well the back and watching r.t. live from moscow here's a look at the top stories china's president comes to moscow to strengthen trade ties that are boosting two of the world's major emerging economies. the fate of colonel gadhafi is the focus of the talks between russia's envoy to leave yes and the government in tripoli a meeting comes as moscow tam's to negotiate an end to the country's civil war and . the greek pm promises a reshuffle of his cabinet after a while in the end so stay ready protests athens hundreds of vanda there are plans

for new public cuts in the deeply indebted country. maxell going off talks to russia's former deputy finance minister who shares his opinion on which congress he thinks will dominate the world's economic markets in the future. for the we've got to. the biggest issues get the human voice face to face with the news makers. if.

hello again the welcome to spotlight the interview show i'm going to take i'm al green of in today my guest is i live in view with. a little poll and business leaders from around the world on gathering in st petersburg called the fifteenth international economic forum to discuss new ideas and current initiatives the motto of the event is an emerging leadership for a new era but doesn't mean the old leaders not the kings on the hills anymore let's ask the former russian deputy finance minister. gordon to the u.s. department of state the investment climate of russia has strengthened in recent years but corruption how stable legal framework and economies dependence on natural resources are all clashes that are eroding confidence among potential investors economic forum in st petersburg otherwise known as the russian glamorous is hoping

to improve the country's financial reputation the return of thousand foreign business people have turned up to find out about last night's opportunities and strike dozens of multi-million dollar deals. well most of you can thank you very much for coming all share this if you can there was a time when when the economic forum in st peter's group was overshadowed by the learned economic from every starting at the to take it taking place simultaneously now the russians are no longer envious. however of the london gallery why is it a sign of. maturity or does this reflect the rising interest are far enough or in businesses and politicians to the events in russia to the. russian market. russian economic forum in london has started to

form for mostly discussion of russian ships. some people before which actually force some point of view is a. pretty new new form which is a long form as a predecessor. is look like global because the most urgent of the main agenda of some people will form is a global agenda. a lot of for discussion was the water and will be awarded to. global ocean us of course russian issue also you will be present and the russian president is going to keep a speech. but anyway i believe that the most part of his speech will be about what will problems and russia in framework of this problem who are there any practical results at which the forum is

a bit more it's mainly just. sharing vs. if you look at the previous events then of course as a result of this forum and contacts between. businesses. let's see. contracts some agreements and framework agreements why plans presidential not closing the this is not only practical result as a practical result is also maybe less not a waste but it's a result of the new contacts your relationship. your let's say memorandum of understanding between the. company and this is a more significant practical issue for the business a let's take a look at the history of the same petersburg intimate forum now getting reported by spotlights. while russia's business and finance is mostly

concentrated in moscow there are several days every june when the capital city gets a break that's when the big money goes to st petersburg for the international economic poor and for a short time russia's very saw the north becomes the place to strike multimillion dollar deals and for business when the forum was first organized fifteen years ago its goal was to restart bush economic relations between the republics event quickly move beyond the boundaries of the former u.s.s.r. is russia's regularly growing economy became a major attraction to foreign investors two thousand and five was the historic year for reform bill but in ceremony was attended by the president for my dinner instantly raising the status of events to new heights it's been dubbed the russian davos with world leaders becoming frequent guests each year has been a record breaking for the number of deals signed until the credit crunch down the

last minute. the two thousand and nine form budget was cut by a quarter and the number of contracts signed. up side was still apparently no businessman and politicians from eighty three countries found the event to know who . but last year's forum demonstrated russia's recovery with fifteen fashion and deal signed worth around fifteen b.n. you are part of the forum was the meeting of presidents in advance of in sarkozy the leader of france expressing his hope the presence of french companies in the russian market will grow he sees top guest expected at the forum is the chinese president hu jintao one of the key two weeks to be discussed the big room when wrong. groups economies come to be russia as a nation before because of muskies is also to stay in the cities again. for the report to mention foreign investment for investment is the word in the

russian foreign policy for the last couple of years how useful is the forum for attracting foreign investment to russia. it's obvious reason. and obvious. usefulness of this useful use for this. forum because. due to high level of presence on the official officials president of russia presence of other country's premier ministers for the country is the biggest big businesses are ready to participate and to take a part and discussion and the pair will contact with russian companies. this is a good opportunity for the businesses to water phones themselves until maybe two or some first contacts maybe to sign contracts so i think it's obviously what are the main weakness is russia in their eyes for investors it.

