looting america's plans for a missile defense system in europe. definitely a lot of issues touched upon one of the main topics of discussion was of course missile defense united states plans it's important to say that the u.s. and russia or rather russia nato agreed in november two thousand and ten to work jointly on a european missile defense project however so far there's been a stalemate because the united states has been refusing to provide russia with legal guarantees that any such plans would not be a threat to russia and this was discussed at today's meeting between the two presidents they did say after the meeting that there is still certain disagreements when it comes to missile defense plans but talks will continue on this issue also another important topic russia's participation and membership at the world trade organization which we as we expect to be it to become of russia to become a full fledged member of the world trade organization by summer two thousand and twelve this is something that russia has been desiring since the ninety's and an

important part of that is has been the issue of the jackson valley commencement posed by the u.s. congress back in the seventy's and even though there's been a moratorium on polls on this amendment all throughout the years this is created difficulties when it comes to treat between russia and the united states and the u.s. president barack obama has said today that he will start working with the u.s. congress to cancel this amendment to get rid of it so it is no longer a cornerstone when it comes to trade between russia and the united states this is certainly very important because this is something that russia has been indicating that it would like to see happen for a very long time now in other issues the leaders have discussed syria of course with the anti-government clashes on the ground we have been hearing in the last several days from the united states saying they call for the resignation of the syrian president whereas russia has been calling for negotiations and the leaders we know did touch upon the that. problem and the other topic was of course terror

on the radio. nuclear program was discussed the two leaders agreed to work together in trying to come up with a joint and of action when it comes to ensuring that iran sticks to its obligations the effects summit is a gathering of one of the biggest gatherings in the world economic group that comprises as many as twenty one economies and in the two or time that leaders have here the two days of the summit they're focusing on the trade issues such as lifting barriers for making the trade and investment and economic cooperation easier for countries that make up the asia pacific and this is certainly something that's been a focus here for the last day or so we also know of course that the leaders have not been able to avoid a headache when it still comes to the european financial crisis since this is something that's looming over the entire global economy and here we're hearing pushes for europe to work harder in finding solutions to the financial crisis we did hear barack obama the us presidency earlier that the united states is looking

forward to really seeing the upcoming changes with the leadership change in italy and greece the u.s. hopes that this will give sort of an opportunity to reform and restructure the way things run in those two countries and essentially a sense that they have been spearheading the financial crisis to be able to create positive steps in coming up with solutions this is something that he reiterated earlier today. later in the program we will hear more from president vid of as he addresses business leaders at the apec forum stay with us for the. in syria crowds armed with sticks and knives have reportedly stormed the saudi arabian embassy in damascus and of the french and turkish consulates in the city of latakia this comes after the arab league voted to suspend to syria until a peace plan is implemented to stop the bloodshed there member states have also been urged to withdraw their ambassadors from the country and use economic and

political sanctions the decision which has already received that useful backing and was praised by u.s. president barack obama came at an emergency session in cairo an overwhelming majority of member states supported the move with only lebanon and yemen voting against the director of the center for research on globalization michel chossudovsky believes the league's move is an act of provocation orchestrated by washington. this is not the decision of the lee all the arab world is a decision of washington. and it is there to justify. war plans directed us against syria which already on the drawing board of the pentagon this is not a protest movement it is an armed insurrection immediately following the peace

proposal of the arab league armed gunmen which are al qaida affiliated entities paramilitary seemed to trigger a new round of civilian casualties it is not to say that the government of bashar al assad doesn't bear responsibility but we must understand that the very parties to this to this arab league decision are also complicit in supporting an insurgency an armed insurgency with a view to d. stabilizing syria as a nation states nato and the united states are preparing for a military campaign directed against syria on the humanitarian pretext while at the same time they have supported the all of the rection which has created this this process of instability dr you but i him a professor of economics at zaytuna university in jordan says russia and china

should try and curb the arab league's ambitions. it's very important for russia and china to use the veto in the security council because the arab league has said that the issue will go to the security council the international organizations namely the u.s. and the u.n. shortly what we have here is a plan to topple the syrian regime and clearly establish a nato friendly regime in that splays so we have to look at this in geo strategic terms the arab league does not represent the iraq people at the represents nato at this point i do not think that we can call it the revolution especially after the new revelations that there is an armed insurgency and now there are open that deliberations by the people conducting these operations against the syrian army and against syrian security troops so now they are openly. performing military

