bill. i guess it's become a great tradition just before new year's eve to talk to someone who is in charge of where the russian economy is go and we're here in the russian ministry of economic development once again the christmas trees right here to talk with minister but he might have been good morning at any rate to do that one more time let's begin with the news from the last few days and focus on the nord stream 2 pipeline project in the baltic sea for months the message from russian officials has been that pretty much nothing can stop

a project that is almost all but complete many experts were saying that these sanctions are only aimed at the domestic audience it's just a trick before the elections to show that pressure is being put on russia but now the measures are in place and russia finds itself in a position a very tricky one that technically it doesn't have the capabilities to finish the pipeline project so what does that say about how much moscow is able to come up with a plan b. plan c. etc well there was there was already extensive comments there that coming from president bush who missed of course a mutual friend in jail and what i would like to attract your attention to is the problem of the. sanctions coming from the united states and its you know it big program for the water as a whole it's being named as

a problem not only from own slaves but the review from the review and say it just recently for example we can't go into commission was from those who were discussing was the limit of the amused when the me and france so and friends of friends the issue and he was telling me he was taking this publicly that these type of. from the united states. acceptable so maybe that we should talk more about that story which is you know supporting the overall global city sion and you know well that the global that was this here we could see in still in line and this is one of the reasons one of the key deals behind that is that you know you know little actions which are heating the global trade. and in this particular case are you saying that russia does have let's put it this way friends in europe that can become in some way mediators or those who can send a message across the atlantic for them to

a lot of messages were already sent by the way or european friends of the united states in the recent months so there is nothing to it so once again it is december 29th and economic punishment against russia is back in the headlines so this time around what is the biggest threat for the russian economy is it once again sanctions or uncertainty or volatility in the commodity market what can you say well of course there is a number of negative trends that are coming from the global economy which ain't impacting russian economy as i've said this year is the weakest here in terms of economic storm night is of course impacting the piece of good also for our exports in real terms in them in the terms of those who are being hit by the lower commodity prices some on the different come what is starting from oil metals call and so on so force of course this impacts those fish and the good thing is that

because of the introduction of fiscal rule for inflation targeting flexible exchange rate we're much more protected from the civil but of course with this having a negative impact on the us mr rushton let me bring up something else the interim trade agreement between washington and beijing how much of a sigh of relief is it really for russia and the rest of the world but of course if it were just a little bit and they could see if. trends that we during the whole year you can see that once again in commodity prices there is more chance global trade will show the performance going forward but clearly when the naming the. deal is important because what we believe in that the problems with him united states and shane that are very long term in the church so we see more conflicts not only in treaty a but they can happen in many other areas within the next several years maybe next

year especially the 1st gulf war with movie a more call we should be of course positive for the global economy and for russia as the particle of the global economy but once again this is more a longer term story and we see more disputes coming from those 2 countries and impacting the global story in the coming years can we talk about a long term story when we do realize that once again we are coming into the new election cycle in the us well of course the elections they are forcing the kind of the means 3 ssion to find solutions in different areas because what kind of communication one sees economy to continue to grow what kind of the station once the stock market you know will that. place tweeting about the new highs that we have we can see on the u.s. market of course he wants this trend to continue it will into the next year so

different that this will be good to reminding the parties in different areas of actions over the years administration and of course on the other say that the congress which is controlled by the democratic party will be using all the parties to spoil the game because you know they competing they will be competing me they said trump in the elections in november of next year so they still fighting forces who visited my how the u.s. will be actually in and yes one of the 2 largest to call them is global youth those this will be impacting the overall picture in the global economy sharp. let me bring up the loan that russia received earlier this month the $500000000.00 loan for. the beijing based asian infrastructure investment bank what kind of signal is that and why is russia getting this low will this is totally links to infrastructure projects that are being realized. in russia you know we'll that

