Memorandums of understanding were adopted between the countries’ agriculture ministries, and between the Russian Federal Space Agency and Nicaragua’s Telecommunications and Postal Service Institute (Telcor).

Several other departments of the two countries also signed agreements.

Medvedev said after the talks that the main goal in bilateral affairs is to develop trade and economic ties.

“Over recent years, trade has considerably declined,” while in Soviet times trade totaled hundreds of millions of dollars, the Russian president said. “Our task is to give an impetus to the development of economic relations, from a new basis.”

Medvedev said Russia aims to establish an increasingly strong presence in Latin America.

“I would like our Nicaraguan partners to know that our presence in Latin America, and warm relations with key partners, are not a temporary factor but a deliberate choice.”

Medvedev and Ortega said in a joint statement released after the meeting that Russia is interested in participating in the construction of a canal across Nicaragua, linking the Pacific and Atlantic oceans.

“The Russian president accepted the Nicaraguan president’s proposal to study the possibilities of participation by Russia’s state and private sectors in an enterprise to build an inter-ocean canal in Nicaragua,” the statement said.

The proposed canal would be able to accommodate ships larger than those that can pass through the Panama canal, even after its enlargement.

The statement also said Medvedev had accepted an invitation from his Nicaraguan counterpart to pay an official visit to the country.

“Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega invited Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to pay an official visit to Nicaragua at a time convenient for both parties,” the document said. “The invitation was gratefully accepted, and the date of the visit will be coordinated through diplomatic channels.”

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin told reporters that Russia plans to develop hydro and geothermal power in Nicaragua.

Nicaragua is a major exporter of coffee, nuts and tobacco to Russia. Russia’s main exports to Nicaragua are machinery, equipment and chemicals. Last year, Russian-Nicaraguan bilateral trade reached $6.8 million, and in the first nine months of 2008 hit $5.6 million.

The canal, plans for which exist since the early colonial era due to the favourable geography of the area, would compete with the Panama Canal and is supposed to carry bigger ships than the existing route.

Several possible routes have been proposed for a canal in Nicaragua, all making use of Lake Nicaragua, the second largest lake in Latin America.

http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=99941

MOSCOW, December 17 (Itar-Tass) — President Daniel Ortega Saavedra of Nicaragua arrived in Moscow on an official visit on Wednesday for talks with President Dmitry Medvedev to discuss bilateral cooperation and international issues.

The talks between Ortega and Medvedev will be held on December 18, the presidential press service said.

The Nicaraguan leader told Itar-Tass in Managua earlier he would like “to discuss with Russian leaders the contribution we could make to the cause of relaxing tension, to the pooling of our efforts within the United Nations to build up a new multi-polar world, to draw up a comprehensive and fair agenda for international commercial negotiations in order to surmount the protectionism of European countries and of the United States”.

The two leaders may discuss Abkhazia and South Ossetia because Nicaragua is the only country, except for Russia, that ahs officially recognised the independence of these republics and has established diplomatic relations with them.

Ortega stressed Nicaragua’s readiness “to promote bilateral relations with Russia in every area, including economy, trade, culture, sports, science, technology and military-technical cooperation”.

Possible projects may include the modernisation of the Pachito aerodrome in Punta-Huete, built in the 1980s with the help of Soviet specialists.

Nicaragua also needs investments in port infrastructure, including on the Atlantic coast.

The country is also interested in buying Russian trucks and buses. Specialists believe that oil and gas prospecting projects in Nicaragua’s offshore fields may hold promise.

The task has been set to increase the number of Nicaraguan students studying in Russia. There are also plans to open a Russian centre in Managua.

Medvedev had a meeting during his Latin American tour at the end of November with members of the ALBA group, Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas, who had gathered at that time in the Venezuelan capital. The leader of Nicaragua took part in it side by side with the presidents of Venezuela, Bolivia, Honduras, and Ecuador. During that meeting the Russian president raised the question of promoting Russia’s cooperation with these countries.

