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Rick Gilmore: Discussion with Dmitry Medvedev, Council on Foreign Relations November 15, 2008 Назад
Rick Gilmore: Discussion with Dmitry Medvedev, Council on Foreign Relations November 15, 2008
President Medvedev of Russia addressed members of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) and the press on November 15, in Washington, DC, after attending the G-20 meeting. As a CFR member with a commitment to developing the US-Russian partnership in the agro sector, I was very pleased to participate in the event. Given the recent tensions in US-Russian relations and the negative perceptions of Russia in the US, fanned by the press, campaign politics, and the Bush administration, the President was presented with a real challenge to try to turn these adversities into future opportunities.

The format for the event was informal, starting with a brief introduction by Madeleine Albright, former US Secretary of State, followed by opening remarks by President Medvedev. After his introductory comments, Ms. Albright began the questioning and then opened the meeting up to member and press questions to which the President responded directly.

In his opening statement, Medvedev stressed that Russia is part of the global economic system and, as a result, has been hit hard by what he considered both a financial crisis and a crisis of confidence. He elaborated on the issue of trust, indicating that the deterioration in US-Russian relations rested primarily on strategic issues involving nuclear issues respecting Iran and North Korea; on Afghanistan, terrorism and military issues, referring to NATOs expansion and nuclear shield in particular.

Respecting the financial crisis, the President presented a positive outlook in stressing that, as bad as current economic problems are worldwide, there are also hopeful signs. The magnitude and scope of the economic issues were so great that, he noted somewhat to his surprise, they were resulting in a greater consensus to act jointly within the G-20. He spoke about the agreements achieved at the Washington meeting, including the principles regarding more open sharing of information, the need to establish a new architecture for standards for corporate governance, and the development of international safeguards to reduce the prospects of a cycle of speculative bubbles. The prospect for significant change will be re-visited in a spring meeting of the G-20 with the participation of the Obama administration.

Medvedev expressed a level of optimism that US-Russian relations would move to greater cooperation and trust with the shared concern over the current crisis. In this sprit, the President candidly addressed areas where Russian structural economic reform was needed. He listed four principal areas for reform: 1/ diversify Russias economy from an over-reliance on oil and gas; 2/ introduce measures to protect ownership rights; 3/ improve the court system; and 4/ eliminate corruption which, he stressed, is a big problem.

I had my hand up for a question but was competing with a number of others in the audience. What I wanted to ask was whether the President intended to take initiatives to return Russia to its historical role as the breadbasket of Europe. Specifically, I wanted to hear his assessment of the prospects for Russia becoming a strategic and reliable supplier of commodities to food deficit countries. Although I failed in my attempt, I had the sense based on his remarks that President Medvedev was determined to engineer investment in infrastructure and encourage foreign investment in joint ventures with Russian companies. He said as much in response to a question from a representative of BP Oil whose negative experiences in Russia have been highly publicized and hopefully, resolved.

Ms. Albright closed in noting that Presidents Medvedev and Obama representated a new generation of leadership with a predisposition to find new ways to resolve old problems. I left the event quite encouraged about future opportunities, including those presented by the GIC-ICSD joint venture.

Рик Гилмор, возглавляющий компанию GIC, является партнером Института развития гражданского общества и местного самоуправления в реализации совместного проекта привлечения иностранных инвестиций в агробизнес России.


18.11.2008

www.viperson.ru

Док. 521823
Опублик.: 18.11.08
Число обращений: 134

  • Медведев Дмитрий Анатольевич
  • Рик Гилмор (Rick Gilmore)

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