Development of RF Cities forum to open in Yelabuga Tue.

KAZAN, October 13 (Itar-Tass) - A two-day international forum on the
theme of "The Sustainable Development of the Cities of Russia" opens at
Yelabuga on Tuesday. Yelabuga is a port city on Kama River.

Andrei Kuzmin, head of the press service of Tatarstan's Cabinet of
Ministers, has told Itar-Tass, "The agenda of the forum includes items
concerning present-day strategies of single-industry cities, the role of
urban communities, and the peculiarities of the development of cities
implementing large-scale Federal projects".
Roundtable meetings are to be arranged during the forum on the themes
of "The Urban Development Policy of the Russian State", "European
Experience of Cities in the Globalisation Era", and "The Preservation of
the Historico-Cultural and Natural Heritage".
The forum has been organised by the Russian Ministry of Regional
Development and the government of Tatarstan.
It is expected that the forum will be attended by Viktor Basargin,
Russian Minister of Regional Development, Tatarstan Prime Minister Rustam
Minnikhanov, and by specialists of the European conference of ministers in
charge of regional development planning.

.Banking sector restructuring to proceed gradually--Kudrin.

MOSCOW, October 13 (Itar-Tass) - The number of mergers and takeover of
banks will grow in the coming years. However, the process will not be
avalanche-like, Alexei Kudrin, Russian Vice-Premier and Minister of
Finance, has said in an interview published in the Industrialist of
Russia journal, PRIME-TASS reports.
Kudrin is confident that "Restructuring of the banking sector will
proceed gradually." His opinion is that "in the coming two years
approximately 50-100 banks a year may cease to exist".
The Finance Minister pointed out that credit contraction is typical of
the post-recession period. "According to world experience, even speaking
of nominal indicators, it may take from several quarters to several years
to restore credit-lending activitity after a steep decline," he emphasized.
Speaking of the domestic banking system, Kudrin drew attention to the
fact that its losses turned out to be "quite moderate". "The number of
banks has decreased by 42 (3.7 percent). The outflow of deposits in the
fourth quarter of 2008 limited itself to 7.8 percent of the overall amount
of the population's deposts and was brought about, to a great extent, by
devaluation expectations, rather than misgivings about the stability of
banks," the Minister pointed out.
Kudrin is convinced that "On the whole, the banking sector has a
sufficient margin of strength so as to effectively resist the problems
facing it". "The situation in the banking sector now is stable, with
overdue debts growing but not at such a rapid pace as was predicted. The
past two months were notable for an increment in the assets of the banking
sector, and a smooth increase in the share of rouble deposits made by both
natural persons and legal entities,"he said.
Kudrin also pointed out the effectiveness of anti-recession infusions
of resources into the banking system. Were it not for them, he believes,
"we would not have available an instrument for maintaining the crediting
of the economy". The credit amount of 12,800, 000 million roubles, granted
to enterprises as of the beginning of this year, slightly grew and the
refinancing process is currently under way, the Minister remarked. The
preservation of the population's deposits became yet another result of
that, he said. "Deposits at banks have amounted to about 6,500,000 million
roubles, including 5,000,000 million roubles at the first 30 banks". "We
have retained people's trust in banks. Russian people's deposits at the
banks have been growing for four months in succession, which will become a
basis for new credit-lending," Kudrin maintains.

.Integration of sci, business in IT sector to be discussed.

ST PETERSBURG, October 13 (Itar-Tass) - An all-Russia conference on
the theme of "The Integration of Education, Science and Business is Major
Factor in Innovations-Based Development of the Sector of Telecom,
Information Technologies and Mass Comunications" opens here on Tuesday on
the basis of the University of Telecommunications named after Professor
Bonch-Bruyevich.
This prominent research and education center marks the 79th
anniversary of its founding. Professor Alexander Gogol, Rector of the
University, has emphasized in an Itar-Tass interview, "The scientific
quest of the University staff is focussing on fundamental and applied
studies in the field of innovative telecommunication technologies and
intellectual systems". In the process, special attention is devoted to
developing competitive products and research-intensive technologies, he
added.
The conference is being attended by Igor Schyogolev, Russian Minister
of Telecom and Mass Communications, by the directors of state Federal
organisations, and members of the business community.
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