Medvedev did not exclude then the possibility of Russia’s accession to the ALBA Association. “We are also ready to discuss our participation in the work of the Association maybe as an associated member or in some other way, provided it is of benefit to the development of Latin American countries and in line with our vision for a multi-polar world and division of labour,” he stated.

The ALBA group was formed at the end of 2004 on the initiative of Cuba and Venezuela to counterweight the abortive U.S. proposal to establish a Free Trade Zone for the Americas.

Russian-Nicaraguan cooperation is steadily gaining strength. A squadron of warships of the Russian Northern Fleet, consisting of the big submarine killer craft “Admiral Chabanenko” and two auxiliary vessels has called at the Bluefields port of Nicaragua. President Ortega had specially decreed to give “the green light” to the visit of Russian warships to that Nicaraguan port and to the participation of up to 650 Russian navy men in a joint military exercise to practice methods of humanitarian operations. The country’s president is expected to come to Bluefields to meet the Russian sailors.

The ships have brought humanitarian aid, including medicines, computers, office supplies, and power generators.

4 hours ago

MANAGUA (AFP) — Nicaragua has 90 days to clear up concerns over its November 9 local elections, or it will lose US-run Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) aid, and possibly face other sanctions, the US ambassador said Tuesday.

MCC chief John Danilovich on November 25 suspended the 175-million-dollar aid program launched in Nicaragua in 2005, after the ruling Sandinista party of President Daniel Ortega won most of the mayoral elections, amid allegations of widespread fraud.

The United States cannot continue its aid program until the election issue is resolved, US Ambassador to Nicaragua Robert Callahan told a press conference.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jQTJRm4TziRF7Pd8Y49wzwZUcQiA

Managua (Agenzia Fides) – Archbishop Leopoldo Jose Brenes Solorzano of Managua (Nicaragua), during his monthly meeting with the clergy in December, officially presented the document entitled, “Participation and Communion,” which offers the faithful material for missionary activities and tasks to be carried out during the permanent state of mission, in which the Archdiocese of Managua is rigorously working.

http://www.fides.org/aree/news/newsdet.php?idnews=20241&lan=eng

Webb’s death should be a warning to the American progressive community, too – that it is long past time to build a media infrastructure that can support brave journalists who lose their mainstream jobs for telling difficult truths.

And each time I’ve written one of those stories, I have received e-mails attacking my acceptance of the fact that Webb committed suicide on the night of Dec. 9, 2004. Some people want to believe that he was really assassinated by the CIA or some other government agency.

http://christalphillips.wordpress.com/2008/12/13/must-read-on-the-life-of-journalist-gary-webb/

Cardenal was reacting on Sunday to the Ortega administration decision to censor Nicaraguan novelist Sergio Ramirez Mercado who was not allowed to write the introduction of a poetry anthology from Carlos Martinez Rivas that the Spanish newspaper El Pais was planning to publish in its Culture Section next May.

“This brutal censorship act is further evidence , for those overseas who don’t know about it, that in Nicaragua we are living under a Fascist government”, said Cardenal in a release to the international press.

http://www.mercopress.com/vernoticia.do?id=15511&formato=HTML

The president was handing out land titles to church leaders, quoting Bible passages with visiting evangelical leaders, inaugurating a Bible Plaza in downtown Managua and making Nicaragua the first country in the world to declare a �National Day to Honor the Bible.�

http://www.nicatimes.net/ntstory1.htm

President Daniel Ortega is turning to Russia and Venezuela for replacement cash – with fewer strings attached.

Amid growing concern that Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega is leading his country off the path to democratic reform, foreign donors have started to cut off massive amounts of economic aid. Combined with the worsening global financial crisis, the Western Hemisphere’s second-poorest country finds itself in increasingly dire financial straits.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/1206/p25s08-woam.html