Putin to visit Bejing Oct 13-14 for bilateral talks, SCO meeting.

MOSCOW, October 10 (Itar-Tass) -- Russian Prime Minister Vladimir
Putin on October 13-14 will pay a working visit to China. The deputy chief
of the government staff, Yuri Ushakov, told the media the first day of
Putin's visit to Beijing would be devoted to bilateral relations, and the
second, to a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization's heads of
government.

On October 13 Putin will hold talks with the Premier of China's State
Council Wen Jiabao. First there will be a meeting in the narrow format.
Government delegations will join in later, Ushakov said.
The two sides will discuss a variety of aspects of bilateral
cooperation. Russia has no acute questions to put to the Chinese partners,
the government official promised. Asked if the theme of Moscow's
Cherkizovo market, closed-down just recently, and the future of vendors
who kept retail outlets there (many of them Chinese citizens) Ushakov said
"the prime minister will not be the first to raise the theme, but he knows
what to say in reply."
After the talks Putin and Wen will meet with some representatives of
Russian and Chinese businesses taking part in the economic forum. In the
evening Putin will attend a banquet, arranged on behalf of the premier of
China's State Council, and a little later, a party on the occasion of the
60th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries, being
marked this year.
The next day, October 14, will be devoted most entirely to a meeting
of the SCO heads of government. In the second half of the day, though,
Putin will get back to some aspects of Russian-Chinese relations again.
Although China's President Hu Jintao will hold a meeting with all of the
SCO heads of government, on the same day there will be a separate
conversation with the Russian prime minister. Also Putin will hold a
meeting with the chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People'
s congress, Wu Bangguo.
Putin believes that "the diversified cooperation between Russia and
China meets the fundamental, long-term interests of both peoples and is a
major factor of regional and global scale." A statement to this effect is
contained in the message of greeting the Russian prime minister sent to
Wen Jiabao on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the People's
Republic of China and the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations between
the two countries.
"That these jubilee dates practically coincided is of special
significance, in view of the natural of relations between Russia and
China, which have achieved a degree of strategic cooperation and
partnership," Putin said. In his opinion, "over the six decades China has
achieved tremendous successes in its social and economic development,
taken a firm foothold among the leading world powers and earned great
authority in international affairs."
The Russian prime minister voiced the certainty that the forthcoming
talks in Beijing would contribute to the implementation of more joint
projects and help build up mutually beneficial cooperation."

.Armenia, Turkey to sign agts in Zurich to normalize relations.

ZURICH, October 10 (Itar-Tass) -- Armenia and Turkey on Saturday will
sign agreements on the normalization of bilateral relations. It is
expected that representatives from the two countries, which severed
relations in 1993 after the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict over
Nagorno-Karabakh, will meet in Zurich to put signatures to protocols on
the establishment of diplomatic ties and on the development of bilateral
relations.
The Swiss Foreign Ministry, which acts as the mediator of the
settlement process, has said nothing as to the rank of Armenian and
Turkish delegations. The Armenian mission in Geneva has refrained from
comment, too.
At this point it is known that present at the ceremony, due to take
place in the building of Zurich University will be US Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton. The European Union's High Representative for the Common
Foreign and Security Policy Javier Solana and French Foreign Minister
Bernard Kouchner are to attend the event, too.
The Russian Foreign Ministry has described the forthcoming signing of
the Armenian-Turkish agreement on the normalization of relations as a step
in the right direction, determining the two sides' "further steps along
the way leading to comprehensive normalization of inter-state relations
between Armenia and Turkey."
Armenia and Turkey, sharing a 330-kilometer border, have not had
diplomatic relations for years. Ankara has said more than once that it
would restore bilateral relations on the condition Yerevan refrained from
further steps to press for the international recognition of the genocide
of ethnic Armenians in the Ottoman Empire in 1915 and curtailed support
for Nagorno-Karabakh in its conflict with Azerbaijan.