Izvestia: CIS summit focuses on cooperation, expanding non-dollar transactions
The Dushanbe-hosted CIS summit showed that cooperation within the organization remains a priority for the Commonwealth of Independent States, the Russian Federation Council told Izvestia. The parties agreed to strengthen cooperation on all fronts, discussed widening mutual settlements in national currencies and maximizing the potential of the free trade zone. In addition, Russian President Vladimir Putin urged his colleagues to coordinate foreign policy actions.
First Deputy Chair of the Federation Council on Foreign Affairs Vladimir Dzhabarov told the newspaper that the key issue the CIS leaders focused on was bolstering interest in cooperation within the organization.
"The Commonwealth is still a priority for all participants, with the exception of Ukraine, which actually terminated its work in the group. Apart from that, all members of the CIS demonstrate a great interest," he noted. "It is extremely important that the parties talk about the need to transition to settlements in national currencies. That is - to get rid of the dollar equivalent," Dzhabarov added.
The Commonwealth once again proved that it is continuing to develop, moreover, the potential for deepening cooperation is evident, Deputy Director of the Institute of the CIS Vladimir Evseev told Izvestia. "The absence of Ukraine did not change anything. If Kiev thinks that this can leave a negative impact, then this is a delusion," the expert said.
The participants exchanged their views on current problems that the Commonwealth is facing. Putin emphasized the importance of cooperation within the CIS on the political, socio-economic, humanitarian and law-enforcement fronts. In addition, the Russian leader noted the need to expand the practice of mutual settlements in national currencies.
Within the framework of the summit, the Russian leader held separate meetings with his Kyrgyz counterpart Sooronbay Jeenbekov and President of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon.
Kommersant: Serbia-Kosovo tensions unlikely to lead to open confrontation
On October 2, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic will arrive in Moscow to discuss with Russian President Vladimir Putin the incident that put Serbia and Kosovo on the brink of war. At the end of last week, Kosovo President Hashim Thaci visited the disputed Gazivode Lake that accommodates a major dam. In response, the army and the Serbian police were placed on full combat readiness. At the same time, diplomatic sources in the region told Kommersant they believe that Belgrade and Pristina are not interested in open confrontation; they are only trying to strengthen their positions in the negotiations on normalizing the situation.
Kommersant's diplomatic sources in the region do not deny the seriousness of the recent incident, however they believe that "it was largely provoked by the parties' tactical considerations." "Normalizing (relations) with Serbia is the subject of an intense domestic political struggle between the Kosovo parties, many of which oppose Thaci's idea of a possible adjustment of borders, and Gazivode is one of the key subjects in the matter," the source told the newspaper. "On Saturday, an opposition rally in Pristina accused the head of state (Thaci) of trying to arbitrarily change borders, and he decided to demonstrate his determination to defend them. Belgrade, on the other hand, by accusing Pristina of provocations, is also trying to strengthen its position in the negotiations on normalization. Both sides are in no way interested in an open confrontation right now," the source added.
The leader of Serbia indirectly confirmed this standpoint. Having brought troops to full combat readiness, Vucic immediately called a press conference, where he urged the Kosovo Serbs to restrain themselves and announced the need to continue dialogue with Pristina. The Serbian president also announced that he intended to meet his Russian counterpart in two days and discuss the situation. According to Vucic, the parties would talks about all vital issues for Serbia, the situation in Kosovo and Metohija, and Putin would be asked for support at international forums, and for advice.
At the time of the Serbian leader’s visit, the joint Russian-Serbian air exercises BARS-2018, scheduled for October 1-5, will kick off in Serbia.
Nezavisimaya Gazeta: Russian-Chinese trade heading towards new record
Following the results of 2018, trade turnover between Russia and China can reach $100 bln for the first time, as Russian President Vladimir Putin had promised earlier. According to Nezavisimaya Gazeta, supplies from Russia to China are now growing mainly due to price hikes on raw materials. At the same time, one of the drivers of Chinese imports is e-commerce, which allows Russians to save money on purchases of non-food items.
