March 12 morning preview

MOSCOW

* UK FCO Minister of State Lord Mark Malloch Brown will pay a visit to Moscow to discuss preparations for the G20 summit in London

* RIA Novosti (Zubovsky Bulvar, 4, tel. (495) 637-50-19, 645-64-72) will host:

- A TV link between Moscow and Minsk on the foreign policy of the Russia-Belarus Union State (Noon);

- A news conference on Russian-U.S. relations and nuclear disarmament (1.00 p.m.)

* The CIS commission on the peaceful use of nuclear energy will hold its tenth session (10.00 a.m., Dmitrovskoe Shosse, 2, tel. (495) 625-21-75)

* An annual conference on the oil and gas industry supply chain, 'Neftegazsnab' (09.00 a.m., Radisson Slavyanskaya Hotel, Ploshchad Yevropy, 2, tel. (495) 514-44-68)

* A roundtable, 'The economic crisis and the health of the nation' (4.00 p.m., Stary Petrovsko-Razumovsky Proezd, 1/23, tel. 786-67-88, 665-75-31)

* An international specialized exhibition, 'Education: strategy 2020' (until March 15, tel. (495) 983-06-78)

NOVOKUZNETSK

* Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin will pay a working visit

MINSK, Belarus

* Russian and Belarusian general staff delegations will attend a conference on ways of improving the defense capabilities of the Union State, taking into account modern threats

* A plenum of the CIS Economic Court will convene (until March 13)

KIEV, Ukraine

* An inter-parliamentary Ukraine-NATO council will convene

RIGA

* The Latvian parliament will vote on the republic's new government

VILNIUS

* Austrian President Heinz Fischer will pay a state visit to Lithuania

PRAGUE, Czech Republic

* An informal meeting of NATO defense ministers with Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer

WASHINGTON

* U.S. President Barack Obama and Vice President Joseph Biden will hold a conference with state officials on the anti-crisis program in the White House

BAGHDAD

* A court will hear the case of Muntazer al-Zaidi, the Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at then-U.S. president George Bush

NEW YORK

* Award ceremony of the National Book Critics Circle

(c) RIA Novosti. All rights reserved. Reference to RIA Novosti is obligatory upon any republication of RIA Novosti materials