EU President to discuss energy policies, climate change in Lithuania.

VILNIUS, December 9 (Itar-Tass) - Reforming of the European Union,
policies in the energy sector and fighting with climate change are the
major issues at the talks that the newly elected EU President, Herman Van Rompuy is going to have Wednesday with Lithuania's President Dalia Grybauskaite.

Van Rompuy arrives in the former Soviet Baltic republic later
Wednesday.
The EU reforms conducted in line with the Lisbon agreement lay down
the foundation of the future for 500 million Europeans, Grybauskaite said
Tuesday.
She stressed her country's willingness to take on an active role in
straightening out the work of European organizations and improving
coordination of interests by member-states.
Lithuania is one of the first countries that Van Rompuy is visiting
after election to his current post. The only two countries he has visited
already are Finland and Latvia.
He may have a special interest in hearing Grybauskaite's opinion on
the reform, as she had the position of EU Commissioner for the Budget and
Financial Planning before getting to the office of Lithuania's President.

.Biting frosts cause suspension of school classes in parts of Altai
mountains.

GORNO-ALTAYSK, December 9 (Itar-Tass) - Biting frosts that sank to
minus 33 degrees Celsius have compelled authorities in the highland region
of Gorny Altai, southern Siberia, to suspend classes in a number of
schools.
Staying back at home are about 7,000 students of Grade 1 to Grade 4 in
the regional capital, Gorno-Altaisk, and at schools of five rural areas.
Following an instruction from the city's department of education,
2,000 school kids are enjoying a day off at home in Gorno-Altaisk alone.
Weather forecasters have told Itar-Tass air temperatures slid to minus
33 degrees in the Turachak, Mayminsky, Ust-Kana, and Ongudai districts.

.Ukrainian minister, US officials to discuss development of
cooperation.

WASHINGTON, December 9 (Itar-Tass) - Development of a strategic
partnership between Ukraine and the U.S. is the utlimate objective of the
talks that Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pyotr Poroshenko is going to have
here with the U.S. Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton.
This will be the first instance of full-scale tete-a-tete talks
between them, although the two of them have already had meetings at
various international forums.
As part of Poroshenko's visit to Washington, the Ukraine-U.S.
commission for strategic partnership will have its first session.
Agreement on setting it up was reached in July when U.S. President Joe
Biden was visiting Kiev. The goal of this agency is to deepen bilateral
cooperation in security, economy, trade, energy sector, and the supremacy
of law.
Initially, the commission was expected to have its first session back
in October but it had to be postponed due to the Obama Administration's
preoccupation with other problems, both internal and international.
Experts believe participants in the session will give special focus to
the economic aspects of bilateral cooperation.
In spite of the general intensity of contacts between Ukraine and the
U.S., bilateral trade between the two countries does not exceed a billion
U.S. dollars, and the current economic crisis has exerted impact on it
further.
The problems of energy security will scarcely be bypassed, as the U.S.
makes persistent calls to Ukraine to form its own energy sector of its own
so as to prevent re-emergence of problems with Russian natural gas
supplies to European customers via the Ukrainian territory.
Well-informed sources have told Itar-Tass that apart from the meeting
with Secretary Clinton, Poroshenko will also have talks with General James
Jonesm, Obama's chief national security advisor.
From Washington, Poroshenko is expected to go to New York where a
range of meetings has been scheduled.
Also, he will have a number of meetings at the UN headquarters,
including a meeting with its Secretary General Ban-ki Moon.
-0-kle