The Media Mirror, 13.06.07

The Russian press looks at the International Economic Forum held in St. Petersburg and the informal CIS summit that followed the event. It also comments on the Award Ceremony that took place in the Kremlin.

ROSSIYSKAYA GAZETA writes that two main conclusions can be made from the discussion of Russia’s future at the St. Petersburg Forum: that by 2020 Russia may become a leader in the world economy, but first it has to conclude a set of reforms, and that in spite of being at the moment the second-biggest investment market after China, Russia may suffer if the influx of capital ends as fast as it begun.

VEDOMOSTI stresses the promise that First Deputy Prime Minister Sergey Ivanov gave to the world: the national economy of Russia will be developing rapidly, and eventually the people will change the image of their country’s economy. The paper quotes him as saying:

“By 2020 Russia, in terms of GDP, must become one of the five biggest economies in the world… as a result of rapid development in four to six main hi-tech spheres, such as nuclear power generation, shipbuilding, space technology, computer software, nanotechnology.” 

The informal CIS summit that followed the Economic Forum is also commented on by the newspapers.

ROSSYISKAYA GAZETA writes that the summit was the first-ever to attract all the Presidents of the CIS countries without exception and even, for the first time in many years, saw the Presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia sitting together and talking to each other.

KOMMERSANT points out that the summit itself took only 40 minutes, as most of the matters on the agenda had been discussed the day before. The main issue at hand was the appointment of Aleksandr Veshniakov, the former Chairman of Russia’s Central Electoral Commission, to the position of Executive Secretary of the CIS. Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko resolved the issue by vetoing the candidate suggested by Russia.

The same two newspapers comment on the National Award Ceremony and the absence of the 88-year-old Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn at the Kremlin among the winners. This time the great writer and patriot was absent due to health problems, unlike on several previous occasions when he turned down the awards given to him by the previous governments. 

MOSKOVSKIY KOMSOMOLETS writes that this summer Russians are going to consume 280,000 tons of ice cream. An equal quantity of ice and snow would be enough to build 300 skiing tracks.