Russia's budget commission to consider tax changes July 27.

MOSCOW, July 11 (Itar-Tass) -- Prime Minister Vladimir Putin will
chair a meeting of the Budget Commission on July 27 to consider, and
correct if need be, the main guidelines for the budget policy in 2010.

The participants in the meeting will consider, among other things, the
possibility of changing some taxes, including excises for the production
of mineral resources, a government official said.

.Russian, Brazilian diplomats discuss inter-governmental commission
meeting.

MOSCOW, July 11 (Itar-Tass) -- Russia's First Deputy Foreign Minister
Andrei Denisov and Brazilian Ambassador in Moscow Carlos Antonio da Rocha
Paranhos met on Friday to discuss issues related to the upcoming meeting
of the inter-governmental commission on trade, economic, scientific and
technological cooperation slated for July 20-21.
The diplomats also discussed "further strengthening of strategic
partnership, the development of bilateral cooperation in the fields of
foreign policy, trade, economy, science, technology and other fields
between Russia and Brazil," the Foreign Ministry said.

.Medvedev signs decree on transfer of Oman's KTK share to Transneft.

MOSCOW, July 11 (Itar-Tass) -- President Dmitry Medvedev signed a
decree on the transfer of shares in KTK Company and KTK Investment Company
to Transneft for beneficial ownership.
KTK Company owns a 7-percent stake in the Caspian Pipeline Consortium
(the Russian acronym is KTK), which was purchased from Oman in 2008.
According to the Prime-Tass business news agency, KTK Investment
Company is the management company for this share.
In the spring of 2008, Oman announced plans to sell its share in the
CPC. Russia and Kazakhstan had the pre-emptive right to purchase the
share. In September, Deputy Minister of Economic Development Stanislav
Svetlitsky said Russia had informed Oman of its consent to buy the share.
Svetlitsky did not rule out that these 7 percent would be divided
between Russia and Kazakhstan into 4 percent and 3 percent respectively.
The CPC trunk pipeline has been transporting Kazakhstani oil across
Kazakhstan and Russia to the terminal in Novorissiisk since 2001.
According to the consortium's website, the CPC crude pipeline system
is the largest operating investment project with foreign participation on
the territory of the former Soviet Union. The cost of the first phase of
construction amounted to 2.6 billion U.S. dollars. The length of the main
pipeline that connects the oil fields in Western Kazakhstan with the new
Marine Terminal in Russia is 1,510 kilometres.
On October 13, 2001, CPC for the first time loaded crude oil onto a
tanker at its Marine Terminal near the Russian city of Novorossiisk on the
Black Sea. This event inaugurated not only the start of shipping crude oil
to the international markets but also the beginning of a comprehensive
testing and commissioning program for the Marine Terminal. On September
13, 2002 the oil quality bank went into effect after the second shipper
started transporting crude oil through the CPC pipeline. By introducing
the oil quality bank, CPC has established in the region a true free market
mechanism, which will allow every shipper to realize the real market value
of its oil, and ultimately greater returns for all of CPC's public and
private shareholders.
In April 2003, the first phase of the CPC pipeline system was
introduced into regular operations. The State Acceptance Commission signed
the Acts of Acceptance, which verify that all requirements for
construction, safety and environmental protection have been met
successfully. By this time CPC had shipped over 16 metric tonnes of oil.
By the middle of 2004, CPC pipeline has reached its full initial capacity
of 22 metric tonnes a year, so far as oil from the Caspian region is
concerned.
The expansion of the pipeline will involve the construction of new
pump stations, storage facilities and a third loading buoy at CPC's Marine
terminal at Novorossiisk. Ultimately, CPC will be able to transport 67
metric tons per year. In fact, expansion is integral to CPC realising its
full economic potential for the host governments and shareholder companies.

.Russia, Vietnam to jointly respond to negative effects of global
crisis.

MOSCOW, July 11 (Itar-Tass) -- Russia's First Deputy Foreign Minister
Andrei Denisov and Standing Deputy Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh agreed
to pool efforts in dealing with the negative effects of the global
financial crisis.
The diplomats co-chaired the second round of Russian-Vietnamese
strategic dialogue in Moscow on Friday.
Denisov and his Vietnamese counterpart also discussed "a wide range of
international political issues, including the development of joint
approaches to the resolution of pressing global problems, interaction
within the United Nations and other international organisations,
coordination of efforts to maintain peace and stability, as ell as a
number of aspects of bilateral cooperation, the Foreign Ministry said.
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