russia is number 3 shareholder in the. bank for infrastructure development so it means that we are playing is all of the bottomless in the bank you know the story of developing the infrastructure will that there is little free sources local for the vestments infrastructure globally and this bank was created to try to at least to close that gap so we're working with the bank it's a normal project for the bank to deal in the russian so you know part of the global story here but if we take. in particular we do remember that during the russia africa summit billions of dollars worth of debt have been written off for african countries and here we have a sum of $500000000.00 so what is this just a matter of prestige a matter of testing boilers it will be a deal in the least and so we are working so this is the deal that is using this

over embellish it but we will be working with a company of slate question that always other companies to find more. interesting story to finance them finding coming from the asian bank who put infrastructure development so once again it's only the beginning of the long term work to finance more infrastructure projects and rush the many trips that you completed in 2019 we saw you together with president vladimir putin in different corners of the world in terms of fruits that russia could bear from all these trips and when we talk specifically of what you are in charge which ones were the most important ones and what did you take away from them will each prepares were important because you know that like i said russia's pick a few though russia is the part of the global economy so being joined. it was

different. countries across the globe. explaining trade trade in goods trade in services investment strain technological approach and so in every country we can find what is russia can do together with that country and of course among the most important i would say the brics i mean that the recently happened in brazil the receipts to. arab emirates divisions to china so you know japan all major markets are definitely important and you know having a proper discussion of the economic agenda is the way the war but the success of the russian economy when we take breaks in the shanghai cooperation organization we know that russia's taken over in terms of hosting the summits. what will russia bring in this time around if we take cooperation with these groups well in the

breaks for example next year we will have a break cement happening in sync because a book in the middle of summer and we will be proposing we have already proposed all partners to have a new economic strategy for the next 5 years we were conducting this same story 5 years ago in this summit that was happening in russia 5 years ago so we want to do you know the 6 of them instead the general do of course that is the full support of all the brakes. member us on the global trade situation on the joint development of the project so we want to highlight those areas and do. even more deep work but it was what was already achieved. in the last 5 year cycle for example one of the stories that was achieved it's of course creating with the brics development bank that is already finding in the projects

all the goals. the brics countries including russia so those instruments that create that during the bust cycle the old radio patients so we need to make a step forward so this is what will be discussed in st petersburg to highlight those areas and you know push them to bring. results. cut. loose i don't look to us.

today that are good at this and that is the bad news in yemen the united states deems to be the good. one in syria the cia and the u.s. military were engaged in covert actions really throughout the world. where they were assassinating populist leaders they were backing up the right way military juntas funding an army of death squads there's no end because there's always a small. cut. off. i'm not one who will ever argue that there are worthy and unworthy victims it's also important to also distinguish the fact that whenever we have a crime scene or miti. the job of the army in genocide and other cases of genocide

that's that we're talking about the issues of confronting it can all the doing it and injustice and reparations for it are important it is important to confront the crimes wherever they happen but it shouldn't be a means to dilute you know the experience of. the in this particular case of the i think it's please. join me every thursday on the alec simon show and i'll be speaking to us from the world of politics sports business i'm show business i'll see you then. max and stacey our continuing our south american tour and as you can see behind me we are in rio de janeiro oh my god so beautiful so much going on this is a country can transition.

mr rush let me stick to integration but a very different one between russia and belarus and can you please help explain our western audience mainly because they don't know much about it what is going on why do high profile officials from both countries meet so often right now what's going on in general will go all question it's pretty simple they want to have 2 so in the countries in the one single market for them so what we're discussing we have. in the some quarters away extensive work in the lazing the difference in approach is some different markets different regulation so we were highlighting what can be

changed what can be adjusted and actually the stories that we're trying to take the best from the belorussian experience they are trying to take best from all experience through these discussions that through these you know grecian of single market to become stronger together and. stronger each country on its own does the west have to watch out for anything that's going on between moscow and minsk there's not discussions again some someone this is the this is discussion helping both candidates. to become stronger so there is nothing to be afraid of here now moving on from to europe we keep coming back to a comment by yourself when you bring up that you were in a silence in terms of how russia's again trying to get along with europe and vice versa this year how far have we gotten we'll as you may see that in this year with