is very well known but i would like to start with one of the weakness which may be not very often. repeated actually. we have a lot of good information about the russian abroad because how we can get and let's see information about their country in the press were in the magazine's most media but the best way to get through information is to touch the big want to. be in the country and from this point of view we have a some lack of good advertisement and good opportunity for. foreign investors to get this information it's very interesting to see that when we are when for investors which. has already in russia make an investment

doing their business if they usually. do that russia is a normal country. start to talk with companies which is not in the russia but maybe go in to do it and regarding this issue. usually more negative. information about the russian and of course there is a some obvious reasons which is could be treated as weaknesses. corruption which is actually there in russia it's very well known and the russian president. is talking about this and fighting with this issue with this problem. now. corruption translated into the sun transaction costs and difficulties for the company to do business in russia you you mention the lack of information back people who have do have enough information about russia the investors they probably know about the problem of corruption and

corruption is acknowledged by everyone including the leaders the leadership by the russian federation so what the government is trying to do to fight corruption is a suffice is it working or something else it is needed so the should the russians do do something new or really think of course. muslim or but in reality what we see actually first of all we see that goes a lot of for actions against corrupt officials and every day we can see in the newspapers and that. information. some people some officials which go in water and the corruption deals are arrested or penalized and this company and this is a real fight against corruption. second place in the legislation and regulation. all corruption all types of corruption

based on the some locals or some will be not a very well functioning relation. from this point of view. all legislative facts which now always consider him by the parliament is a subject of some sort of special test against corruption. and the regulation on the level of ministers also. steps that. anticorruption policy i think to me i mean it's a real fight against the. second. legislation there will a should be more and more examined against corruption the world bank recently has a lowered its forecast for russian consumer price growth would you agree with such a pessimistic for. inflation. expected

inflation. low often titian the multiple send it it's actually approved by a report recently before report. presented eight percent forecast for this year. i think it's. of course eight percent this is it's not low inflation but it's at least in framework of the digital i think it's a good result and a good start for the future of action for inflation and in a crunch with. the question here's a former deputy finance minister what's better for russia a stronger ruble as the central bank wanted today or a weaker ruble as many of the businesses want it. for for russia is in. this current period of time the best policy is flexible

change and maybe change it if you appreciate will be not so weak as it is today why they think it's the best option in this creation because you know the. the major export of russia is role much you know and oil gas and so on it means that for export. this policy is negative neutral. for imported goods yes in case of appreciation to your. competition but you have to take into account that a lot of consumer goods produced in russia based on the. euro or are zero materials some raw materials imported from. abroad and from this point of view is in conflict companies which invested in

russia in the consumer protection consumers production. we'll be moralists neutral again this policy says. the former deputy finance minister aggression spotlight will be back shortly after a break so stay with google. the . motion would be so much brighter than if you knew about sums from financed

impressionists. from his firm stance on t.v. don't come. visit. welcome back to spotlight nabhan just a reminder my guest in the studio today is of you get there former russian they're very finance minister recently you know started talking about the russian currency well the daydream of the russian politicians has been in the ruble becoming

a world reserve currency will this happen in our lifetime do you think any time soon can we expect that to happen or not yet i think a ruble has a very good chance to be one of the currency which could be a subject of reserve currency in the first even future in the future lies not being today. first of all because you. subject of control by the central bank and the level of depends on central bank policy and intentions in this case. just quite small investors or banks are ready to consider currency as a reserve currency because they don't understand the rules if currencies flexibles and those the market rules in this case. are ready to consider this

currency market currency and operate as a business currency as a reserve currency. and central banks or some. first let's say necessarily a necessary step and. one of the reserve currency the second. i'm pretty sure. for my point of view russian economy more or less competitive. can produce products which is the subject of stable international demand so you want more competition on the international more yes and the country of. course. from this point of your foresaw horrible is ready to be moralists. and of course the reason is a. ration. inflation is eight percent is

