Vladimir Putin will attend one of the final events of the summit and visit other locations in Chile as well as travel to the capital of a South American giant, Brazil. This should be regarded as the general intensification of Russia's economic presence in the world, including in the countries farthest from Moscow. Both the summit that Putin and the 20 other leaders of the economies that make up APEC are attending and Putin's negotiations in Santiago and Brasilia are part of the general process of business integration not only in the Pacific region, but in the world as a whole.
APEC was created in 1989 and is unjustifiably considered a purely economic organization that promotes efforts to turn the region into a free trade zone. This is unjustified because at the crossroads of economics and politics, life creates new tasks for APEC. Thus, at a preparatory session for the forum, a high level official from a major APEC country called on APEC members to stop being held hostage by the organization's previous goals because a number of new realities had recently emerged.
In particular, new and important decisions on the fight against terrorism are expected to be made at the summit in Chile. However, in the spirit of the organization, the decisions will be economic and concern money.
For example, decisions will be made on recommendations to introduce uniform security systems for freight transportation (which were mentioned at the previous forums) and for sea ports. There may also be ideas about new measures for aircraft passenger screening, the so-called electronic border concept.
Russia is actively involved in this process. APEC's important role is not always apparent because it is not a forum, but rather an organization that works all year through numerous sessions and seminars that produce recommendations which are later incorporated into national laws. APEC members do not miss a chance to mention this at the forums. Moscow's representatives will be able to mention their contribution to APEC and the fulfillment of their obligations to APEC at the forum.
Another thing that can be expected at the forum in Chile is the active participation of Russian businessmen.
APEC is a business organization for businesses, rather than for government officials. An APEC forum's main event is the CEO Summit that leading businessmen from regional countries -from the United States to such small countries as Brunei - attend. Three leading entrepreneurs represent each economy at APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC) sessions. These sessions are also important because the business community's recommendations to heads of state are formulated during these sessions. (The heads of state take the recommendations into consideration in their policies.)
According to Irina Speranskaya, executive secretary of the Russia-APEC 2004 organizing committee, over 90% of Russian businessmen going to Santiago this year, attended APEC forums in Bangkok and Los Cabos, Mexico. Therefore, Russian businessmen have some experience and established contacts and businesses in the Pacific region. Companies like Interregional Investment Bank will be attending the forum for the first time. Their goal is to join the Pacific club, meet colleagues from other countries and generate new ideas.
Gazprom, Vneshtorgbank and Bazovy Element are the three key Russian participants in the forum because they represent Russia in the ABAC, APEC's most important structure. They also are representative of the Russian economy's involvement in the region: energy, banking and nonferrous metals. However, emphasis on technology, with which Russia was initially planning to join APEC in the 1990s, is still questionable. Nevertheless, there is hope that the many other members of the Russian business delegation's extensive and persistent work will help them to achieve the desired results. Speranskaya noted that at least some of the businessmen going to South America will be pleased to see APEC's work. In addition, these businessmen have specific plans as regards Chile and Brazil including aircraft manufacturing (Inversia company and the Ilyushin complex both have interests in Latin America and the Pacific region).
Perhaps, the first clear declarations that Russia was no longer a sick economy, but a rapidly growing one, were first made at the 2000 APEC forum in New Zealand. At that forum, Vladimir Putin, who was prime minister at the time, told about this to the audience. Today, with the Russian economy still on the rise (it may grow by 7% instead of the projected 5.2%), the Russian president and other Russian participants would be on firm ground.
