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Ex-world chess champion gets prestigious award for promotion of inter-culture dialogue

The award presentation ceremony was timed for a major international conference on energy problems, which brought together leading politicians, economists and businessmen

VIENNA, May 19 (Itar-Tass) —— Ex-world chess champion Anatoly Karpov on Friday received the prestigious award of the international non-governmental organization Center for Global Dialogue and Cooperation for his contribution to the promotion of the inter-cultural dialogue.

The award presentation ceremony was timed for a major international conference on energy problems, which brought together leading politicians, economists and businessmen.

In the capacity of a deputy chairman of the State Duma’s committee on natural resources, environment and the ecology Karpov addressed the conference to have drawn attention the need for considerate attitude to the environment and the solution of crucial world problems.

One of the themes that were raised in the discussions concerned the possibility of a slump in energy prices in view of the expected growth of natural gas supplies from Qatar to Europe.

“The Americans have found a way of tapping shale gas,” Karpov told Itar-Tass. “True, this technology is not impeccable. It involves underground explosions, and some ecological questions are still unanswered. However, the amount of gas the United States may be getting in this way will allow for drastically reducing import. As a result, large amounts of Qatari gas may be re-directed to the European market to offer strong competition to Russian gas. In a situation like that it would be no easy for Russia to defend prices under long-term contracts.”

Karpov also said that the State Duma was now considering several bills aimed at addressing issues related to the disposal of industrial and household waste and also to economic incentives to using the latest technologies for waste disposal. These laws, he said will be adopted in the autumn.

About the activity of the Center for Global Dialogue and Cooperation Karpov said that that organization enjoyed great authority, because it united people who had achieved a great deal in their political careers, in business and in other spheres of activity.

“By and large, the CGDC was one of the best embodiments of the idea of citizens’ diplomacy, which emerged in the Soviet Union and was unfairly dropped as a legacy of the past after the USSR broke up,” he said.

Among those who received the CGDC prize were also former US President Bill Clinton, Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Junus, and Special Olympics CEO Timothy Shriver.

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