Central Asian States Agree to Coordinate Efforts to Combat Economic Crisis

UN forum in Bishkek focuses on subregional cooperation in dealing with crisis

High-level government officials from Central Asian and neighbouring countries, international organizations and financial institutions today pledged to work together in strengthening regional economic cooperation in order to diminish the consequences of the global economic crisis.


The decision came at the 2009 UN Special Programme for the Economies of Central Asia (SPECA) Economic Forum on “The Role of Sub regional Cooperation in Mitigating the Consequences of the Global Economic Crisis” for the SPECA countries, which comprise Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

The main objective of the Forum was to examine ideas for developing optimal regional strategies which can bring about an early recovery of Central Asia from the economic crisis.

“While economic stimulus packages and other special budgetary measures are important for reviving the economy, regional economic cooperation could be another driver of growth,” Noeleen Heyzer, Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and Executive Secretary of the Economic and Social Commission of Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), said in her address. “There are enormous opportunities to promote intra-regional trade and investment in this region. SPECA provides an excellent framework for addressing a broad range of regional connectivity issues.”

Dr. Heyzer also said the main challenges faced by the subregion in the short- and medium-term remained multifaceted, and ranged from geographical disadvantage of being landlocked with small domestic markets.

Jan Kubis, Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Europe (ECE), said in his address, “Let me here commend the comprehensive anti-crisis policy measures taken by governments of SPECA countries which have greatly helped to alleviate economic and social pain in the region induced by this external factor of the crisis.”

Mr. Kubis also noted the SPECA Project Working Group on Knowledge-based Development, which started operations in November 2008 and was an important initiative of both ESCAP and ECE to promote economic modernization and knowledge-based development in Central Asia. “This new SPECA Project Working Group is mandated to support the further integration of member

countries into the global economy by promoting innovation and knowledge-driven development,” he said.

H.E. Mr. Akylbek Japarov, First Vice Prime Minister of the Kyrgyz Republic and SPECA National Coordinator, in his opening address said, “One of the major areas of SPECA activity is meant to promote dynamic development and efficient use of economic capacity in all countries of the region in order to increase living standards and well being of the nations as well as to ensure secure and sustainable development of Central Asian Sates.”

The Forum was jointly organized by ESCAP and ECE in cooperation with the Government of Kyrgyzstan within the framework of the UN Special Programme for the Economies of Central Asia (SPECA).

The participants of the Forum discussed how external shocks were aggravated by the combined water, energy and food crisis and reviewed individual as well as collective policy responses to the emerging challenges. The meeting also considered how knowledge and innovation could contribute to successful economic recovery and, on the longer term, reduce the vulnerability of Central Asian economies to fluctuations in energy and commodity prices.

Before the Forum, Dr. Heyzer and Mr. Kubis met with H.E. Daniyar Usenov, Prime-Minister of the Kyrgyz Republic, and H.E. Mr. Kadyrbek Sarbaev, the State Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kyrygz Republic. Today, Dr. Heyzer, and Mr. Jan Kubis will pay a courtesy call after the Forum to H.E. Mr. Kurmanbek Bakiyev, President of the Kyrgyz Republic.

The Economic Forum was preceded by the second session of the SPECA Project Working Group on Knowledge-based Development and a regional capacity-building seminar on financing innovative enterprises, commercialization of intellectual property and public-private partnerships from 9 to 11 November in Bishkek.

The Governing Council of SPECA is expected to be held on Friday to discuss and approve a new biennial Work Plan for 2010-2011 and review cooperation between SPECA and partner organizations.
For further information please go to http://www.unescap.org/oes/speca

Star Scientific Plans Worldwide Marketing and Sales of CigRx(TM) Nutraceutical in Partnership with inVentiv Health

Star Scientific, Inc. (Nasdaq: STSI) announced today that the company plans to introduce the CigRx(TM) nutraceutical product developed by its subsidiary, Rock Creek Pharmaceuticals, for worldwide marketing and sales in partnership with inVentiv Health, Inc. (Nasdaq: VTIV). inVentiv Health offers a complete range of commercialization solutions for every stage of the product lifecycle, in a range of healthcare categories that includes nutraceutical products. The company has marketing and sales capabilities in 40 countries around the globe.


Jonnie R. Williams, Star's CEO, stated, "Cigarette smoking is the leading cause of preventable death in the world. However, the globa lcigarette business, which now exceeds $300 billion, continues to grow. Our

goal is to make CigRx(TM) available to adult smokers worldwide who wish to maintain a nicotine-free metabolism." Rock Creek Pharmaceuticals will be responsible for the manufacturing of CigRx(TM), and the company anticipates that inVentiv Health will be involved in the product marketing and sales, with a focus on product education for physicians and health care professionals, as well as consumers.
(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20090317/STARSCIENTIFICLOGO )

Star also announced that it has retained McColl Partners LLC to advise the company on a range of corporate finance matters, including the assessment of strategic initiatives involving new products. McColl Partners, an independent investment banking firm co-founded by Hugh McColl, former Chairman of Bank of America, specializes in the needs of management and owners of middle-market companies. The firm offers strategic advice and assistance to its clients regarding mergers and acquisitions.

