MOSCOW, March 24 (RIA Novosti) - The Moscow city government published on Tuesday its concept for making the Russian capital a foreigner-friendly city.

"The task of the Moscow city government is creating a friendly environment for foreign nationals, including foreign specialists working in Moscow's financial center," the document said.

Under the plan, by the end of 2010 street names and road signs in Russian will be translated into English and self-service information terminals will be available in the Moscow metro.

The city government said special emergency assistance, including for judicial information, will be available for foreigners. It also said it would introduce measures facilitating registration and visa support for foreign specialists working in Moscow.

An intensive course designed to teach Russian officials to speak English will be provided in 2009-2011. The Russian officials will also take exams to check their knowledge of the English language.

Moscow, which is due to host the 2009 Eurovision song contest, was ranked third among the "most unfriendly" cities, according to a 2008 survey carried out by TripAdvisor, a travel website.

Earlier on Tuesday, the head of Moscow's economic policy and development department, Marina Ogloblina, said the number of medium-class hotels in the city would be doubled by 2015. Mid-range hotels in Moscow are some of the world's most expensive with a fee of around 100 euros per night.

Despite the hope of Moscow hotel owners that the number of foreign guests would increase this year mainly because of the Eurovision song contest, bookings have fallen short of expectations.