Experts interviewed by the newspaper explain why Russia will finally be able to achieve trade turnover of $100 bln with China. "The reason is simple and trivial - high-priced oil and a failed import substitution program. The main growth in trade turnover is from oil and petroleum products. Moreover, imports are growing mainly due to machinery and equipment. We send raw materials to China, and China sends finished products and equipment back to us. And this trend is only growing," Director of the Institute of Contemporary Economy Nikita Isayev told Nezavisimaya Gazeta. According to the expert, anti-Russian sanctions also had impacted the situation.
According to experts, many agree that both the dynamics of commodity prices, and the gradual turn of Russia from the West to the East influenced the turnover. "Of course, the US-China trade war has played its role, but I think this is the least significant factor," NGO "Opora Russia" member Irina Kapitanova said.
At the same time, according to managing partner at Veta Expert Group Ilya Zharskiy, "as a result of the trade war with the United States, the Chinese food market will now open up even faster for Russian suppliers." "And given the fact that China introduces reciprocal duties, in particular for liquefied natural gas from the United States, Russia has every chance to reach the desired volume of trade with China," the expert noted.
Izvestia: Russian envoy to Austria says ‘path of confrontation has no future’
Moscow and Vienna are committed to deepening mutually beneficial cooperation, especially on the economic front, which is the core of bilateral relations, Russian Ambassador to Austria Dmitry Lubinsky said in an interview with Izvestia. He also noted that in 2017, despite the mutual restrictions imposed in 2014, the countries were able to turn the tide and put bilateral trade on the path of sustainable growth.
"On the Russia track, Austria has been conducting a balanced and active policy for many years. Despite the difficulties in our relations with the EU, both Russia and Austria are interested in their full-scale development. The most important thing here is the possibility to frankly discuss the difficulties, since Russia’s and Austria’s views on these problems and ways of solving them largely coincide. Austria is an interesting and significant foreign policy partner for us," the diplomat told the newspaper.
According to Lubinsky, the Austrians openly declare the importance of restoring a normal atmosphere in relations between Moscow and Brussels. This includes, among other things, returning to cooperation in combating urgent challenges and threats. "A key topic is establishing dialogue between the European Union and the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU)," he noted.
"We share this approach and we hope that common sense will prevail in the European Union. The path of confrontation has no future, and I am sure that in the end Brussels will make a choice in favor of mutually beneficial cooperation with our country," the Russian envoy added.
Touching on how bilateral sanctions have impacted Russian-Austrian trade and economic relations, the ambassador noted that since 2014 economic ties between the two countries had been on the rocks. "However, together we managed to reverse this negative trend: in 2017 trade increased by 40%, over the last seven months, compared to the same period last year, mutual trade increased by another 70%. Thus, the trend towards straightening the situation out is fully evident," the diplomat told Izvestia.
Vedomosti: Rusnano, Sistema, RVC invest in video surveillance
The private equity fund Rusnano Sistema Sicar (created by Sistema and Rusnano) and Skolkovo Ventures industrial fund invested $8 mln into the developer of video surveillance systems Ivideon, CEO Andrey Yudnikov told Vedomosti. In addition, representatives of the funds confirmed the information. This is also the first deal by Skolkovo Ventures, investment director of the Russian Venture Company (RVC, investor of the fund) Alexey Basov told the newspaper.
A source close to one of the parties to the deal told Vedomosti that Rusnano Sistema Sicar accounted for 70% of the investment, while the remaining 30% came from Skolkovo Ventures. Representatives of all parties to the deal refused to comment on this.
Yudnikov told the newspaper that Ivideon offers a cloud-based video surveillance service that gives access to video from cameras in real time and from an archive. Ivideon also analyzes video streams and notifies clients about any deviations - for example, movement in a supposedly empty office. By the end of 2017, the service had received more sophisticated analysis system for face detection, queue detection and the like, Yudnikov stated.
The startup became operationally profitable last year, Yudnikov noted. Investors' money will allow the company to double the development team from the current 45 people, and to invest in marketing abroad.
Investments will help the company to step up overseas activity, especially in the small business segment, managing partner of Sistema Alexey Katkov told Vedomosti. By 2022, the world market of cloud-based video surveillance will reach $6 bln, member of Rusnano Sistema Sicar investment committee Sergey Vakhterov informed Vedomosti. According to him, Ivideon now accounts for around 30% of the Russian video surveillance market.
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