MOSCOW, January 30. /ITAR-TASS/. The Civil Platform party favors economic integration between Russia and the European Union, according to a draft document “Russia’s Foreign Policy Doctrine”, which has been prepared by the party’s experts.
The draft has been debated at a session of the Civil Platform session and envisages “taking a strategic decision on accession to the European Union.”
The experts consider the EU one of Russia’s promising partners. They believe that it is necessary “to introduce a visa-free regime and unify educational standards. Integration into the European Union will allow Russia to get access to high-tech resources and overcome the lag between Russia and the West”.
So, they say real prerequisites can emerge to form a new world center of power involving Russia, the EU and Japan.
The authors also set several foreign policy priorities, including “the protection of rights of Russian citizens and ethnic Russians abroad.” As of today Russia’s power has not worked out a clear foreign policy strategy on long-term economic interests.
Cooperation with Japan
The Civil Platform party believes that Japan, not China should become Russia’s key strategic partner.
The party’s experts presented a concept of Russia’s foreign policy at a session of the Civil Platform’s Federal Political Committee on Thursday. The concept was presented by a member of the Federal Political Committee, Solomon Ginzburg.
“Japan should become for us as Germany in the East. Germany is our major partner in the West,” Ginzburg said.
At present, no lobby has been created to promote the concept, he said, adding “We should reach out to Japan and not China.”
“Until now Japan has invested about two billion dollars in Russia’s economy. Let’s compare: Japanese businessmen invest in Brazil and Thailand 20 times more than in Russia,” he said.