ID :
85948
Sat, 10/24/2009 - 19:16
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://www.oananews.org//node/85948
The shortlink copeid
Palestinian FM to visit Russia Dec 2009 - ambassador
.
MOSCOW, October 24 (Itar-Tass) -- The Palestinian Authority's Foreign
Minister Riyad al-Maliki will pay a visit to Russia in December 2009, the
Palestinian ambassador in Russia Faed Mustafa said on Friday.
According to the diplomat, November will see a meeting of the
Russian-Palestinian Business Council, which will discuss the outlook for
trading and economic cooperation. During the same month delegations from
Palestine's ministries of tourism and transport are expected in Russia for
talks.
"Russian-Palestinian relations have an old-time history," the
Palestinian ambassador said. "But we should not stop where we are. We
should build up the bilateral dialogue and put the emphasis on the
perspective."
Cooperation between Russia and Palestine is keynoted by friendship and
mutual respect.
"We appreciate Moscow's contribution to the cause of creating an
independent Palestinian State," the diplomat said. "Russia's consistent
actions within the framework of the quartet of mediators and the UN
Security Council contribute to achieving peace in the region."
About the situation in Palestine Faed Mustafa said that the problem of
"intra-Palestinian unity must be resolved."
"Controversies between Fatah and Hamas play into Israel's hands, and
the continuing settlement policy in the West Bank merely indicates Israel'
s reluctance to achieve peace," he said.
"Our position is very clear. There must exist two independent states
on the basis of the borders dating back to July 4, 1967. The refugees must
be allowed to return to their home areas," the ambassador said. "The
Palestinian people will never give up hope and it will seek other ways for
achieving its goals."
.President Medvedev to meet with leaders of parl't parties Sat.
MOSCOW, October 24 (Itar-Tass) -- Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on
Saturday will meet with the leaders of the four parliamentary parties.
Presidential press-secretary Natalya Timakova said the meeting, originally
scheduled for October 27, has been moved to October 24 at the request of
the opposition.
She declared that the drafting of the annual presidential message to
the Federal Assembly would be the main theme.
"However, the format of this meeting allows the representatives of the
oppositional parties to discuss anything they would like to," the
press-secretary said, adding that such meetings are held in a standard
format, with two top representatives from each parliamentary party taking
part.
State Duma Speaker Boris Gryzlov, the head of the United Russia's
supreme council, told the media that at the meeting with the president his
party would present its new ideas regarding the content of the
presidential message to the Federal Assembly, in addition to those he had
handed over to the head of state at a separate meeting earlier this month.
"The United Russia party will go ahead with discussing the main theme
- proposals concerning the presidential message to the Federal Assembly,"
he said. "I believe that this is the main theme of the meeting with the
president."
In the meantime, other parties plan to raise the theme of the returns
from the October 11 elections of different level that were held in most
constituent territories of the Russian Federation. They argue the election
saw heavy abuse and multiple cases of rigging.
The Fair Russia party plans to submit to President Medvedev its
amendments to the election legislation that would make it possible to
prevent "manifestations of arbitrariness at elections" in the future.
Central to the Fair Russia party's proposals is the idea of canceling the
possibility of early voting at elections of all levels, because "now this
instrument is very often used for heavy rigging." The leader of the Fair
Russia's party in the State Duma, Nikolai Levichev, said his party
demanded imposing "legal restrictions on the number of mobile ballot boxes
and achieving the use of transparent stationary ballot boxes and video
monitoring at the polling stations." Lastly, there is the task of
achieving "real criminal prosecution of officials responsible for
rigging," Levichev said.
The Fair Russia's proposals addressed to the president will concern
not just the elections alone.
"In response to Dmitry Medvedev's call he made in the policy article
Russia, Forward! we have formulated a number of initiatives that might be
included in the annual presidential message to the Federal Assembly," he
said.
Communist leader Gennady Zyuganov plans to explain what makes his
fellow party members so critical of the October 11 election, too.
"The CPRF believes it is necessary to create a commission under the
presidential office - and it invites the LDRP and the Fair Russia party to
sign such a request - in order to jointly investigate all instances of
crude abuse and violations that took place in the course of the October 11
elections," Zyuganov said.
The Liberal Democrat Leader, Vladimir Zhirinovsky, plans to formulate
the question in a radical way. At the meeting with the president he will
demand "cancellation of the returns from the October 11 elections due to
their rigging in the whole territory of Russia." He will press for "the
resignation of the chief of the Central Election Commission, Vladimir
Churov, and replacement of the chiefs of all election commissions, because
they are the main participants in the falsifications." Also, Zhirinovsky
wants the dismissal of all governors who have been in office for more than
ten years. He argues that the leadership of the parliamentary majority
party - United Russia - should be asked to disband the party at its
congress on November 21 in St. Petersburg.
"Also, we are for the abolition of the law empowering the majority in
the local legislatures to offer gubernatorial candidates to the
president," Zhirinovsky said.
.Discount rate may be lower than inflation - Bank of Russia.
MOSCOW, October 24 (Itar-Tass) -- The Bank of Russia does not rule out
that the discount rate may be below inflation, CBR First Deputy President
Alexei Ulyukayev told a conference at Alfa-Bank on Friday.
Prime-Tass quotes Ulyukayev as saying that the Bank of Russia makes
decisions regarding the discount rate on the basis of inflation control
measures. Each decision is correlated not with the current inflation, but
with expectations.
"For this reason the discount rate may be below the current inflation.
