 70th anniversary since the defeat of Nazism in a joint statement upon the end of the summits. A similar exhibition will be held in Beijing. The Shanghai Cooperation Organization was founded in 2001. Its members at the moment are Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, China, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan, while Afghanistan, India, Iran, Mongolia and Pakistan have the status of observers. Read more