Transcript:
Question: Tell us please, how did the summit began, and what have you discussed and resolved?
Arkady Dvorkovich: The first item on the agenda today was the admission of three new members to the ASEM: Bangladesh, Switzerland and Norway. So now ASEM consists of 51 members, perhaps the largest such informal summit. At least I have not seen so many countries at a table as I saw today.
The top item on the summit agenda was the global economic crisis, global governance in times of crisis and a new model for economic growth. Of course, given the fact that half of the member states are European countries, European leaders discussed European issues at some length, the fundamental causes of the problems in Europe and how to resolve them.
Overall, I would describe the mood of the summit as anxious, but with cautious optimism. Leaders believe that there is now every opportunity to avoid a major crisis, and that they can still negotiate their way, with some difficulty, out of the situation in Europe.
Most people agree with the assessment that it is not a euro crisis, but a debt crisis in European countries and European banks and that this crisis must be addressed. Of course, there are serious social consequences to the crisis, especially unemployment in southern Europe, which many pointed out. Also, if we compare the speeches of the Asian and European leaders, its easy to conclude that there is a search for a new growth model and talk of how to rebalance the global economy, how to make sure that those countries that are excessively orientated towards exports become more focused on domestic demand, to invest more in their own infrastructure. This refers primarily to the Asian countries, although some European countries are also too export-orientated.
In addition, many delegates discussed a “green growth” model as one approach to future development, that would be binding but without reference to the Kyoto Protocol. New technologies that would make growth more sustainable were discussed in particular, and these provide a more equitable distribution of the proceeds from growth amongst the different layers of the population and do not allow for excessive inequality. These were the agenda items that were addressed in the leaders’ speeches. About 35 heads of delegations from 51 countries spoke, according to my count. Almost everyone spoke on the above agenda item.
Tomorrow the first agenda item will be global development issues – food security, energy security, nuclear security, anti-piracy campaigns and many other specific issues that currently concern both the general public and politicians, and the Russian Prime Minister will be one of the first to speak.
Question: What is Russia’s interest in participating in this organisation? Until now, Europe and Asia have existed separately; is Russia now a link?
Arkady Dvorkovich: Russia has only recently joined ASEM, and for us the reasons are obvious – Russia is part of both Europe and Asia, and can help Europe and Asia and of course, itself, with its undertakings and potential, by being a link between the European and Asian continents. Today, incidentally, Mr Medvedev did not speak, but there were other leaders who, in particular, mentioned Russia as an important link. Also mentioned was the project to increase the capacity of the Trans-Siberian Railway as an important transport link between the Far East, between East Asia and Europe, and there was a positive response from the discussion participants.
It has become, one might say, common knowledge that Russia can play this role. And many say that if we solve our problems with the customs service, ports and administration, this route will certainly be profitable and consequently the Far East, including Vladivostok, can compete with Singapore as a major port. If we resolve the aforementioned problems, it will be a major player in the international division of labour, in terms of logistics routes and logistics systems.
This is of course very interesting to us. We also discussed this at the APEC Leaders’ Meeting, by the way. And we are using this platform to promote our interests in Southeast Asia, the Asia-Pacific region and in Europe. And this is a convenient place to communicate with many leaders who do not participate in the summits that Russia usually attends such as the G20 and G8, where there are still more mid-sized countries with which communication is very important, because we have projects, interests and mutually beneficial cooperation in these countries.
Question: What were you able to discuss in terms of energy security today?
Arkady Dvorkovich: First, Russia has recently proposed a conceptual approach to a legal basis for energy security, and has proposed a draft convention on energy security. Discussion of this project, this conceptual approach, is in progress at various venues, within the context of the Energy Charter, at the United Nations, the European Union. Some of our ideas were accepted, some were not. But either way, we believe that it is necessary to create legally binding rules to guarantee the security of supply, demand and transit. It is absolutely necessary, because it’s a long term investment, and these should be guaranteed by strict legal rules, strict legal standards.
In addition, we have the technology to ensure the security of energy distribution in Europe and Asia. I mean oil and gas resources and electric energy, and our technology is developing nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. We discussed this in an informal meeting with the President of Bulgaria, as a matter of fact. There are complex issues with this nuclear project, but nevertheless the discussion continues, and we are still interested in the project. In general, Russia has something to offer the world in terms of energy security. We have the resources, the technology and the willingness to serve as a reliable partner for anyone in this sector.
Question: Is Russia still basically in the Asian or European group?
Arkady Dvorkovich: Honestly, I really do not feel this separation in terms of Russia. Russia is seen simply as a major power, a large country, which has a right to participate in the summit, as it is the largest country in Europe and Asia in terms of area, one of the largest in terms of population and one of the largest economies.
We also held bilateral meetings today with the President and Prime Minister of the Lao People's Democratic Republic. I would like to make three points here. First, we intend to cooperate in different areas. We are interested in the energy sector, especially in hydropower. There is also great potential in tourism and military-technical cooperation. There is an old debt problem: our partners have requested additional debt relief and a reduction in interest payments for simultaneous conversion of debt into investment. We are considering these requests. We are also interested in the conversion of debt into investment, so I think a solution will ultimately be found.
Question: And what industry would in theory be the most interesting for Russia, in terms of debt conversion?
Arkady Dvorkovich: As I said, hydropower is the most interesting industry. There are specific projects with existing feasibility studies, and some projects, even have documentation, so it is possible to start building, if we find a financial solution, a financial plan that is feasible.
Question: Would this be an international project or a bilateral one?
Arkady Dvorkovich: In terms of debt cancellation, our colleagues are guided by our history of writing off debt to other countries. We wrote off 90% for a number of countries, and we wrote off 70% for Laos, if I'm not mistaken. Our partners didn’t named specific figures, but apparently, they are looking to our approach with other countries. We seek a compromise, and we will find a solution.
The Russian Prime Minister and his partners in the negotiations also mentioned the signed agreement for the Superjet-100 as an example of successful cooperation between Russia and the Lao People's Democratic Republic. We expect that the agreement will be fully implemented and that the aircraft will be a success in the Laotian market.
