The Russian Information Agency Novosti begins Hotline coverage for Monday, January 20, 2004.
MOSCOW
* Prime Minister Nikolai Tanayev of Kyrgyzstan is coming in for a three-day routine visit. On Day One, he is scheduled to meet with Boris Gryzlov, Speaker of the State Duma, or Russia's lower house of parliament; Emergencies Minister Sergei Shoigu; and Nuclear Energy Minister Alexander Rumyantsev. Tanaev is also expected to hold talks with Boris Gromov, Governor of the Moscow Region; the two officials may sign a cooperation agreement.
* World Bank President James Wolfensohn continues his two-day routine visit to the Russian capital. He will meet with senior government officials to share opinions on global economic development and discuss issues related to WB cooperation with the Russian Federation.
* The RIA Novosti news agency will be hosting a press conference with Yuri Zhdanov, Deputy Minister of Economic Development & Trade and First Vice Chairman of the Governmental Commission for Trade Fairs. The press conference will be devoted to the organization of trade fairs and personnel training for the Economics Ministry's needs.
* An online conference with US Consul General James Pettit on the US visa policy toward Russian nationals will be held on the premises of the Komsomolskaya Pravda publishing house.
* The Izvetsia daily's media center will be the venue of a press conference entitled "The First Pan-Russian Assembly of Non-Governmental Organizations Fighting Against Human Trafficking." Among the attendees will be Ella Panfilova, Chairwoman of the Russian Presidential Commission for Human Rights; Yelena Mizulina, Chair of the Organizing Committee of the 1st Pan-Russian assembly of NGOs combating human trafficking; and Tom Firestone, US Justice Department commissioner for legal affairs at the US Embassy to Russia.
* The Rosbalt news agency is opening the political club "Russia: Development Vector (2004-2008)," in association with the Institute of System Projects and the National Information Group. The theme of the club's maiden session will be "Demographic Problem of 2007: Beginning of Depression or National Revival?"
* Patriarch Peter VII of Alexandria and All Africa is arriving to the Russian capital for a visit. On Wednesday, he meets with Alexis II, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia. That same day, an international award for outstanding efforts to consolidate the unity of Orthodox nations will be presented to him at a special ceremony.
TASHKENT
* Russian Ambassador-at-Large Veniamin Popov is starting a two-day visit to Uzbekistan's capital. His trip is aimed at studying the experience of interfaith cooperation in that Central Asian republic. While in Tashkent, Popov will meet with local Moslem and Christian officials. The republic's Orthodox Christian community is the second largest after the Moslems.
NEW DELHI
* A contract for the purchase of a Russian aircraft carrier, the Admiral Gorshkov, is expected to be signed during Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov's current visit to India. Ivanov will have a scheduled meeting with the Indian Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
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