* German Gref, the economic development and trade minister, said:
- Russia may fail to join the World Trade Organization by the end of 2007
- capitalization of Russian companies rose 11% in the first eight months of 2006, to 84% of gross domestic product
- the Economic Development And Trade Ministry is maintaining its forecast for growth in the gross domestic product and inflation in 2006
- the state will increase investment in the nuclear energy industry from 18 billion rubles ($660 mln) in 2007 to more than 80 bln rubles ($3 bln) in 2009
* Unified Energy System will consider the candidacies of new generating companies to conduct initial public offerings this month, Anatoly Chubais, the head of the country's electricity monopoly said
* Gazprom and BP have signed a contract to supply liquefied natural gas to the Atlantic region, the Russian energy giant said
* SUAL and RusAl, two Russian aluminum giants, will complete their merger this month, Viktor Vekselberg, a SUAL co-owner said
* Around 800,000 foreign cars a year will be assembled in Russia by 2010, Economic Development and Trade Minister German Gref said
* Russian President Vladimir Putin said a number of regional governments use half of their financial allocations ineffectively, and that the figure amounts to billions of rubles
* Transneft will start preparing documents for its debut Eurobond issue in October, Yevgeny Astafyev, the oil pipeline company's vice president, said
* Gazprom is considering listing its shares on Asian exchanges, Pyotr Bakayev, the head of the Russian energy giant's department for work on financial markets, said
* The Russian Space Agency has no objections to Madonna's plans for a space flight, but the American pop diva could make a space trip no earlier than 2009, the agency's spokesperson said
* Results of a referendum on the independence of Georgia's breakaway region of South Ossetia will have no meaning to the European Union, Peter Semneby, the EU special representative to the South Caucasus, said
* Ukraine's Cabinet has approved a draft budget for 2007, Mykola Azarov, the country's first deputy prime minister and finance minister, said
* Ukraine can prepare peacekeeping units for deployment to the conflict zone in Lebanon in a short time, Defense Minister Anatoliy Hrytsenko said
* Tajikistan and China will conduct joint military exercises in the south of Tajikistan at the end of September, the Tajik Defense Ministry said