This press release contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Star Scientific, Inc. and its consolidated subsidiaries (collectively, the

"Company") has tried, whenever possible, to identify these forward-looking statements using words such as "anticipates", "believes", "estimates", "expects", "plans", "intends" and similar expressions. These statements

reflect the Company's current beliefs and are based upon information currently available to it. Accordingly, such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which could

cause the Company's actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from those expressed in, or implied by, such statements. These risks, uncertainties and contingencies include, without limitation, the

challenges inherent in new product development initiatives, the uncertainties inherent in the progress of scientific research, the Company's ability to raise additional capital in the future necessary to maintain its business, potential disputes concerning the Company's intellectual property, risks associated with litigation regarding such intellectual property, potential delays in obtaining any necessary government approvals of the Company's low-TSNA tobacco products, market acceptance of the Company's new smokeless tobacco products, competition from companies with greater resources than the Company, the Company's decision not to join the Master Settlement Agreement ("MSA"), the effect of state statutes adopted under the MSA, and the Company's dependence on key employees and on its strategic relationships with Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corporation in light of its combination with RJ Reynolds Tobacco Company, Inc. The impact of potential litigation, if initiated against or by individual states that have adopted the MSA, could be materially adverse to the Company.

Although the Company believes the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, it can give no assurance that the expectations will be attained or that any deviation will not be material. See additional discussion under "Risk Factors" in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2008, as filed with the SEC on March 16, 2009, and other factors detailed from time to time in the Company's other filings with the SEC, available at www.sec.gov . This information is current as of this date. The Company undertakes no obligation to update or advise upon any such forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this press release or to
reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.
About Rock Creek Pharmaceuticals

Rock Creek Pharmaceuticals develops pharmaceutical products for treatment of addiction and other neurological disorders, and other products such as nutraceuticals. The company supports third-party academic, educational and therapeutic advances in both these areas of research. Rock Creek has scientific and research offices in Gloucester, MA and a regulatory office in Washington, DC.
About Star Scientific

Star Scientific is a technology-oriented tobacco company with a toxin reduction mission. It is engaged in the development of dissolvable smokeless tobacco products that deliver fewer carcinogenic toxins (principally tobacco specific nitrosamines, or TSNAs), through the utilization of the innovative StarCured(R) tobacco curing technology, and in sublicensing that technology to others. Star Scientific has a Corporate and Sales Office in Petersburg, VA, an Executive, Scientific & Regulatory Affairs office in Bethesda, MD, and manufacturing facilities in Chase City, VA. For more information, visit http://www.starscientific.com
About inVentiv Health

inVentiv Health, Inc. (Nasdaq: VTIV) is an insights-driven global healthcare leader that provides dynamic solutions to deliver customer and patient success. inVentiv delivers its customized clinical, sales, marketing

and communications solutions through its four core business segments: inVentiv Clinical, inVentiv Communications, inVentiv Commercial, and inVentiv Patient Outcomes. inVentiv Health's client roster is comprised of more than 350 leading pharmaceutical, biotech, life sciences and healthcare payor companies, including all top 20 global pharmaceutical manufacturers. For more information, visit www.inventivhealth.com