operations all over the place against the syrian army and military about us so we have seen support from turkey from the g.c.c. and from the european union for and i thought that encompasses economic military as well as economic political and diplomatic means and the pro-equality occupy movement as quickly gathering pace in germany with almost twenty thousand people protesting in berlin and frankfurt protesters there waved placards and a lot to arms in it solidarity seeking to draw attention to rampant corporate greed and creasing poverty of the masses the german occupy movement has also made significant steps in which it amazing itself having earned the support of two major political factions juta sentiment of the pro equality attack germany group believes berlin is partly responsible for europe's economic woes. it is needed to have protests and broad movements in all european countries and we know that tears in

germany germany. is one of the countries that courses quite a lot of the trouble we have and europe now because of the way international competition is organized to germany is a very often on the winning side but that means that we export also poverty and joblessness for people and to be learned during the last years there it's very very soon tex players are forced to help to save the banks we learned in two thousand and eight what happened in such a very short time when billions of euros were given to the banks if you ask people here on the streets they agree with the protests they agreed with the people of the occupy movement that it is needed to go out because everybody learns that democracy is in danger that in our country too there is no purse picked if how to go on if this crisis is going on further and it's

a real it's the end of an era and italy as the country's charismatic prime minister silvio berlusconi steps down it comes after the lower house of parliament gave its final approval to a vast new austerity package which was a precondition for his resignation the p.m.'s see though won't remain vacant for along with veteran euro credit mario monti looking said take the baton from berlusconi the public reaction so far has been mixed with some celebrating berlusconi's fall while others are wary of the future our correspondent in italy so further as all the details. that are stares he lot finally say oh soviet berlusconi's fate and he stepped down as prime minister of the country now for better or worse he was certainly a character and it's going to be a massive change now that he's resigned from the post optimism certainly for a future but what the future will be right now remains uncertain is that a caretaker government is going to be put in place and the man has been pegged for

the top spot is a very well respected economist here in the country mary monti he's a former commissioner he's a euro cat he knows the system inside and a good links with brussels there's certainly a question mark over whether he's going to have the democratic legitimacy that is needed to gain public support of course and an elected government taking the reins does raise a lot of questions once we've seen these measures pass through these are just the initial steps almost as a short term measure certainly they're going to go some way to stemming that panic that we saw at the beginning of the week and to coming somewhat the fear that it was literally about to be sucked into that spiral that we've seen countries like greece be sucked into it but of course short term measures only last so long you're going to really now need to look at whether whatever government now follows is going to be able to put in place long term sustainable measures to get the country

out of the crisis situation that it's found itself there was in the virus speaking to some people in the town there who were holding a protest there were a couple of thousand and one of the measures that they were protesting was government spending a waste of taxpayers' money and really what they were saying was very clear is that whatever happens now and whoever takes power is that they're really going to want to see their politicians and those people in charge leading by example and of course they simply haven't seen that under berlusconi especially in the last couple of years i mean quite the opposite in the face. the crisis but he's being perceived as just partying his way very carelessly to be a very critical time for the country i'm reading now that's where the focus is turning to and the country is and has been suffering for years and this economic social and political stagnation and kick starting that is going to be a major challenge and a big posit that it's going to be regaining public trust and the credibility that's

been lost in recent times because without the public support these reforms simply not going to. serve for us reporting for us there in milan and peter mandelson the former british secretary of state says it is incredible that market pressure on greece and italy managed to oust their respective leaders when millions of protesters in those countries couldn't do it. well what we've seen recently in the year is there is some government not as strong as all those not taking the decisive action that they need to take frankly not getting on top of events now their elected governments to troll the difficult for democratic machinery to be used simply to take out. a government that's been democratically elected and actually what we've seen in the case i think of greece and italy we've seen the bond markets being able to achieve what normal democratic means have not been able to do and

that is to put those countries to get the governments they need at this particular time now i don't attach any value judgement to that is merely an observation that in these circumstances we've seen. democracy prating rather more effectively than ordinary democracy. and returning to our top story now u.s. and russian presidents have just wrapped up a bilateral talks held on the sidelines of the apec summit in hawaii and we can now cross live to honolulu where president medvedev is addressing business leaders at the forum there as you can see there a gentleman getting the podium already and sitting here editor financial times david pilling thank you very much they've done it again last time i came yesterday . and i joked that it was the only time that i'd come out with the prime minister and they would announce my name. well this time they've done it with the president so. it's my my job to interview to introduce the president the president of

russia the mitri the. please welcome him. now mr president you've just come directly now from a meeting with barack obama can you tell us a little bit about what you discussed. you're discovering when you show. us. machine you have no tv's with president obama national blushing year that was so limited you reflected in the whole rave reviews but it was all a breakthrough is the usual good all there research here is and that meeting was absolutely wonderful we discussed a lot of questions. asked mistake a larger cannot exist. spoke about their apec summit. spoke.

