ST. PETERSBURG, Russia, June 4 (Xinhua) -- Moscow and the European Union (EU) could wrap up WTO entry negotiations by the end of the year, the Russian economic development minister said on Thursday.

The head of polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs Rodoslav Sikorsky called on Russia do not "look for negative elements" in programm Eastern Partnership iniciated by Poland and Sweden. Polish minister said that this programm is "for the modernisation of EU neighbourhood. Russia is also modernizing, so there are no conflicts"

This Friday ROAR presents two different angles of the EU’s actions in the post-Soviet era, and a report from Washington on the hidden aspects of the Taliban problem.
VREMYA NOVOSTEI writes that yesterday’s Prague summit of the EU’s ‘Eastern Partnership’ program has become a declaration of the fact that the European Union has entered arenas in the post-Soviet era that Russia considers to be the natural sphere of its geopolitical interests.

Based on materials by RUGRAD.EU. According to data provided by HeadHunter recruitment agency experts based on the vacancies placed on hh.ru by companies-employers and CVs by jobseekers, the demand for skilled personnel in Kaliningrad showed moderate growth in March after a 50% drop by the end of 2008. The number of vacancies placed by Kaliningrad employers at hh.ru in early April reached around 67% of pre-crisis level.

Based on materials by RUGRAD.EU. Gambling machine manufacturing plant on Moskovsky prospect in Kaliningrad will be put into operation in June this year. The plant belongs to “Novomatic” company of the Czech Republic. A wide range of slot machines are planned to be manufactured both for domestic market and for exports. Read more in Russian…

Based on materials by RUGRAD.EU. According to Konstantin Kopylov, Vice-President of the Association for Gaming Business Development, apart from identifying the location of future gaming zones no work is being implemented by business community and authorities. The situation with the gaming zone in Primorie is even worse – no location is specified in that case. The issue of infrastructure and communications is unresolved. There is some progress in one of the four zones – in Rostov region. However it’ll take a year at least for casinos to be able to start moving there.

Based on materials by Kaliningrad.Ru. Residents of the Kaliningrad region are likely to be able to get Polish national multi-entry visas valid for three months at least, “TourInfo” newspaper reported on Friday.

Based on materials by REGNUM-Baltika. Today, April 19 an experimental white-fish rearing plant has been launched at Lesnoe settlement on the Curonian spit. Head of the Federal Agency for Fishing, Mr. Andrey Krainiy, attended the official opening.

Based on materials by RUGRAD.EU. According to Daniil Kofner, Director for Economics of “Vozrozhdenie” fund, in the last few months office rent rates in Kaliningrad city centre went down on average 25%. The lowest monthly rates for “A” and “B” class office were at the level of 800 roubles per sq.m, now they dropped to 600 roubles. At the same time, rent rates for “C” and “D” class offices remained unchanged. Read more in Russian…