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Putin confirms trilateral meeting with Turkish and Iranian presidents
middLe east
RUSSIAn President Vladimir Putin has con- rmed that he will meet with the Presidents of Turkey and Iran in Ankara in September, Tass reported on August 28.
e trilateral summit had been planned for Sochi last month, however, the meeting came at the same time of street protests of municipal elections in Russia, and was postponed.
Putin made the comments during the last day of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan vis- ited Russia o cially to discuss bilateral ties and the situation in Syria.
“I will note that it is not the rst visit of the Turkish president to Russia this year. In April, we held a productive session of the Russian-Turkish
High-Level Cooperation Council with Mr Erdo- gan and met at other venues as well,” Putin said.
“In mid-September we will come to Ankara for the summit of the Astana process guarantor states - Russia, Turkey and Iran - on the settle- ment in Syria,” the Russian president reported.
The last trilateral summit officially on the Syrian con ict occurred in Sochi in February. Where the nal plans were made for the latest onslaught against forces against the different factions.
More than 400,000 people are thought to have lost their lives in the war and millions have been displaced. Some historical sites have been devastated.
Kenyan government prepares to explain its plan for use of oil revenues
afriCa
A team of Kenyan government officials will travel to Turkana County this week to inform residents of the area about plans for the use of future crude oil revenues.
Andrew Kamau, the Principal Secretary of the Petroleum Department of Kenya’s Ministry of Energy and Petroleum, unveiled plans for the visit last week during a discussion about the country’s rst oil export cargo. He said the gov- ernment wanted to explain what would happen to the $12mn earned from the sale of the crude to ChemChina, a state-run Chinese company.
Residents of Turkana County have speculated that the proceeds of the sale will be distributed locally, but Kamau described these expectations as premature. “We will be meeting all the leaders next week to explain to them what the sale means because, as we have always said, the Early Oil Pilot Scheme is a market test and not necessarily a commercial venture,” he was quoted as saying by Daily nation.
He explained that the $12mn in revenues col- lected from the sale of the 200,000 barrel cargo did not represent a pure pro t of $12m. Kenya still needs to cover the high expenses it incurred in the pilot programme, he said.
ese costs include the expense of setting up drilling rigs, transporting crude oil by truck and rehabilitating tanks and other storage facilities, he said.
As a result, Kamau said, Kenya is not yet in a position to start distributing export revenues in the areas where its oil elds lie. But according to President Uhura Kenyatta, when the country does reach this milestone, it will be able to spend more to promote economic growth and reduce poverty.
“I think we have begun our journey, and it is up to us to ensure that those resources are put to the best use to develop our country to make it prosperous and to ensure we eliminate poverty inKenya,”Kenyattasaidlastweek.Hewasspeak- ing shortly before the scheduled port departure of the rst export cargo of Kenyan oil.
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