According to the Voice of Armenia newspaper, Gazprom's Chairman of the Board Alexei Miller held a meeting on the issue of integrating Gazprom-Armenia into the Gazprom group. He stressed that Gazprom-Armenia is going to become a fully-fledged subsidiary in a large family of affiliated Gazprom companies, which will work according to the rules and standards accepted in the concern. Miller noted that there has been a huge a leap in gasification in Armenia in recent years from 21% in 2002 to 96% in 2014. He says many subjects of the Russian Federation would envy such a level of gasification. He also reminded about the joint projects that were implemented during the last decade, such as the fifth unit of the Razdan TPP and the Iran-Armenia pipeline, saying that they are the basis for the stable socio-economic development of Armenia and for enhancing its energy security.
Talking about the plans, Miller stressed that the Russian concern is going to raise substantially the efficiency of the Gazprom-Armenia company and that the goals and tasks that are set for the company will be ambitious.
According to the local New Time newspaper, General Director of ZAO Gazprom-Armenia Vardan Harutyunyan, presenting in his turn the results and prospects of the financial and economic activity of the company, noted that thanks to the ongoing support and confidence of OAO Gazprom it was possible to invest about $900 million in the Armenian economy. At present the company is one of the largest in the republic in terms of assets and taxes that it is paying.
The newspaper also recalls that in December 2013 OAO Gazprom and Gazprom-Armenia signed a contract for supplies of Russian natural gas to Armenia in the years 2014 to 2018 at an annual volume of up to 2.5 billion cubic meters and for a price linked to intra-Russian tariffs. In addition, Moscow lifted the 30% export fee on gas exported to Armenia. Moreover, according to the agreement, Armenia covered half of its debt to Gazprom (about $150 million) by selling 20% of ZAO Arm GazProm shares, the rest of the debt was covered by Russia itself.
According to the newspaper, Alexey Miller discussed the details of Gazprom's investment program in Armenia with Serzh Sargsyan, the president of the country.
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As reported by the Azerbaijani newspaper "Echo", Baku State University scientists with their counterparts from Italy , France and Greece have won an ECONANO grant project amounting to 655 thousand euros, undertaken within the framework of the Tempus program conducted under the auspices of the EU. The project will allow scientists from the university to complete the creation of a fundamentally new drug for the treatment of cancer. As one of the leaders of the study, head of the Department of Chemical Physics of Nanomaterials, Doctor of Physics Mamedali Ramazanov said, "in the last few years our university in conjunction with the National Cancer Research Centre in Heidelberg (Germany) has been conducting experiments. The essence of the experiments is to study the possibilities for accommodation of drugs on the surface of nanoparticles and their use in the treatment of cancer cells , as well as the transportation of these drugs by means of magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles to the tumor cells without affecting healthy cells. The BSU scientists' participation in the project is the synthesis of systems of medicines - the main component of the project, and in this work there is already some success." The composition of the drug has not been disclosed, as the work will be patented. "I can only say that its components are isolated from medicinal plants growing in our country. Based on these components nano-oxid is synthesized, then together with the drugs it is used to prepare a system which is sent to the test," Professor Ramazanov said. The BSU scientists and their German colleagues hope to complete this work to obtain the corresponding international patent PCT (Patent Cooperation Treaty), recognized by 189 countries of the world.
The newspaper notes that researchers of the University in collaboration with leading universities of the world annually sell more than 80 research projects for an average of 5-7 million dollars. About 50 of them were financed by the European Union, the National Centre for Scientific Research, the International Scientific Centre for Theoretical Physics, the Swiss National Science Foundation and other international organizations. The projects in the field of nanotechnology occupy a special place among the undertaken projects. In the last 5 years alone, the amount of work done in this area amounted to $5 million.
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The "North Ossetia" newspaper reports that a massive reconstruction of the Georgian Military road leading from Vladikavkaz to the state border between Russia and Georgia has been launched. As the newspaper writes, the incentive to develop a strategy on arrangement of the road artery was a significant increase in transit traffic and the number of people crossing the state border in this area, which largely resulted from the resumption of political and economic cooperation between Russia and Georgia. Due to the increasing traffic, the multilateral checkpoint "Verkhny Lars", located on this route, was translated into a year-round non-stop operation.
