In the context of the legislative elections in the Republic of Moldova on 5th of April, the European Commission has allocated funds amounting to €3 million for projects to promote and monitor compliance with international standards during the electoral process. The holding of free and fair elections is one of the key commitments of the Republic of Moldova under its European Neighbourhood Policy Action Plan with the European Union. READ MORE

Speech at the 7th Doha Natural Gas Conference
Doha, 11 March 2009 READ MORE

Kazakhstan delegation headed by Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Nurlan Danenov took part in the X session of the UN Human Rights Council opened in Geneva, Kazinform refers to the press service of the Kazakh Foreign Affairs Ministry Development, security and human rights are closely connected with each other, therefore it is crucial to prevent social instability and worsening the observance of human rightst protection in the world due to global financial crisis, the Kazakh Vice Minister noted in his speech. READ MORE

Germany may be phasing out its nuclear power stations, but German group Siemens plans to cooperate with Russia's Rosatom to tap into the growing global market to build new nuclear plants. A deal could be signed in the coming months.

German industrial group Siemens is preparing to sign a nuclear cooperation deal with Russia to tap a growing global market for building nuclear power plants, German business daily Handelsblatt reported. READ MORE

EU signals end of ‘free lunches’ on climate finance.

China and India must play their full part in fighting climate change and accept that programmes financed by the West to modernise their industries will only come in return for making genuine efforts at home. READ MORE

Russia and the Uniteds States have agreed to a work plan towards a new strategic arms reduction treaty, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Friday, March 6, after talks with her Russian counterpart. READ MORE

Moscow is still going to persuade its partners in the OSCE to realize by means of this organization an ambitious reform of the system of international security.

Appearance in Washington of the new administration has agitated the hopes on softening confrontation with Moscow. In some political narrators’ opinion, the presidents Obama and Medvedev, both representing the first generation of politicians, developed after the Cold War, can manage to do what their predecessors did not. This optimism strengthened still more after a presentation of the US vice president Joe Bayden on recent Munich conference, where he stated that in Russian-American relations it came time to press the button "reset". READ MORE

Interview with: Campbell Keir, Shell’s Country Chairman in Kazakhstan.

Royal Dutch Shell has been one of the first foreign investors, which started its activities in Kazakhstan. Cooperation of one of the largest international oil company with oil-rich republic of the former Soviet Union has started in 1992. Campbell Keir, Shell’s Country Chairman in Kazakhstan, in an exclusive interview with New Europe correspondent in Astana Kulpash Konyrova discussed Shell’s involvement in the Caspian region, the Kashagan field, and a controversial tax law launched in Kazakhstan. READ MORE

This was a suggestion of the Foreign Affairs Minister of France Bernard Kouchner.

As Bernard Kouchner stated, according to the “Agence France Press”, the European Union suggests Russia and Turkey to join a number of summits within the “Eastern Partnership” program, that is devoted to the promotion of cooperation between the EU and six former Soviet Republics – Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine. “Everybody agreed to invite Russia and Turkey to join discussions in special cases depending on the agenda,” – stated Kouchner.  READ MORE

Politicians agreed they don't want divisions in the EU, but internal conflict continues EU leaders tried to overcome their differences on how to address the ongoing economic crisis as protectionism fears and calls for aid from smaller members raised warnings of a "new iron curtain" in Europe. READ MORE