sore more extensive contacts between russia and europe not to me on the business 8 which was at the high level of this is becoming even stronger what those on the political level there is one this thing with europeans say the problems that were brought. externally to europe from the united states with the sanctions story now with the trade wars and so on so force so having more closer contact having discussions finding joint solutions we're much more close to that ping was where we were standing a year ago. we understand after the elections in the k. that writes it will finally happen. you never know but at least as boris johnson put it said he's got to go and he was already pushing you know some of the broken so. just offer you the seat in the chair relax and watch.

so have you been watching has russia been watching does this send any message to moscow are you looking for if you know other problems the mystically you know or international comic relations which we can sense waiting on trying to find solutions and is a very good story you know already it kind of you know serial which lists for rebels so we just wishing you know just checking the headlines which what has happened these things on their own so that's that's that's about it let me bring up what's going on with the world trade organization we learned that the w t o appellate body stopped functioning what's going on with the reforms there and also how will trade disputes the result from now on well 1st of all what i would like to lay that is a very important institute for the global economy and actually for russia because.

being part of that will be to help russia to access a little markets. on the producer of mine terms it helped us to protect our rights will 1000000000 you witnessed weaning one by another because that behaving and that will lead to an. the point of course which is very important that russia is now playing one of the important roles in terms of the 3 mining coal the global trade systems will be breaking for the years to come the problem that you mentioned was a playboy you of course you know it's a way big problem for functioning of the deadly terror because ation the position that is being taken by the united states in my opinion is definitely in the appropriate expose the overall situation so it means that within the next at least one year i believe what exactly are you talking about just because they are blocking. the actually the decisions that they're made in the. heading as

the direct result of the work getting the functioning epilate body and you know having a body is the crucial part of the process of settlement within the charities ation and of course this doesn't help because this doesn't help because you know that. once again. you always all those problems because you know finding solutions in the disputes but taking years and this is also not acceptable we should change precede us you know too fast from them and so on so forth but you know blocking it doesn't help build a whole picture and once again we were discussing already today the problems that we're facing with the global trade with the global economy and one of the one of the reasons behind it it's. not functioning properly. so is it going to resemble brags it anyhow the pace will of the w to some extent it's the same story but like with bricks it here we're trying to

play a more important role we are trying to help to find a solution which will be a definitely not easy but you know pushing towards a solution of this so it will be working on the needing next year let's move on. what's happening in russia we've seen an inflation slowdown interest rates are steadily being cut last year you promise me that the ruble will get stronger and it is getting stronger and detail how much more room for optimism is still there well i wouldn't say that such as thing seen ruble is an optimism because because it's a sign of the weak the money in the domestic economy along with the way the low inflation brings that we are witnessing. because you know. the ruble is a very good when it comes from the growing productivity front and productivity but when it comes from the weak demand it shows that we achieving results weaker that

we can achieve just simply having a strong did you hear them if you could so. that's at their bank like you've mentioned is already cutting rates this will be eventually translating in some voices to for. the. i hope so the government is also working with some solutions to help the team on next year so taking together all those measures should allow us to get back to be him. 4 percent targets on the inflation say that strong digit months strong good girls you know most people will. the world bank kids predicting a 1.6 percent of g.d.p. growth for russia next year does that tie with the expectations that you have when we have the forecast of $1.00 so all the market expects softly from the same girls because there are some. that might bring these if you go to lower and

a little bit trying to do is to have a few good strong for them. so it's always happening like that how much are you satisfied with your old predictions that you once came up with for 2019 well you should tell me because it's not me who should lead the way how we're forecasting but you know the good thing is that the forecast for example in goals that we've published a belief in the ghost of next year we were changing it throughout the year but there were criticisms that it's too high and it was too little when so and so forth during the whole year the critics who own the bulls say it's but eventually we're getting to the figures we should close to what we're forecasting the good sign that we have a propane this painting of what is happening within the quantum indeed this year there have been good signs in many aspects but let me just talk about how much foreign investors should be keen to invest in this country because there were bad signs well including the well known calvery case so what about the investment

