The Russian Information Agency Novosti begins Hotline coverage for Friday, April 2, 2004.
MOSCOW
* Russian President Vladimir Putin will hold talks with German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, coming on a short routine visit to Moscow.
* The History Museum will host the opening ceremony of the exhibition "Moscow-Berlin. Berlin-Moscow. 1950-2000" held as part of the Year of German Culture in Russia. Russian Culture and Mass Communication Minister Alexander Sokolov and German Minister of State for Culture and Mass Media Christina Weiss will participate in the ceremony.
* A State Duma session will be held in Moscow. Deputies will fix the schedule for April and consider several bills.
* State Secretary of Russia-Belarus Union Pavel Borodin will give a press conference entitled "Eight years of the Union State of Russia and Belarus".
* A briefing entitled "What is going on in the patriotic wing in Russia? Prospects of patriotic parties in the viewpoint of their leaders" will be held in Moscow. Deputy chairman of the Russian Agrarian Party Alexei Chepa, member of the central committee of the Communist Party (KPRF) Alexander Kravets and co-chairman of the national strategy council Stanislav Belkovsky will participate in the briefing.
* The Russian Information Agency Novosti will host a press conference entitled "Reforms of Russia's electric energy system. A year after the adoption of the laws on the reform. Intermediate results and prospects". Members of the board of RAO UES Russia will participate in the press conference.
* Izvestia media center will host a press conference entitled "Economic competitive ability and modernization" with heads of State University, High Economics School.
* The 4th annual international conference "Communications and investments in Russia" will take place in Moscow.
* An international symposium on the 15th anniversary of cooperation between Russia and the European Space Agency in the sphere of manned space exploration will take place in Moscow.
* Moscow's International University will host the Moscow students' research and practical conference entitled "Russia and the Bologna Process: ways of reforming education systems".
ST. PETERSBURG
* The Fantaasia ferry will arrive in St. Petersburg from Tallinn. It is to maintain the new ferry line Tallinn-St. Petersburg-Helsinki opened by the Estonian shipping company Tallink Grupp. St. Petersburg's governor Valentina Matviyenko, Tallinn Mayor Edgar Savisaar and Helsinki Vice Mayor Errki Korppinen will participate in the opening ceremony of the ferry line.
KIEV
* Turkish Prime Minister Recep Erdogan, currently on an official visit to Ukraine, will hold talks with Ukrainian top officials.
DUSHANBE
* Ukrainian Foreign Minister Konstantin Grishchenko will arrive in Tajikistan on a two-day official visit.
BRUSSELS
* Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will participate in an informal meeting of the Russia-NATO Council at the level of foreign ministers.
ABU DHABI
* The 7th International Investment Forum Moscow-Invest-2004 will open in Abu Dhabi. A delegation of the Moscow government headed by Mayor Yuri Luzhkov will participate in the forum. It will run until April 5.
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