ZHENGZHOU, December 15. /TASS/. Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said on Tuesday that Russia is not against international partnerships and alliances, however, uniform rules of actions in the economic sphere should be introduced due to the declining international trade indicators and high currency volatility.
"Serious economic challenges persist, the international trade indicators and investment activity continue to decline, there is high volatility of currencies, in any case, of many currencies, in combination with very sharp fluctuations of the world energy and raw material prices," he said at an enlarged meeting of the Council of Heads Governments of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) member states.
"The situation is further complicated by the attempts to undermine the existing architecture of international trade relations, to provoke the fragmentation of world economic relations, the global economic landscape, including through the establishment of so-called exclusive relationships, including the establishment of all kinds of partnerships," the Russian prime minister said.
He said that Moscow is not against this kind of international organizations, but uniform rules of conduct in the economic sphere should be introduced.
"I’d like to unequivocally say that our country is not opposed to such partnerships like the Pacific Partnership and other associations, but we would want to understand what will happen to global trade, the fate of the World Trade Organization (WTO), which we all joined, and where the uniform universal rules of settlement are," Medvedev said. "And it is exceptionally important for making a predictable world with uniform rules of conduct in the economic sphere.".
Russia proposing to begin EEC, SCO, ASEAN consultations on possible partnerships
According to the official, Russia proposes to begin consultations between the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) and Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), on the one hand, and ASEAN member-states, on the other hand, on forming possible economic partnerships.
"Russia proposes to begin consultations between the EEU, the SCO with the inclusion of the countries going to join it and ASEAN on setting up possible economic partnerships on the principles of equality and respect for one another's interests," he said.
It is essential, in the first place, to concentrate on protection for capital investment, optimization of the procedures for cross-border movement of commodities, and joint elaboration of technological standards for products, Medvedev said.
In addition to it, he mentioned the prospect for an integrated transport system of the SCO.
"It would be rational to concentrate efforts on a number of areas, like the transport infrastructure and gives a key to the development of large-scale business projects," Medvedev said. "The main place should be given to the initiatives uniting several member-states of the SCO that have the plans for modernizing their communication."
"The idea of an integrated transport system seems to hold much promise," he said adding the system would rely on the potential of the already existing or newly created transport corridors, including Russia's Trans-Siberian Railroad and the Baikal-Amur Mainline.
"We’re currently laying down the legal groundwork for this," he said.
As he mentioned the favorable conditions for automobile haulage, he called for putting an appropriate SCO agreement into effect earlier initially planned.
"We need to put it into effect earlier as it would allow us to estimate the demand for automobile haulage and to draw up a clear plan for translating the idea into practice," Medvedev said.