The Russian Information Agency Novosti begins Hotline coverage for Wednesday, May 26, 2004.
MOSCOW
* Federal President Vladimir Putin is making his annual state-of-the-nation address to parliament. Cabinet members, presidents of the Constitutional, Supreme and Supreme Arbitration courts, the federal Prosecutor-General, the Central Election Commission and Auditing Chamber presidents, State Councillors, and Primates of established Churches have been invited to attend.
* Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov has the following conferences scheduled for the day:
- with a Chinese parliamentary delegation led by Wu Bangguo, National People's Congress Standing Committee Chairman;
- with Prime Minister Danial Ahmetov of Kazakhstan, now in Moscow on a routine visit.
* Igor Ivanov, national Security Council Secretary, will meet in the Kremlin with Alvaro Gil-Roblez, Council of Europe Rights Commissioner.
* The federal Ministry of Culture and Mass Communications hosts a news conference on an 8th Andrei Sakharov international arts festival.
* The State Duma, parliament's lower house, convenes a roundtable on, "Government Economic Policies of Manufacturer Protection in Russian Light Industry".
* The foundation, Unity for Russia's Sake, arranges roundtables:
- "The Presidential State-of-the-Nation Address: An Agenda for a 2nd Presidential Term?" - "The European Union: After Enlargement, Before a Constitution". The Konrad Adenauer Fund is co-sponsoring. Christoph Ruetgers, Christian Democratic Union Deputy Chairman, makes the principal communication.
* RIA Novosti offers the following news conferences:
- by leaders of the New Rights political party, elected by its inaugural congress, May 22-23;
- on tourist industry's preparations to face global competition as Russia joins the WTO, and prospects of tourism inside Russia for next summer and autumn.
* Ernest-Antoine Seliere, president of the MEDEF, French private entrepreneurs' movement, addresses a news conference on stepping up Franco-Russian economic partnership and trade.
* An international conference gathers on the 60th anniversary of Operation Overlord-Allied invasion of Normandy in World War II.
* The Izvestia media centre hosts a roundtable on, "Transgenetic Foodstuffs in Moscow Shops: Pros and Cons".
VLADIVOSTOK
* Pak Ki-mun, South Korea's Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, on visit to Russia, is arriving in Vladivostok from Moscow. He will meet supreme Littoral Territory functionaries to discuss the present state of economic contacts and their prospects, and Russo-South Korean team efforts in other fields of interregional partnership.
PETROZAVODSK
* A 4th international conference, "Problems of Regional and Municipal Budgetary Policies: Russia and Northern Europe", is taking start.
PARIS
* The UNESCO headquarters hosts a gala, in which the title of UNESCO Athletic Champion will be bestowed on Vyacheslav Fetisov, president of Russia's Federal Agency for Physical Culture, Sports and Tourism.
BRUSSELS
* An international conference on space medicine is opening. Its three days will see debates on international cooperation in space biology and medicine, and emergency aid. Staff experts of Russia's Federal Space Agency, Spacemen Training Centre and Zaschita national first aid centre are taking part.
HANOI
* A 1st international exposition, Nuclear Power 2004, is opening. Russia, France, Japan, India and South Korea are among the exhibitor countries.
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