Business Watch
By Dmitry Medvedev, President of the Russian Federation
Russia has taken over the rotating chair of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in 2012 and will host this year’s APEC Leaders’ Week in Vladivostok. For Russia this honour comes with a great sense of responsibility. Just as Russia is an integral part of the vast and forward-reaching Asia-Pacific region, that is crucial for the socio-economic development of Russia, especially Siberia and the Far East. Therefore, one of the country’s top priorities is to promote trade and investment cooperation with Asia-Pacific countries and to actively participate in regional integration.
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin called an urgent meeting with Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin and deputy chairmen of Gazprom Management Committee Alexander Medvedev and Andrei Kruglov which concluded with the prime minister giving instructions to exert maximum efforts to satisfy foreign partners' demand while the top priority of the energy industry in general and Gazprom in particular is to meet demand inside the Russian Federation. Transcript of the meeting as provided by the Prime Minister's press service on the government web site:
Norway announced an initiative this week to invest about 1 million USD towards a Norwegian-Russian project that will assess the technology needed to develop theuntapped oil fields in the Arctic region, particularly in the Barents Sea. The project has a total funding estimate of about 2.7 million USD over three years and will include partners such as INTSOK, Gazprom, Tschudi Shipping, and others. The group will assess the challenges, gaps in technology, and methods and best practices in order to determine a path forward. According to Norwegian Minister of Foreign Affairs Jonas Gahr Støre...
Read the full article at DiploNews here: http://www.diplonews.com/articles/2012/20120203_NorwayRussiaArctic.php
Despite the death of Moldovan man by a Russian peacekeeper at the border on January 1st, the past few months have brought signs of warming relations between Moldova and its largely unrecognized breakaway region, Transnistria. After 6 years of hiatus in the 5+2 format negotiations, Ukraine, Russia, the OSCE, the EU, and the U.S. once again formally met with Moldova and Transnistria in November of 2011. The effort was spearheaded byLithuania, the country holding the OSCE chairmanship. More recently, the Moldovan Prime Minister Vlad Filat and Transnistrian newly elected... For Complete article go to http://www.diplonews.com/articles/2012/20120203_Transnistria.php
