Lavrov, Kazakh foreign min to discuss bilateral relations.

MOSCOW, November 17 (Itar-Tass) - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei
Lavrov and his Kazakh counterpart Kanat Saudabayev will on Tuesday discuss
regional security and stability and bilateral interaction within the
framework of the CIS, the Eurasian Economic Community, the Collective
Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) and the Shanghai Cooperation
Organization (SCO), the Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Andrei
Nesterenko said.

This is the first visit to Russia by the Kazakh foreign minister in
his new capacity.
"Moscow considers Saudabayev to be a prominent statesman and diplomat
and regard it as a positive sign that his first foreign trip in the new
capacity will be to Moscow," Nesterenko went on to say.
Nesterenko said that during the talks the foreign ministers would pay
special attention to Russian-Kazakh cooperation and interaction of Russia
and Kazakhstan in the international arena. "The sides will exchange views
on how to implement a joint action plan of Russia and Kazakhstan for
2009-2010, the side's cooperation during Kazakhstan's OSCE presidency in
2010, the Caspian negotiating process and other subjects," Nesterenko went
on to say. Other topics for discussion will include issues related to
regional security and stability and the two countries' interaction within
the framework of the CIS, the Eurasian Economic Community, the Collective
Security Treaty Organization and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization
(SCO).
"Russian-Kazakh relations have an active and progressive nature. They
are marked by dynamic multi-dimensional cooperation in all areas," the
diplomat went on to say.
"Despite the general crisis state of the world economy and lower
prices for fuel and energy, reciprocal trade is restoring its development
rates."
"Kazakhstan is Russia's third largest trading partner in the CIS. In
January-September 2009 the trade turnover stood at 9.1 billion dollars.
The sides actively cooperate in transport, the fuel and energy complex,
the implementation of investment projects, border interaction, space
exploration and the development of Caspian Sea resources. At present,
Kazakhstan has about three thousand joint enterprises with the Russian
capital," Nesterenko stressed.
At present, Kazakhstan has about three thousand joint ventures with
the Russian capital.
After the talks Sergei Lavrov and Kanat Saudabayev will sign a plan of
cooperation between the Russian and Kazakh foreign ministries in 2010, the
diplomat emphasized.
An inter-governmental agreement will be signed on the provision of
medical services for the personnel of the Baikonur space launch site, the
residents of the city of Baikonur and the villages of Toretam and Akai.
Russia is leasing the Baikonur space launch site.
""We hope that an official visit of Kanat Saudabayev will give an
additional impetus to developing Russian-Kazakh relations in all spheres,"
Nesterenko said.
The Kazakh foreign minister will lay wreaths to the Tomb of an Unknown
Soldier.


.Russian Grand Princess' jewelry to be sold at auction.

GENEVA, November 17 (Itar-Tass) - Unique jewelry that belonged to the
Russian Imperial Family will be put up for an international auction of the
Sotheby's Company. The auction will be held on Tuesday at the fashionable
Bo Rivage Hotel in Geneva.
A source at the Geneva branch of the famous London auction house told
Itar-Tass that the jewelry that was put up for auction was of historical
value and used to belong to Grand Princess Maria Pavlovna Romanova. A
British diplomat secretly took the jewelry out of Russia shortly after the
Bolsheviks seized power. Upon arrival in London the jewelry was placed in
a city banks. It was handed over to Maria P. Romanova who managed to flee
revolutionary Russia two years later.
Particularly interesting is garniture made of sapphires and diamonds.
It includes a flat brooch with an oval sapphire in the middle, a setting
made of diamonds and a pair of ear clips with sapphires and diamonds. Its
preliminary cost estimate is 142,000-179,000 dollars.
Apart from decorations with such rich history another 400 lots,
including a rare collection of natural colored diamonds - blue, green and
rose - will be put up for auction.
Revenues from the Tuesday auction, according to its organizers, are
expected to reach about 30 million Swiss Francs (approximately 30.6
million dollars).


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