Magnificent seven

       In the most important, most revered event since the invention of the brontosaurus trap,Microsoft shipped the most incredibly fabulous operating system ever made; the release of Windows 7 also spurred a new generation of personal computers of all sizes at prices well below last month's offers.The top reason Windows 7 does not suck: There is no registered website called Windows7Sucks.com
       Kindle e-book reader maker Amazon.com and new Nook e-book reader vendor Barnes and Noble got it on; B&N got great reviews for the "Kindle killer"Nook, with dual screens and touch controls so you can "turn" pages, plays MP3s and allows many non-B&N book formats, although not the Kindle one;Amazon then killed the US version of its Kindle in favour of the international one, reduced its price to $260(8,700 baht), same as the Nook; it's not yet clear what you can get in Thailand with a Nook, but you sure can't (yet) get much, relatively speaking, with a Kindle;but here's the biggest difference so far,which Amazon.com has ignored: the Nook lets you lend e-books to any other Nook owner, just as if they were paper books; the borrowed books expire on the borrower's Nook in two weeks.
       Phone maker Nokia of Finland announced it is suing iPhone maker Apple of America for being a copycat; lawyers said they figure Nokia can get at least one, probably two per cent (retail) for every iPhone sold by Steve "President for Life" Jobs and crew via the lawsuit,which sure beats working for it -$6 (200 baht) to $12(400 baht) on 30 million phones sold so far, works out to $400 million or 25 percent of the whole Apple empire profits during the last quarter;there were 10 patent thefts, the Finnish executives said, on everything from moving data to security and encryption.
       Nokia of Finland announced that it is one month behind on shipping its new flagship N900 phone, the first to run on Linux software; delay of the $750(25,000 baht) phone had absolutely no part in making Nokia so short that it had to sue Apple, slap yourself for such a thought.
       Tim Berners-Lee, who created the World Wide Web, said he had one regret:the double slash that follows the "http:"in standard web addresses; he estimated that 14.2 gazillion users have wasted 48.72 bazillion hours typing those two keystrokes, and he's sorry; of course there's no reason to ever type that, since your browser does it for you when you type "www.bangkokpost.com" but Tim needs to admit he made one error in his lifetime.
       The International Telecommunication Union of the United Nations, which doesn't sell any phones or services, announced that there should be a mobile phone charger that will work with any phone; now who would ever have thought of that, without a UN body to wind up a major study on the subject?;the GSM Association estimates that 51,000 tonnes of chargers are made each year in order to keep companies able to have their own unique ones.
       The Well, Doh Award of the Week was presented at arm's length to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development; the group's deputy secretary-general Petko Draganov said that developing countries will miss some of the stuff available on the Internet if they don't install more broadband infrastructure; a report that used your tax baht to compile said that quite a few people use mobile phones but companies are more likely to invest in countries with excellent broadband connections; no one ever had thought of this before, right?
       Sun Microsystems , as a result of the Oracle takeover, said it will allow 3,000 current workers never to bother coming to work again; Sun referred to the losses as "jobs," not people; now the fourth largest server maker in the world, Sun said it lost $2.2 billion in its last fiscal year; European regulators are holding up approval of the Oracle purchase in the hope of getting some money in exchange for not involving Oracle in court cases.
       The multi-gazillionaire and very annoying investor Carl Icahn resigned from the board at Yahoo ; he spun it as a vote of confidence, saying current directors are taking the formerly threatened company seriously; Yahoo reported increased profits but smaller revenues in the third quarter.
       The US House of Representatives voted to censure Vietnam for jailing bloggers; the non-binding resolution sponsored by southern California congresswoman Loretta Sanchez said the Internet is "a crucial tool for the citizens of Vietnam to be able to exercise their freedom of expression and association;"Hanoi has recently jailed at least nine activists for up to six years apiece for holding pro-democracy banners. Iran jailed blogger Hossein "Hoder" Derakshan for 10 months - in solitary confinement.

Fines for buying fakes abandoned

       The government has undertaken to draft amendments to intellectual property laws to penalise owners and landlords of retail outlets that sell pirated and fake goods, but proposals to fine buyers have been dropped in the face of heavy criticism.
       The draft amendments will also include ministerial regulations from the Commerce Ministry to designate notorious venues for pirated goods as "red zones", said Pajchima Tanasanti, acting director-general of the Intellectual Property Department.
       The revised draft amendments, including the ministerial regulations,should go before the national intellectual property policy committee meeting chaired by Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva on Nov 27.
       The penalties set in the revised draft are about two-thirds of the value of the products whose originators' rights have been violated.
       In a preliminary proposal, the penalty will not be imposed in the grounds of temples, in roadside open markets and at footpath stalls, she said.
       In the revised draft the ministry will also increase penalties for manufacturers and distributors of pirated and counterfeit goods, she said. Those who produce or distribute more than 3,000 items will also be subject to prosecution under the Anti-Money Laundering Act, under which their assets could be confiscated.
       The Commerce Ministry recently proposed draft amendments to the Trademark Act and Copyright Act that would extend penalties against buyers of pirated products and owners of the outlets where products are sold.
       But the cabinet turned down the draft and instructed the ministry to review it with agencies such as the Council of State - the government's legal adviser - and the Office of the Attorney-General as well as the Thailand Trade Representative Office.
       The previous draft amendments call for buyers of pirated products - including software, music, movies and fake products with copied trademarks - to be subject to a fine of not more than 1,000 baht.
       Owners, processors and anyone who rents retail outlets selling pirated and fake goods would face substantially higher fines ranging from 30,000 to 300,000 baht.
       The penalty would also cover internet piracy and website owners operating or providing e-commerce services for pirated goods.
       For trademark law violations, the suggested penalty is a fine of between 50,000 and 200,000 baht.
       Rachel Bae, director for Intellectual Property and Innovation of the Office of the US Trade Representative, is due to visit Thailand from Nov 9-11.
       She is scheduled to meet with the permanent secretary for commerce to be updated on Thailand's efforts to suppress piracy - and it is hoped that this will facilitate Thailand being taken off the US priority watch list, said Mrs Pajchima.