climate and investment figures this year india is growing you know will this $36.00 but like always telling you in the asking that question that for us it's more important not the quantity of doing flow but quality of hitting the floor and some of the cases might be not to be. coming to russia's economy but a new technology war human in jail approaches so that. he's of much more importance competing with just simple money we've just discussed strengthening so it means that if somebody is throwing balance of payments which we are facing these here and was thrown by the payments we do not need to cover a new gaps on the balance of payments say so it means in terms of. having acknowledges smith in jail approaches all these stuff it's much more important than just simply having a stronger in full in terms of quantity over the falls. but like i said this

year we are getting more if the total sum is increasing but i would just pay less attention on that and more attention on quality sorry but just to finish up my question has russia a better place to invest this year will the logic stand yes we are not getting the final figures and that also for investment activity but we expect that it will be a multi-year high and that was often the best one to g.d.p. ratio in russia if you look at the ratings. you will find that russia is steadily progressing in the. global business of doing business by the world and so on so forth of course that has a lot of problems you know a number of big reforms that are underway these days for example the forms supervisory and the getting which is getting the regulations all that are good lucian's that we still have and so on so course we're trying to do. you know

a lot of stuff which will be making the environment even better mr ashton we know that you are a keen sports fan given all the latest headlines that have to do with the russian sport in the recent past how much are you worried about russian athletes well you know well that the you know active life time that it's. the heading on the global scene is way short so having such as toys of course may be painful for you to particular person because you know that cleaning car at getting your child so you can your use here is and then you have to wait it short period of time like any show way to fight is also on the global agenda on the on the on the on the global every minute and of course. really cept for those people which will not be able to do so so my view is that clean athletes

should be able to be present on the global audience because it will be fair for them. mr rush can thank you for covering so many stories for us and happy new year thank you happy new year. this is a stick from the water bottle phone in the stomach of a fish the brand is part of the coca-cola company which sells millions of bottles of soda every day the idea was that let's tell consumers they're the bad ones they're the litter bugs are throwing this away industry should be blamed for all this waste the company has long promised to reuse the plastic. onto. their plastic. special projects funded.

on the. footy team but for now the mountains of waste only grow higher. same hammer i can use to snare someone's head is the same hammer i can use to build them a home but that's a human choosing what to do with that's me expressing my values for the tool and that's what we need to do with artificial intelligence as well. but others see. the room light and. my name is drawn more than i was for the imprisoned by the exploration of my life. a case to grab some media attention and it's a shooting in a 16 year olds to 16 birthday parties. so i think the police just how

a lot of pressure. close to kids. 40 is. just wrong it's like a mini those. on the outskirts of friday draw more than the shorter one with a statue all of the shooter because i was standing right next to. me for is because you've got to keep in mind the point is you know you're 1617 years old so. this could lose monday night as is clung to his fear of a production. full food really. for more than just. goldstone now the truth. of the day there are good dentists and bad the bad news in yemen

the united states. the good those who work in syria the cia and the u.s. military were engaged in covert actions really throughout the world. where they were assassinating populist leaders they were backing up right wing military funding an army was there's no posts anymore because there's always a small. or really good this is a profit. taxes are not going to do it you have to go right to the root of things it's assets and debts at the balance sheet balance sheets is what they should talk about and that's where we can be clear because taxation is the dumb why of trying to get the wealth back from the from the wealthy.

headline news the wealthiest u.s. presidential candidate multi-billion. 2020 campaign prison labor. ballet dancers in paris join the chorus of pension reforms that could see their retirement age from 40 to 64. while several western countries endure an opioid addiction epidemic in africa scrambles to get enough of the medication to meet patients basic needs. either good to have you with us this thursday december 26th. moscow with your world news 1st for you then u.s. democratic presidential candidate multi-billionaire michael bloomberg admits that his.