Translated material
"Like vodka and caviar"
Russian and European business have identified mutual interests
Russia's accession to the WTO is a necessary condition for the formation of a Common Economic Space (CES) between Russia and the European Union. This conclusion is contained in the statement of the Round Table of Industrialists of Russia and the EU, adopted yesterday at a meeting in London on the eve of today's Russia-EU summit. Let us recall that the economy is one of four common “spaces” that Moscow and Brussels agreed to create. Progress in their formation will be the main topic of today's summit with the participation of Vladimir Putin, the head of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso, and the Prime Minister of the UK currently presiding over the EU, Tony Blair.The final statement of the Round Table on the formation of the EEP states that it should be created on the basis of “universal trade rules of the WTO”, in connection with which the governing bodies of the EU are invited to “provide real support for the speedy accession of Russia (to the WTO. - Ed. ) within the framework multilateral negotiations. At the same time, Russia is required to bring its legislation into line with WTO standards, and with regard to its partners, an objection has been expressed “against unfounded unilateral demands that block the entire process.” In addition, entrepreneurs called on the authorities of Russia and the European Union to develop a realistic program for implementing the “road map” for the Economic Economic Zone adopted in the spring and to increase the role of the business community in the economic space project.
Yesterday's Round Table meeting turned out to be very representative (it was attended by the head of the Ministry of Industry and Energy Viktor Khristenko, Vice-President of the European Commission Günther Verheugen, EU Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs, British Minister of Trade and Industry Alan Johnson, EBRD President Jean Lemierre, heads of Russian Railways and Aeroflot, Vnesheconombank and AFK Sistema, etc.) and, unexpectedly, frank. Many participants said that investment and trade cooperation between Russia and the European Union is developing quite slowly, and directly pointed out the reasons. Günter Verheugen said that one of the goals of Russian-European cooperation is to “move away from the commitment to the export of natural resources.” He noted that foreign investment (in this case, European) “is needed for the transfer of technologies and ideas.” Andris Piebalgs, however, found an opportunity to combine one and the other - in the field of energy saving. He noted that within the framework of the Russian-European energy dialogue, this topic should play an increasingly important role, and the parties should strive to develop energy saving technologies at all levels - national, regional and local. Illustrating this intention, the head of the Moscow representative office of E.ON Ruhrgas, Rainer Hartmann, said that his company will create a venture fund for projects in the field of energy saving, which will also work for Russia.
British Minister Alan Johnson spoke with the most unexpected view on Russian-European relations. He noted that they were started by Peter the Great 300 years ago, continued five years ago by a British female cosmonaut on a Russian ship, and recently a Russian billionaire acquired an English football club. Additionally, Mr Johnson recalled Byron's trip to Russia and the Teletubbies on Russian television. He considers the current obstacles to investment in Russia to be problems of protecting intellectual property, the inconsistency of the Russian “legal and regulatory framework” with WTO norms and issues related to tariffs for aircraft overflights over Siberia.”
The head of Vnesheconombank, Vladimir Dmitriev, recalled the statement of the former head of the European Commission, Romano Prodi: “Russia and the EU complement each other, like vodka and caviar.” However, Mr. Dmitriev said, there is now an imbalance in this partnership: European investments are going precisely into areas related to the energy sector, and not into technology or manufacturing industries. He admitted that this is understandable - the risks in the fuel sector are more understandable to investors, and the companies' shares are entirely blue chips. However, this situation does not meet the goals of economic diversification that Russia sets for itself. The head of VEB also pointed out less obvious reasons why partnerships are being slowed down. He recalled that several new EU countries are putting up obstacles to Russian investment. In particular, he mentioned the problems that the Air Bridge airline alliance faced when purchasing the Hungarian Malev and LUKOIL at the privatization competition for the sale of Hellenic Petroleum shares in Greece. However, Mr. Dmitriev did not blame the EU leadership for this, suggesting that these are “more working moments than political ones.”