russian about. joining them i think president lee of iran is the first american president of. the most articulate africa. he did it before you go oh yeah then russia would already be in the number to zero and we would not have this occasion when russia major economy so that you know that's and as the whole range of innovations is not a member of the tail. was original problem was spoke about afghanistan. and we discussed some other things that i cannot share with you that i want for a view i was about saying. as you mentioned the. i mean the loss in recent days you've overcome a number of hurdles. towards accession to the w.t.

. is it now a done deal and what does it mean for russia i mean after all we saw that when china joined. it entered a new phase of its economic development i mean can we expect something similar with russia. i hope. it will be a very. small of the russian economy. that we were getting ready for a long time and a whole range of russian companies sold in the days to many difficulties and concerns bought the polish a still the same we believe that the accession of fresh is ripe we are ready but it ended with gladness that as a result as a result of showing i hope we would be. future to complete this process is that i see is a. consequence to the russian economy evident russian economy. would

become closer to the. w t o. and to the standards of international trade that really is important for o'connor and for the whole the system on the other hand addition i believe that you can put in rule would improve take a better time necessary on the russian companies that is him also. that is why i'm glad that exceptional almost do happen live i hope that here in the near me a reason for what is a few weeks will not see any surprises and russia finally will join the club. in the w t o. c. but your experts from russia will have the boring talks about how to finish the dog round of talks.

the russian economy is sometimes criticized if that's the right word or characterized as being too resource dependent. i mean will access into the w t o through the kind of competition that that is bound to bring will that cause innovation more innovation in russia what what real hopes do you have for russia to become a different kind of modern economy assuming the except that that cat characterization in the first place. to bring you with a bill that dominating our exertion i would say that one of the conditions today of a race inside the russian economy. russia is there even with its reach the country's rich and an additional resources natural resource it is very good because it allows russia to move all of that and we cannot underestimate our attention on the other family which russia cannot be in a country much where there is only one my passion and which should not be to your

base only on natural resources and with the resources you wish to develop other areas of our economy and in that sense that we had to go which would favor their development of our economy and diversification of our companies. bought with the main focus should be made on ourselves and not on the membership in international going is ations. corps in order to change their position economy. could be implemented by russian companies at the same time we count that the new economy will be born as a result of joint investment of the russian businessman. and. coming to collect all important high tech investment from other countries. to mystical i'm sure that. you created economy will take its

dignified place in russian economy despite the fact that for a lot of times that will be one of the main supplies of fruit or materials and engine resources of the world market. now as you mentioned you're entering a rules based system and i think it's fair to say that some foreign businesses don't always associate russia with sticking by the rules i mean first of all is that a is that a fair criticism by those companies and if it is is that now going to change the committee it's fair criticism the other bush i would say you know more to give countries they not always a base by the rules and if they're not abided by usually a legal system is not in operation and probably that is the main thing that really should obey the. rules of. their most developed countries what we've got traditions of the most important thing that if

there is a violation one can protect its interests and in that issue we will have to go on and on through to some developments our own judicial system or not isn't appear a sure. development and snowed as development as in other countries and during the recent years i was trying to become a more attention to the development of the legal system judicial system by creating new institutions that could be used for that purposes now what do you think of the c.p.p. arrangement i mean it could look like a soon as you join one club america immediately sets up another club of which to which you're not invited. do you resent. that there's this new body that's that's being set up alongside the body that you're just joining us.

