SPEECHES, INTERVIEWS, ARTICLES
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UK citizens do need to apply for Russian visas and go through necessary paperwork (Mary Dejevsky, 17 August). However this “nuisance” is dwarfed by the procedures the Russians who wish to visit Britain have to follow. The UK visa application form is five times as lengthy, and has to be completed in English only.
SIR – Your coverage (Leading article, August 16) of Russia’s unprecedented heatwave and subsequent wildfires, which have ravaged large areas of the country, blames the Russian government.
Wildfires are unpredictable and difficult to control. In Russia, more than 27,700 fires have broken out since early summer, including 1,133 peat bog fires – which are notoriously difficult to extinguish.
More than 166,000 personnel and 62 aircraft have been deployed. The Russian government worked around the clock to protect the welfare of its citizens through a fast and targeted response.
I would like to welcome the participants of this videolink, renowned experts from UK and Russia’s most important foreign policy think tanks. I wish them a useful and honest discussion of the conflict in South Ossetia now that the international atmosphere favours such a dialogue. As we remember the days of Saakashvili’s aggression we cannot help recalling also the Western hostility towards Russia, amounting to a full scale information war. As time went on, the accounts became more balanced, especially given the findings of the EU’s Tagliavini Commission on who started the war.
My thoughts are with all the brave servicemen and civilians in and around Afghanistan who risk their lives to help Afghanistan people, to keep terror, drug threat and extremism away from our doorstep. All sacrifices made should never be forgotten.
In the two years that have passed since our last meeting, the world has changed significantly, although we always use that phrase – it’s a truism of sorts. Still, it is absolutely accurate when applied to the last two years.
I am pleased to have the privilege to speak to this distinguished audience. The very fact that this event is taking place underscores a growing international and local interest in the Arctic. In 2010 the Arctic has been on the agenda of leading British think-tanks. Wilton Park had a conference on this topic last February while the Windsor Energy Group devoted to it its latest meeting in the Houses of Parliament in June.
It has become a good tradition that the annual Russo-British Chamber of Commerce Forum in London follows in the footprints of the Saint Petersburg International Economic Forum, the leading global investment venue for companies doing business in Russia. In his opening address in Saint Petesburg President Dmitry Medvedev confirmed last week that our country had been firmly set on an economic modernization course. Work is underway to build a modern, strong and prosperous Russia that will be one of the co-founders of the new global economic order and a full participant of the collective leadership in the post-crisis world. I am very pleased to note that the agenda of the RBCC Forum is very closely interlinked with the modernization priorities in Russia and new respective opportunities for joint business are the main focus of our discussions today.
On 22 June 2010 the Ambassador of the Russian Federation to the United Kingdom Yury Fedotov briefed British and Russian journalists about Russia’s priorities at the forthcoming G8 and G20 summits in Canada.
The St.Petersburg International Economic Forum 2010 will be taking place at a crucial time for the global economy. The world is slowly and gradually coming out of the recession, the global economic forecasts for this year and onwards are being revised upwards and the emerging markets, including Russia, are arguably leading the way to a stronger growth.
Today is a very special day. We are here to present two famous British impresarios - spouses Victor and Lilian Hochhauser - with a Russian state award - The Order of Friendship - for their outstanding contribution to the development of Russian-British bilateral relations, which made our cultures closer to each other and mutually enriched them.
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