However, according to experts in road maintenance, the current state of the road does not meet today's requirements, and some parts of it belong to a lower, third category.
In addition to the quality of the surfacing, the designers had a task to develop a whole range of protective and other technical solutions that take into account many factors, such as slopes, elevation, complex terrain, the swift waters of the Terek, potential hazards associated with rockfalls, rockfalls, mudflows and avalanche zones.
The road reconstruction has already been agreed with the Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation and the first practical steps are currently being made. Along several sections multi-ton motor graders, bulldozers and excavators, managed by the road builders of the republican branch of the Office of jRoads of the North Caucasus, are paving the canvas for laying a new branch of the highway in the areas of the settlements of Redant, Balta, Chmi and Nizhny Lars in order to significantly expand the road, freeing it from dangerous twisty places and providing optimal conditions for movement. The repairmen systematically backfill soil with powerful pumps, pump the water and level the concrete foundation for the future highway. Now road builders' efforts are concentrated on a 14-kilometer stretch from the village of Redant, where the new road will bypass settlements, allowing drivers not to change the speed limit throughout the route.
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The newspaper "Ingushetia" reports that the Republic was among the first in the country to complete the establishment of a system alerting the public about the threat of flooding. Тhe tasks to develop the Integrated Emergency Public Warning (KSEON) were assigned to the office of activity, protection of population and territories of emergency situations with the MES. The need to create such a service has been registered in the Presidential Decree of November 2012, prompted by events in Krymsk. Back then, bad public awareness of the threat of flooding has been called one of the reasons for the large number of casualties and material losses due to flooding.
The newspaper informs that the created alert system is a network of special equipment, which also includes electronic sensors on bridges that monitor the water level in the River Sunzha and speakers mounted on the highest buildings in the areas of possible flooding. In the event of danger, first the sound of sirens is heard and then instructions to the public, containing information on steps that need to be taken.
In developing the system, the lessons of flood-related natural disasters that took place in the region at different times were taken into account. The streets and neighborhoods of the rural settlements of Troitsky, Ordzhonikidze and the city of Karabulak that were most severely affected by the floods were included in the warning area. In the future, when the KSEON system will cover the entire Republic, outputs with "warnoing" inclusions on local radio and television stations will become possible. It cost the region about 3.5 million rubles to create the alert system.
Population training and a public trial launch conducted by the emergency services allowed the interaction to get up and running, as well as identifying any deficiencies in the system that can be corrected before the flood period, the article says.
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The chairman of the committee of the Chechen government on small business and entrepreneurship, Ovhan Dzhamuhanov, told the local newspaper "News of the Republic" about the organization of aid to novice businessmen. According to him, nine business incubators, created for these purposes in the region, employ about 200 people. As an aid for successful business, development facilities are available for rent at discounted prices, for only 20% of market value. He also said that training courses in accounting, office management, work on computers, hairdressing and foreign languages are conducted in business incubators.
Direct assistance in the production process is provided. For example, in the Grozny business incubator a pastry shop operates where beginning businessmen work and produce their own products. They are provided with tenencies for a term of three years. The same center has workshops for the production of textiles, manufacturing windows and hammer work.
In addition, a training and production business rehabilitation center in the rural settlement of Znamenskoye employs people with disabilities. According to the chairman of the committee, they have already mastered wood carving, forging and stamping. Handicrafts made by disabled persons are in demand among the population; they have even been exhibited in the pavilion of the Chechen Republic at the Olympics in Sochi.
Business incubators are built on a co-financing program: 80% of the funds come from the Federal budget, 20% - from the Republican budget. The incubators are located in modern buildings, equipped with the necessary equipment - office equipment, communications, office furniture, industrial equipment.
According to Dzhamuhanov this year the opening of the next tenth business incubator is scheduled in Argun.