a very. recently it's very difficult for investors to consider was a stable reserve currency. law inflation say maybe in museums three percent assurance grier in this case we can see quite substantial changes just one example recently been in france and those seen some went to this well because really to operate with the ruble to exchange ruble and to the euro and you into the rubles you mean you me you're hearing. different what is the first signal. present some interest in paris so you know it's called there's a. lot there's a sense so you cause a lot of russians of course so you can hear you can so cash rules. really fine that's a good sign you have enough to misunderstand. that's not enough but actually

i think the truth us should be self ok listen the russian political class started talking about innovations for the last couple of years but in the nation is impossible without a qualified workforce i mean well we were information that the brain drain is still have a great problem in russia that seventy percent of the russian students studying in the united states for example. wants to stay and find a job in the united states not coming back to moscow do you see any preconditions for this for this problem. to be settled maybe maybe the scope of a project may help. yes it's a very complicated problem of course from the point if your competition. we are not the first line among the countries which are doing a very good education. given the opportunity for young people to get education

and of course from the point of view of. some supply of the good. employment. and that's a big problem and it is impossible to solve this problem. in short period of time but it's very well known that in. a million country is. you know to keep some brain inside of the country started the project. you know to look to localize the. opportunity for the brains and young brain cells so it means that special interest like school was one of the option. ideas which is not still developed but to create some. sage small serious. ones a university education with with professors nation zero and some in the nation oh

i think it's only to create a local society local education society local source a to exercise a society and local. society for produce produce you know a new ideas innovations on the way which russia has to fall because whom proof and. environment and quality of education and quality of regulation work and it is this rushing us a lot of day money also tend to to free russia caps for our friends according to to an estimate we reach fifty billion dollars this year according to to turn analysis what do you see as a fundamental reasons for this i think it's a purely economic reasons i would like to actually make any. conclusions based on those figures nothing is really wrong about it's a purely economic reasons. this moment i mean the autumn of previous year

first half of this year very specific situation in the economy in russia. a lack of clear expectation of businesses both domestically month and stability of. the mystic a month or so is a miracle but there's the same time they have russian companies a whole lot of. resources to invest financial resources and the brain just to diversify business in this moment because if you haven't if you work in these global the month is much easier than to work with local demand and they're looking around and to invest around in order to support the business. and to support the business will you i think it's in. look at this russian business it's really in one of the main economic news these days carrier of kremlin is the

call of the regular vision is going to lean presidential aides for further privatization for a new wave of privatization do you think that this new wave may affect the banking sector should should the state diminish its row and the russian ratings. yes definitely i think it's obvious truths and it's obvious that if commercial bank is appropriate in an. environment completely different. purely commercial business nor any special needs for the state to be in the capital has been especially taking into account the presence of the state in the capital of the biggest state owned bank no was very helpful to the world event to make this very big powerful and influential. and from the war from this state banks to the very powerful. we should all be more of

what you. do you will not just in the country in search of the country but to develop in europe and maybe i should. international banks like. major banks in the world in a question before the year two thousand. russian. comprised less than one third. less than half of russian exports now during the last ten years it's become two thirds just because prices for oil and gas. is very very favorable d.c. do you see the problem with that with the growth of the percentage of women gaz in in the russian income it depends on the whole diminish this. favor russia gets from this. economic situation. of

course. it is very difficult to transfer or really new which is the so-called windfall revenue which created the process into the. private investment of the country it is easy to transfer this money into the state investment because state and its. reality some significant part of this means for revenue and the budget through the special taxes but what to do with this money spent for social programs maybe it's not an issue it's a good issue but anyway it's a lack of investment of this money is not the answer other than investment and i think the best ways to manage to use this given forum in u. . for some sold off for a special fund it's gone to some extent to keep this money. this money abroad

in order to keep for you and the same. very tough structural changes in the country with the old west on the private money results the state of state revenue but we are entering an election period right now so we do have a chance that that's a fair deal of the money there and will go into as you said the social sector thank you thank you very much and just to remind us that our guest in the studio today was i leave you get the former deputy finance minister and that's it for now from all of us here if you want to have your say on spotlight or if you have maybe someone in mind if you think i shouldn't really is going to drop algorithm after our t.v. dart are you let's keep the show interactive spotlight we'll be back with more christiane comments on what's going on outside russia until then stay on r.t. and take. its.

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