INTEGRATE TO GROW, INNOVATE TO PROSPER

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 31 (Bernama) -- 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.

We have many proposals for our Asia-Pacific partners that seek to address

problems in spheres of energy, transportation, research and technology, and

environmental protection; to promote dialogue among civilizations and ensure

military-political stability in the region; to boost cooperation in emergency

response and in the fight against international terrorism.

The APEC leaders’ Honolulu declaration says, “Our region is now the vanguard for

global growth.” Russia, as the current APEC chair, will do its best to reinforce

the region’s leading position.

What does Russia intend to do as APEC chair? First of all, we plan to ensure

continuity in APEC’s work, while also trying to expand the forum’s traditional

agenda in a constructive manner.

Russia’s key objective is to further liberalise trade and investment and to

facilitate economic integration in the Asia-Pacific region. We expect our

cooperation in these fundamental APEC spheres to yield practical results. Now

that Russia has joined the World Trade Organisation, the country’s

representatives will be able to fully participate in trade liberalisation

discussions. A consolidated position among APEC member economies should

jumpstart multilateral trade talks and make them more constructive.

Russia’s energetic involvement in regional integration is a conscious choice,

and indeed the right choice. Following the successful conclusion of the WTO

accession process, Russia is now ready to start talks on free trade agreements

with APEC economies. Of course, Russia will act jointly with Kazakhstan and

Belarus, the other members of the trilateral Customs Union. Added to the

potential of the Common Economic Space, this could pave the way to a

fundamentally new form of APEC integration and help expand the Asia-Pacific

market to the whole of the Eurasian continent.

Russia also plans to promote APEC cooperation on food security. Like all other

member economies, we have a stake in ensuring that food is available,

affordable, safe and of high quality. In light of the growing social commitments

of governments in the post-crisis period, we must develop stable food markets

and dampen price fluctuations. Furthermore, we must continue to search for ways

to ensure agricultural development based on rising mutual investments, modern

technologies and compliance with quality standards.

The prospects of greater integration in APEC are closely connected to the need

to improve logistics or (as it is often described within APEC) to ensure supply

chains connectivity in the region. Russia is prepared to offer access to its

transport corridors, which are the shortest route between Asia and Europe. We

know that they must be upgraded, which will require major investment. This is

what we will be discussing with our partners, who will surely show interest in

our proposals. We have developed practical ways to use modern technology to

resolve transportation issues, in particular organising cargo routes, cargo

handling and vehicle tracking.

Innovation-based economic development is crucial for stable economic growth.

This issue, which Russia sees as a priority, has been met with a lively response

from our APEC partners. We will promote extensive interaction among

universities, research centres and companies. Cooperation in education and

developing human capital is vital, and the protection of intellectual property

is becoming increasingly important. We also see opportunities for advancing

joint initiatives in these spheres within APEC.

Russia is a leading supplier of energy to the global market, but energy will be

just one of many focuses during Russia’s tenure as APEC chair. It is certainly

an important issue today, but we should also think about tomorrow. Therefore, we

will promote further constructive discussions of the entire range of energy

security issues as well as green growth.

The Asia-Pacific region is, unfortunately, prone to natural disasters and

hazards. Earthquakes and tsunamis, anthropogenic catastrophes and epidemics

demand that we redouble our efforts to better prepare APEC member economies for

possible natural disasters and other emergencies.

During its tenure as APEC chair, Russia also will focus on cooperation in the

fight against terrorism and transnational crime. We believe that no one will

question the importance of this aspect of APEC’s activity.

These are the main areas of Russia’s activity under the motto, “Integrate to

Grow, Innovate to Prosper.” There is no doubt that by common efforts in 2012 we

will successfully deepen Asia-Pacific integration in the name of economic growth

and prosperity in the region.

SOURCE: Embassy of the Russian Federation

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:

NAME : Alexey Kalugin

Third Secretary

MOBILE: 010 427 9950

EMAIL : kaluginalex@yahoo.com.my

--BERNAMA