Public Council on Sochi Olympics preparation to hold 1st meeting.

SOCHI, August 26 (Itar-Tass) - The first meeting of the Public Council
on the preparation of the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi will be held
in Russia's Black Sea resort city on Wednesday.

Taking part in the meeting
will be deputy chief of the RF presidential administration Alexei Gromov,
chairman of the Public Council - Itar-Tass Director General Vitaly
Ignatenko, head of Sochi Anatoly Pakhomov and chairman of the Russian
State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company (VGTRK) Oleg Dobrodeyev.
The meeting participants will discuss tasks that the Council that was
established this July will have to fulfil. According to Russian Vice Prime
Minister Dmitry Kozak, "The Public Council will analyse social problems
that the city residents are facing, in order to promptly react to them, to
set tasks and offer its recommendations to the federal power bodies,
regional power bodies and municipal bodies in order to minimise the
discomfort that the Sochi dwellers may have during the implementation of
this large-scale project."
The Public Council for the reparation of the 2014 Sochi Olympics has
17 members, among them is deputy of the State Duma lower house of
parliament, Hero of Russia Alexander Karelin, Olympic Champion Yevgeny
Kafelnikov, as well as journalists, clerics, representatives of the Sochi
Public Chamber and national diasporas living in the territory of the
Olympic capital.
Russia is preparing for the Winter Olympic Games 2014 faster than
scheduled, Vice Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak said earlier. "There are all
kinds of scary stories that appear sometimes due to ignorance and
sometimes, let's be frank, [are spread] by our competitors, including in
other countries, that construction is far behind schedule and that we won'
t do it," Kozak said at a meeting with President Dmitry Medvedev earlier
this summer.
Kozak, who is responsible for the construction of Olympic facilities,
denied these rumours and assured the president that Russia is one year
ahead in terms of preparing for the Olympic Games. "In principle, we are
one year ahead in starting building the main Olympic facilities as
compared to all of the latest Olympic Games," Kozak said. Kozak noted the
construction of all Olympic facilities in Sochi would begin before the end
of the year, except for a bobsleigh/luge track. Mass construction of five
Olympic facilities started in March. "Five Olympic facilities are not
under construction, and we will start building the rest of them before the
end of the year," Kozak said.
The only facility the construction of which will begin in 2010 is a
bobsleigh/luge track. "This facility will begin to be built in accordance
with the network schedule," Kozak added.
He assured the president that all approved scheduled for the
construction of Olympic facilities will be complied with. Kozak said over
10,000 people are involved in the construction work, and only about 300 of
them are foreigners. "Today 9,800 people from 11 Russian regions are
working at the Olympic construction sites," he said, adding that 299
foreigners are working under contract, making up about 3 percent of all
workers.
Medvedev urged Kozak and Olympstroi Director-General Taimuraz Bolloyev
to strictly control the use of budget money provided for the construction
of Olympic facilities. "You should control the schedule but, to no lesser
extent, financial discipline because this is a big construction project
being implemented on a public-private partnership basis, and everything
must be as effective as possible. Every rouble should be accounted for,"
Medvedev stressed.
He noted that the change of the Olympstroi corporation head and the
appointment of Taimuraz Bolloyev to this post would ensure timely
construction of Olympic facilities in Sochi for the Winter Olympic Games
2014. "I hope that after the appointments and the organisational decisions
that have been made, work will assume its final pace and all preparations
will be made properly and on time," Medvedev said.
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.Moldova govt to resign in connection with new parliament election.

CHISINAU, August 26 (Itar-Tass) - The government of Moldova headed by
Zinaida Greceanii on Wednesday will resign in connection with the election
of the country's new parliament. Itar-Tass was told at the press service
of the Moldovan cabinet that this procedure is envisaged by the
Constitution and the law "On the government," according to which, the
cabinet members step down after the expiry of the mandate of the
parliament that gave it the confidence vote.
Last week, outgoing Moldovan President Vladimir Voronin whose second
and last term on the presidential post is expiring issued a decree
appointing the first meeting of the new parliament for August 28. In
accordance with the legislation, at this meeting the government will
request the new parliament to approve its resignation, the press service
noted.
The new parliament was formed by the results of the Moldovan early
elections held on July 29. The Party of Communists that had formed the
Greceanii government, lost the majority by the elections results and got
only 48 mandates in parliament from the total 101. The rest four parties -
Liberal Democratic, Liberal, Democratic and the Our Moldova Alliance - got
53 mandates. Announcing the creation of the ruling coalition their leaders
are holding behind closed doors talks on the distribution of the key posts
in the country. However, for the election of the president in parliament,
for which 61 votes are required, they will have to agree with the
Communists who stated that they are ready to go into the "tough
opposition." If the country's president is not elected in two tries, the
legislative assembly will be dissolved and Moldova will have early
elections next year.
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