Say, if the inflation forecast for next year is no more than nine percent,
the discount rate may be lowered to nine percent, too," he added.
-0-str
MOSCOW, October 24 (Itar-Tass) -- The Palestinian Authority's Foreign
Minister Riyad al-Maliki will pay a visit to Russia in December 2009, the
Palestinian ambassador in Russia Faed Mustafa said on Friday.
According to the diplomat, November will see a meeting of the
Russian-Palestinian Business Council, which will discuss the outlook for
trading and economic cooperation. During the same month delegations from
Palestine's ministries of tourism and transport are expected in Russia for
talks.
"Russian-Palestinian relations have an old-time history," the
Palestinian ambassador said. "But we should not stop where we are. We
should build up the bilateral dialogue and put the emphasis on the
perspective."
Cooperation between Russia and Palestine is keynoted by friendship and
mutual respect.
"We appreciate Moscow's contribution to the cause of creating an
independent Palestinian State," the diplomat said. "Russia's consistent
actions within the framework of the quartet of mediators and the UN
Security Council contribute to achieving peace in the region."
About the situation in Palestine Faed Mustafa said that the problem of
"intra-Palestinian unity must be resolved."
"Controversies between Fatah and Hamas play into Israel's hands, and
the continuing settlement policy in the West Bank merely indicates Israel'
s reluctance to achieve peace," he said.
"Our position is very clear. There must exist two independent states
on the basis of the borders dating back to July 4, 1967. The refugees must
be allowed to return to their home areas," the ambassador said. "The
Palestinian people will never give up hope and it will seek other ways for
achieving its goals."
.President Medvedev to meet with leaders of parl't parties Sat.
MOSCOW, October 24 (Itar-Tass) -- Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on
Saturday will meet with the leaders of the four parliamentary parties.
Presidential press-secretary Natalya Timakova said the meeting, originally
scheduled for October 27, has been moved to October 24 at the request of
the opposition.
She declared that the drafting of the annual presidential message to
the Federal Assembly would be the main theme.
"However, the format of this meeting allows the representatives of the
oppositional parties to discuss anything they would like to," the
press-secretary said, adding that such meetings are held in a standard
format, with two top representatives from each parliamentary party taking
part.
State Duma Speaker Boris Gryzlov, the head of the United Russia's
supreme council, told the media that at the meeting with the president his
party would present its new ideas regarding the content of the
presidential message to the Federal Assembly, in addition to those he had
handed over to the head of state at a separate meeting earlier this month.
"The United Russia party will go ahead with discussing the main theme
- proposals concerning the presidential message to the Federal Assembly,"
he said. "I believe that this is the main theme of the meeting with the
president."
In the meantime, other parties plan to raise the theme of the returns
from the October 11 elections of different level that were held in most
constituent territories of the Russian Federation. They argue the election
saw heavy abuse and multiple cases of rigging.
The Fair Russia party plans to submit to President Medvedev its
amendments to the election legislation that would make it possible to
prevent "manifestations of arbitrariness at elections" in the future.
Central to the Fair Russia party's proposals is the idea of canceling the
possibility of early voting at elections of all levels, because "now this
instrument is very often used for heavy rigging." The leader of the Fair
Russia's party in the State Duma, Nikolai Levichev, said his party
demanded imposing "legal restrictions on the number of mobile ballot boxes
and achieving the use of transparent stationary ballot boxes and video
monitoring at the polling stations." Lastly, there is the task of
achieving "real criminal prosecution of officials responsible for
rigging," Levichev said.
The Fair Russia's proposals addressed to the president will concern
not just the elections alone.
"In response to Dmitry Medvedev's call he made in the policy article
Russia, Forward! we have formulated a number of initiatives that might be
included in the annual presidential message to the Federal Assembly," he
said.
Communist leader Gennady Zyuganov plans to explain what makes his
fellow party members so critical of the October 11 election, too.
"The CPRF believes it is necessary to create a commission under the
presidential office - and it invites the LDRP and the Fair Russia party to
sign such a request - in order to jointly investigate all instances of
crude abuse and violations that took place in the course of the October 11
elections," Zyuganov said.
The Liberal Democrat Leader, Vladimir Zhirinovsky, plans to formulate
the question in a radical way. At the meeting with the president he will
demand "cancellation of the returns from the October 11 elections due to
their rigging in the whole territory of Russia." He will press for "the
resignation of the chief of the Central Election Commission, Vladimir
Churov, and replacement of the chiefs of all election commissions, because
they are the main participants in the falsifications." Also, Zhirinovsky
wants the dismissal of all governors who have been in office for more than
ten years. He argues that the leadership of the parliamentary majority
party - United Russia - should be asked to disband the party at its
congress on November 21 in St. Petersburg.
"Also, we are for the abolition of the law empowering the majority in
the local legislatures to offer gubernatorial candidates to the
president," Zhirinovsky said.
.Discount rate may be lower than inflation - Bank of Russia.
MOSCOW, October 24 (Itar-Tass) -- The Bank of Russia does not rule out
that the discount rate may be below inflation, CBR First Deputy President
Alexei Ulyukayev told a conference at Alfa-Bank on Friday.
Prime-Tass quotes Ulyukayev as saying that the Bank of Russia makes
decisions regarding the discount rate on the basis of inflation control
measures. Each decision is correlated not with the current inflation, but
with expectations.
"For this reason the discount rate may be below the current inflation.
Say, if the inflation forecast for next year is no more than nine percent,
the discount rate may be lowered to nine percent, too," he added.
-0-str
