On meromorphic approximation

Let G be a bounded N-connected domain, the boundary of which consists of closed analytic Jordan curves. We assume that 0G. For any nonnegative integers n and m, denote by _n,m the class of all meromorphic functions on G that can be represented in the form h=p/qz ^m , where p belongs to the Smirnov class E (G), q is a polynomial of degree at most n, q0. Theorems giving necessary and sufficient conditions for a function belonging to the class _n,m to be an element of best approximation to a continuous function f on in the space L () by functions in the class _n,m are proved. Some questions concerning orthogonal polynomials and the theory of Hankel operators are also considered.