Kosovo receives first World Bank credit.

BELGRADE, March 11 (Itar-Tass) - The Serbian province of Kosovo
received the first international credit on Wednesday. An agreement on
granting two loans worth a total of 20 million dollars was signed in
Pristina between the government of Kosovo and the World Bank. These funds
will be used to develop a cadastral service and modernize the
administrative bodies of the self-proclaimed republic.

Kosovo's Finance Minister Ahmet Shalja said that negotiations for new
credits worth `100 million dollars were under way with the World Bank.
Foreign financial aid is one of the main sources of existence of the
southern Serbian province, which has a population of two million and an
economy, which is not functioning.
The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund are the only
international organizations, which Kosovo has managed to join, thanks to
western patronage and a specific voting system, since it proclaimed its
independence on February 17, 2008.
Serbia and its allies have blocked the membership of the
semi-recognized republic in international organizations.

. Medvedev, King of Jordan to meet to discuss joint projects.

MOSCOW, March 11 (Itar-Tass) - High technologies, culture and military
- technological cooperation will dominate talks between Russian President
Dmitry Medvedev and King Abdullah II of Jordan to be held on Thursday,
the Kremlin press service reports.
A high-ranking Kremlin source told Itar-Tass that Abdullah II was
visiting Russia for the tenth time and was going to meet Russian President
Dmitry Medvedev for the third time. The Russian and Jordanian leaders
first met in Astana in July 2008 during the celebrations of the 10th
anniversary of the capital of Kazakhstan. A month later the King of
Jordan arrived in the Russian Black Sea resort town of Sochi to visit
President Medvedev.
The Thursday meeting in the Kremlin is to dwell on prospects for
development of multi-dimensional bilateral cooperation.
"Despite the impact of the world financial crisis, Russia's trade with
Jordan in 2009 is still standing at 400 million dollars. The forthcoming
talks are designed to give additional impetus to trade and economic ties,
including in the military and technological sphere, and advance joint
projects in such areas as peaceful use of atomic energy, high
technologies, tourism and other areas of bilateral cooperation," the
Kremlin source said.
The sides are also expected to discuss how to deepen their bilateral
ties further. The governments of the two countries will sign a program of
scientific and cultural cooperation for the years 2010-2012.
The situation in the Middle East will certainly become one of the
central subjects during the upcoming talks in the Kremlin.
"Russia and Jordan proceed from the fact that in conditions when the
dangerous pause in the Palestinian-Israeli talks has been lasting for more
than a year, it's important to prevent the destabilization of the region
and find the way to restore a fully-fledged dialogue between the
parties," the Kremlin source emphasized.
"In this context, the sides will consider patterns according to which
the situation in the region could unfold given the fact that the
Palestinian and Israeli leaders have already agreed to indirect talks and
the League of Arab States has supported the resumption of talks in the
aforesaid format for four months," the source went on to say.
Amman has positively assessed the Russian proposal to hold a
ministerial meeting of international brokers for the Middle East
settlement in Moscow on March 19, 2010.
The Kremlin believes that similar approaches to urgent regional and
global agenda provide a solid foundation for the Russian-Jordanian
interaction.
Besides, the leaders of the two countries traditionally exchange views
on the situation in Iraq.
"They are planning to discuss stabilization prospects in this country
in the light of parliamentary elections that were held in this country on
March 7, 2010. Dependent on their results, new legislative and executive
bodies will be formed," the Kremlin source went on to say.
He added that Moscow and Amman come out for a single, democratic and
sovereign Iraq that could become a vital factor of stability in the region.
High-level bilateral contracts between the two countries have become
regular in recent years what is making the Russian-Jordanian ties even
stronger.
The 48-year-old Jordanian monarch who has been at his country's helm
for 11 years is the one who meets Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin
more often than any other politician in the Middle East.
The Kremlin source recalled that Putin had paid a visit to Jordan in
2007. King Abdullah II then met Putin himself, an unprecedented thing for
Jordan.
During their talks last Wednesday, on March 10, Putin and Abdullah II
said they hoped for further strengthening of relations both in politics
and economy.


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