Business Watch
Economy
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.
Participants of the panel discussion at the Russia Forum 2012 in Moscow, entitled “The Future of the Global Economy and Financial System” gave the Eurozone a disappointing diagnosis: geopolitical measures will not help correct the situation; immediate surgical intervention is necessary.
Posted by John Bonar
on Saturday, 04 February 2012 12:41.
Published in Economy
The panelists at this session of the Russia Forum 2012 focused mostly on discussing the situation in the EU and the US, as this is the biggest factor of uncertainty making the financial markets nervous.
Anders Aslund, fellow at Peterson Institute for International Economics, kicked off the discussion panel at Russia Forum 2012 in Moscow. He was extremely optimistic on Russia in 2012 (not his usual view), saying that things have never been so good here: the economy is strong, inflation is low, and growth is high. Russia has human capital, and fighting corruption is on the agenda. The country will join the WTO in 2012 and start the process of joining the OECD. Mr Aslund welcomed political instability, which meant more democracy.
Transcript (from Prime Minister's web site)
Vladimir Putin’s address to the Russia Forum 2012:
Ladies and gentlemen, Mr Gref (German Gref, President and Chairman of Sberbank) said that we have some outstanding speakers here. I don’t consider myself to be one of them – there are better speakers in Russia. He also quoted a Chinese proverb, and I thought of another one: To see farther, you must sit higher. Considering my current position, I think I have the right to put forth the government’s view of processes that are taking place in the world, in the global economy, on what we consider Russia's place to be, and our economic policies.
Posted by John Bonar
on Friday, 03 February 2012 12:12.
Published in Economy
Herman Gref, CEO and Chairman of the Management Board of Sberbank of Russia opened the plenary session of Troika Dialogue's Russia Forum 2012 “Russia’s Economic Policy in a Time of Global Change” by recalling an ancient Chinese proverb: “God forbid that you should live in an era of change”, and then went on to say that Russia was “lucky” to be living in an era of global changes. The participants of the discussion talked about the most significant of these changes.