as for the council that i want to buy to ship i don't understand what will be there is out of this club when it starts to operate than we could view or. is it like so far it's evolved except in your kind of interesting projects undoubtedly well we'll wait and see what it will be like. you're in a pic obviously at the conference you're hosting it next year the perception is that you look very much to europe and certainly if you look at your trading patterns that that would support that view trade much much more with europe than you do with asia. i guess my question is are you betting on the wrong horse i mean isn't this where the action is and there you are looking at europe shouldn't you be looking more to asia. started smoking while

trying to look in every direction here. is located both in europe and in asia so we have attention to devote only one of them to the world in europe and euro zone the business market survive the difficult times lots remains to be done which is stabilize the situation somewhat so the recent g twenty summit last dedicated to the matter of what we discussed the current situation on the european markets we would not have a life to draw attention to devalue that the attention of the whole world is now a moment. when the european crisis and unlikely will be able to resolve your problems in isolation of the global that auditors america disgusted australia disgusted with sceptics to discuss them so depression. which the rights obviously is going to ensure balance development was sure to make sure that we're developing the lonely old lights at the moment when you dissolve our trade with the

e.u. countries equals two hundred fifty billion dollars which is a lot less on the book and so all of your. attention on the simple creatures and the market but it just has to be a bit off this bottle the globe is no less we have great only i'm afraid of china and many other countries agree but maybe i'm going to wish unlikely that all the above bilateral trade with the us is limited and will raise this with president obama it will increase to thirty million dollars and we see the potential for further gross and we tried to develop you in directions and we believe that it is in all of this even the by a balance which harmonized growth again and reach goals and we count that the next eight x. summit in twenty twelve and a stock will help to enforce the position of russia by trace of her. in asia markets moreover if you want to go to our regions look when you talk about every

day in our in our east and last year's developed abroad and those that you are not gated in the central european thousands of pressure and hosting a summit will to give them an impetus to their development bringing a new contract a new investment. i mean you raise an interesting point and a big if you look at siberia and some of the towns on the on the border with china you'd expect them to be booming but they're not. you know what what more can be done to both increase trade generally with with asia but also to x. to exploit or to ride what is obviously you know the world's fastest biggest economy versus growing biggest economy in the world at the moment. well we need to create favorable conditions for everyone to work through the sort of the my belief that the hospital knew there was no investment is a mutual process under what they had one party should be open to accommodate

investment and greed of magnets to protect them but on the other hand it's about the investors desire to invest oftentimes investors avoid them in the countries where the investment climate is a verbal but on the other hand they go to the interesting word their arms problem smugglers investment climate so there is no direct correlation but generally investments come to places where they are welcoming the good so our goal is to make sure that you know russia and this particular region to create such investment climate would have us in the gas pipeline gas and oil pipeline that we've we've heard a lot about for many many years i was looking at some numbers and if i'm not mistaken i think only two percent of your fossil fuel sales go to china woman expect given this is the kind of a hungry beast that needs more energy and you have that in abundance you know it's hard to understand what's holding this up.

and should what's i'm not sure about two percent no i don't want you to give them an absolute date or what but apparently chinese market is ready to accommodate much more energy already and we are it green upon the matter with chinese partners three to protract your gas supply for instance where i plan gas as we call it too but much chinese people are a bit of the third to us route west east and now at the moment we are in the process of negotiation to get the chinese partners on the book and discussing it conditional on our gas supply soon as we have concluded negotiations and the main question is always the same it's the phrase yes then when asked what it will all be areas will be a lifted. yeah banished a ball in a gas supply will be very substantial and only if you have a potential for the pipeline gas plant in china is comparable to the volumes of our supplies to the european part of the continent meaning western europe countries.

another kind of sticking point seems to be the southern curers what the japanese call the northern territory's the four disputed islands. is there any prospect of solving that problem which would after all well many people say that it would look kind of wave of japanese investment and potentially into into siberia and so. into that region. well we're still waiting for japanese investments from today i had meeting were they knew they were going to dump these prime ministers in order to go to vote about none of us went i believe and there's a fairly normal process problem in there is one throws problem that burdens our relations the lack of so-called peaceful retained sober and territorial issues your opposition is very simple it is you goes as follows and we shouldn't make a drama. over the matter if we continue to calmly discuss an admission our

positions do diverge on the matter we believe that the existing situation is reflects the existence status quo and the outcomes of the world will naturally a russian federation believe that those which are trees are russian treacherous this is why there are russian authorities and russian leaders our president and others visit the treacherous we don't mind when you are japanese investment what would welcome them for you we would welcome japanese actually that to come and work there so that we could about migrate and manage them or someone who was together this would be a normal process i believe that the economy should go first and politics should follow suit and this is a correct approach in general in life because it's economics that defines our life and politics you know makes it worse oftentimes. the president has very kindly agreed to take some questions from the floor.