Arshavin joins CE's campaign against discrimination.

PARIS, September 12 (Itar-Tass) -- Russian soccer star Andrei Arshavin
has joined his voice to chorus of support for the social and political
campaign of the Council of Europe 'Say NO to Discrimination".

"Football gives every player the opportunity to express his or her
talent and contribute to the team, regardless of race, religion or social
origin. It is also a sport, which gives every player the chance to compete
on the basis of ability. This is how life should be," said Arshavin, 28,
the captain of Russia's national squad.
His statement features in the CE communique, made public on Friday.
Arshavin has become the latest high profile celebrity to have joined
the CE's anti-discrimination campaign. On the same list there are many
more personalities of world renown, including French footballer Lilian
Thuram and coach Arsene Wenger, of London's Arsenal - the club Arshavin
now plays for.
The Council of Europe is Europe's oldest international political
organization uniting 47 member-states. Its activity is geared to building
a common European space on the principles of freedom, democracy and the
supremacy of the law. In the focus of its attention is the protection of
human rights - civilian, political and cultural.
On Friday Paris hosted a conference devoted to the CE's future role in
the world and common European space. Taking part in the discussion were
many politicians, representatives of civil society and academic circles
from various countries, including Russia. The discussions put the emphasis
on the idea the world economic slump and the need for addressing
post-conflict situations posed new challenges to the European countries.
Human rights cannot and must not be regarded as a luxury, available
only during world stability. The CE member-states must have the political
will to respect the fundamental values of the organization in all times,
and not only when this is easy to do, CE Secretary-General Maud de
Boer-Buquicchio told the Paris conference.

.RF, Kazakh, Turkmen, Azerbaijani leaders to have more contacts Sat.

AKTAU, September 12 (Itar-Tass) -- The presidents of Russia,
Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan will have more informal contacts
in the seaside town of Kenderli, Kazakhstan, on Saturday.
Kazakhstan's President Nursultan Nazarbayev said on Friday, the
current informal summit has no agenda.
"We shall be able to exchange opinion of any bilateral and
multi-lateral issues, and just to have a good time on the Caspian," he
said.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev remarked it was a great pleasure for
him to visit this area of Kazakhstan he had never been to before. He also
agreed with Nazarbayev's opinion "the themes for discussion are many."
For his part, Azerbaijan's President Ilkham Aliyev suggested
discussing joint economic projects.
On Friday Ilkham Aliyev, Nursultan Nazarbayev, Dmitry Medvedev and
Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov looked into ways of bringing about deeper
trading and economic cooperation.
Nazarbayev said that his country had a bond of sincere friendship with
Russia and that with Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan it shared a neighborly
relationship.
"By and large we have no big problems, and we can decide everything on
the basis of a consensus," he said.
The four heads of state discussed the theme of reforming the
international financial system. The Russian president said "there is the
impression that far from everybody wants this, though."
"There is the wish to stop right here and to say that everything will
be good and even better, and that nobody is to blame for anything. This is
not so," Medvedev said. "We need a fundamental overhaul of the world
financial system. It is too early to be complacent. It is important for
the international community and for the world's largest economies to take
further steps to revise and reform the international financial system," he
said.
Medvedev would like "to inform in a comradely way" the three other
presidents of Russia's position and of what it was going to propose at the
forthcoming G20 summit in Pittsburgh.
"Our countries are experiencing the effects of the world financial and
economic crisis. I suggest discussing our approaches in order to have some
sort of a common mandate to defend our positions at the forthcoming
meeting (in Pittsburgh)."
During Friday's negotiations the Caspian theme was not touched upon.
All heads of state expressed the wish for an early summit of the Caspian
states in Baku, in which Iran would take part.
"I believe that the theme of the Caspian requires a discussion
involving all littoral states. This would make it possible to go over to
the implementation of ideas voiced at the summit in Teheran and then
proceed towards the summit due in Baku," Medvedev said. He described the
proposal for another Caspian summit in Azerbaijan as productive and
stressed the idea it was crucial for the five countries concerned to come
to terms regarding certain basic parameters. The leaders of Kazakhstan,
Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan agreed.
Azerbaijan's President Ilkham Aliyev told his counterparts that Baku
was making active preparations for hosting a summit of the Caspian states.
"It is very desirable we approach the summit in Baku with some
specific decisions on hand to ensure the Baku meeting, just as the
previous one in Teheran, make a strike forward," he said.