Russian president to discuss trade on official visit to Mongolia.

MOSCOW, August 24 (Itar-Tass) - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev will
pay an official visit to Mongolia on August 25-26 at the invitation of the
Mongolian President Tsahiagiyn Elbegdorzh, the Russian president's aide
Sergei Prikhodko told journalists.

Trade and economic cooperation are expected to dominate the
Russian-Mongolian talks.
"Russian-Mongolian relations are strategic, and it's very important
that we are not witnessing any pauses or intervals in our bilateral
strategic partnership after the presidential elections in Mongolia. The
previously set plans in the trade and economic sphere and other branches
and industries are being consistently implemented. We feel that the new
Mongolian leadership is set to preserve all the achievements," the Kremlin
representative said.
Prikhodko said that investment cooperation, including major mining,
transportation and agricultural projects, was also on the agenda. The
sides will discuss how to increase reciprocal trade that surpassed 1.3
billion U.S. dollars last year and how to raise the efficiency of the
Erdenet and Mongolrostsvetmet Companies that are the driving force of
Russian-Mongolian cooperation.
Other topics for discussion include transport cooperation. The Russian
Railways open joint-stock company has recently been appointed a managing
company of the Russian-Mongolian open joint-stock society 'The Ulan Bator
Railways'. The sides will also consider plans of the state corporation
Rosatom to establish cooperation with Mongolia in the prospecting,
extraction and processing of uranium ores at the Dornod deposits in
eastern Mongolia.
According to Prikhodko, many Mongolian partners are interested in
expanding cooperation in agriculture, including imports of Russian
agricultural machinery, grain and mineral fertilizers on credits issued by
the Russian Agricultural Bank as well as exports of Mongolian livestock
products to adjacent Siberian regions.
The sides will also discuss intensification of cross-border and
inter-regional ties, cultural exchanges and the training of Mongolian
experts at Russian educational establishments.
"The Russian side is planning to confirm all the trends in bilateral
cooperation that have been secured in the last seven years. It will try to
create additional conditions for more effective interaction on specific
economic issues. This is particularly important in conditions of the
global economic crisis when our Mongolian partners and we are facing
hardships. But this is not the reason for interrupting or scrapping
long-term mutually-beneficial projects," Prikhodko emphasized.
During his forthcoming visit to Mongolia Russian President Dmitry
Medvedev will take part in celebrations of the 70th anniversary of victory
in the Battle of Khalkhin Gol, named after a river of the same name, the
Russian president's aide Sergei Prikhodko told reporters.
"This event fits well into the framework of a big job which is being
carried out in our country and in other allied states in connection with
the approaching 65th anniversary of Victory in WWII," Prikhodko went on to
say.
"This visit will not only emphasizes the Red Army's role but will also
underline the contribution of our Mongolian colleagues in the joint
victory," the Kremlin representative said.
Mongolian war veterans will receive commemorative medals and orders as
part of the celebrations of the Khalkhin Gol victory. Wreaths will be laid
to a monument to Soviet military leader Marshall Georgy Zhukov.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and his Mongolian counterpart will
deliver speeches at a special meeting devoted to the 70th anniversary of
victory in the Battle of Khalkhin Gol.

.Oil pumped off from tanker that ran aground in river estuary.

KHABAROVSK, August 24 (Itar-Tass) -- Oil has been pumped off from a
Russian tanker that ran aground in the estuary of the Kukhtui River near
the town of Okhotsk in the north of the Khabarovsk territory on Sunday.
Two hundred tons of oil have been successfully reloaded onto barges and
no fuel has leaked into the water. The tanker's four-member crew was not
hurt, a source at the Khzbarovsk branch of the Russian Ministry for
Emergency Situations told Itar-Tass.
An operation to take the tanker afloat will start on Monday as soon as
the wind and a sea storm subside.
"The crew of the privately-owned vessel tried to enter the Kukhtui
River estuary without a pilot or dispatch control from the port, and that
caused an accident," the Russian Ministry for Emergency Situations says.