Vzglyad
Russian minister rejects Canada's Arctic claim
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his Canadian counterpart, Lawrence Cannon met in Moscow on Thursday to discuss their countries' claims to the Arctic shelf and options for cooperation in the region.
Cannon alarmed experts and politicians on Wednesday, ahead of his meeting with Lavrov, by saying that Canada has proof that Russia's claims are invalid.
Russia bases its claims to a significant section of the Arctic shelf on the argument that the Lomonosov Ridge, a mountain chain running underneath the Arctic, is an extension of its continental shelf, something Canada categorically refutes.
Following Thursday's talks, Lavrov said only the UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf can rule on their competing claims.
The Russian minister said that the UN commission's role was to consider the various countries' claims to extend their sections of the continental shelf based on research data.
"We have submitted our claim, which was considered, after which [the commission] issued its recommendations regarding additional information," Lavrov said. "We are now collecting this information. Everything must be based on verifiable data."
The UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (1982) stipulates that any coastal state can claim undersea territory 200 nautical miles (322 km) from their shoreline and exploit the natural resources within that zone.
Russia, the United States, Canada, Denmark and Norway have been trying to assert their jurisdiction over parts of the Arctic, which is believed to contain 25% of the Earth's undiscovered oil and gas. They have been running Arctic expeditions to collect evidence in support of their claims.
In 2001 Russia was the first to file a claim to extend its Arctic shelf area, but it was returned for lack of evidence. Lavrov said Russia was gathering additional evidence to bolster its next claim, to be submitted in 2011.
Canada has until 2013 to submit proof of the validity of its claim to the United Nations.
GZT.ru
New trade unions group to be set up in Russia
Next week will see the establishment of a new unions group in Russia. The Russian Union of Trade Unions will aim to counterbalance the Federation of Independent Trade Unions, which is blocking the non-member trade unions from participating in collective contracts.
On September 20, Moscow will host a founding congress of the new unions group, its organizers announced on Thursday. They said their goal is to restore public confidence in trade unions undermined by the Federation's "obsolete policies."
The new group leaders will begin with the minimum wage issue. The old Federation's policy on the issue is obsolete, and so are its methods of protecting employees, the congress organizers said in a news release.
"We are proposing a simple scheme. The minimum monthly wage should be regularly indexed by an amount equal to the relevant consumer prices increment estimated by the Statistics Committee," explained Yevgeny Kulikov, member of the Interregional Railway Workers Union and the new group activist. Many Russians' wages are still at the level of two years ago despite the inflation, he added.
The unions that plan to join the new group include over 7 million workers, while the Federation of Independent Trade Unions, Russia's largest unions association, has 25 million members. "The new alliance will be comparable with the Federation in influence; although smaller in size, it will be more active," Sergei Vostretsov, head of the Sotsprof Trade Union Association, said in May.
The Federation leaders, in turn, are convinced that an alternative group is unlikely to become effective or influential. Indeed, analysts and union members, while criticizing the Federation's ineffectiveness, still admit its influence on the country's largest companies.
"Nothing will come of it," the Federation secretary, Alexei Shershukov, said bluntly. "An attempt to create a rival to the Federation by reorganizing Sotsprof is no news. Several officials from the Presidential Executive Office had the same idea a few years ago. There is an axiom that any competition is good. But, what is good for supermarkets is unacceptable for trade unions," he said.
Rossiyskaya Gazeta
CIS free trade zone is nearing completion
The CIS free trade zone agreement is mostly agreed upon, and should be ready to sign in the coming months, Russian Economic Development Minister Elvira Nabiullina said at the meeting of CIS economic ministers yesterday.
She said the document was very important and highly anticipated by everyone, including the business community. The free trade zone will provide for increased trade efficiency by creating conditions for free movement of goods within the Commonwealth and will raise CIS integration to a qualitatively new level. Experts predict that it will promote trade and encourage acquisition of new technology, thus facilitating the modernization process.
The agreement commits the member-states to uniform trade rules, protection measures, and dispute resolution procedures, Nabiullina said. As previously reported, the free trade zone is likely to include Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Armenia, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan and Ukraine.
The basic principles of the agreement are based on WTO rules, which is particularly important to WTO members Kyrgyzstan and Ukraine.
Economic and trade relations with the CIS countries are a priority for Russia, Nabiullina stressed. To back up her statement, the minister produced statistical data, according to which trade volume between Russia and the CIS has increased 41 percent during the first seven months of this year, rebounding from a 36.2 percent decline during the economic downturn. The free trade zone agreement was initiated by Moscow which is chairing the CIS in 2010. The existing bilateral free trade agreements that were concluded twenty years ago, no longer meet modern integration requirements.
Of course, the free trade zone regime will not be as liberal as with the Customs Union of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan. What is more important here is to launch the process of trade integration. Experts believe the creation of the free trade zone may lead to the establishment a single customs area in the future. This is especially important considering the increasing role of regional common markets in the world economy in the coming years.
Currently there are at least seven free trade zones in the world, including the North American, the European, the Baltic, the Australia-New Zealand, the Bangkok, and the alliance of Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela.
Kommersant
Arab investors offer Rostekhnologii $800 million
Investors from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are ready to invest $800 million in Rostekhnologii projects. The state corporation will announce the creation of direct investment funds for infrastructure ($500 million) and development ($300 million) projects on Friday at a forum in Sochi. This is the first time that Rostekhnologii has been trusted with managing foreign investment. In the past it has handled mostly state assets.
A month ago Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin announced that Rostekhnologii and oil company Crescent Petroleum would sign documents on an investment fund totaling $500 million at a Sochi forum. Kommersant managed to obtain details of the project to be launched during the Sochi forum on Friday. On Friday, Prominvest, Rostekhnologii's investment arm, will sign documents with key UAE investors setting up companies to manage the two funds, Kommersant was told by the state corporation. The company Gulftainer will be Rostekhnologii's partner in the $500 million fund.
Damac Group, one of the largest developers in the Middle East, is prepared to allocate another $300 million, to real estate projects. Hussain Sajwani, Damac chairman, flew into Sochi on Thursday to sign the agreement. Rostekhnologii has already chosen several projects for the fund's investors. They involve modernizing the Zelenaya Roshcha (Green Grove) Hotel in Sochi as part of the Olympics construction program, building a data processing center for a Rostekhnologii operation, and the construction of a sports facility 290,000 sq m in size in west Moscow.
Infrastructure fund projects have not yet been selected, Rostekhnologii says. It mentioned telecommunications, metals, and logistics as some of the ventures that are of potential interest to Middle Eastern investors. "We are interested in intra-corporate logistics and could use the expertise of Gulftainer, which specializes in such projects," said a Rostekhnologii spokesperson. But Middle East investors seem to be primarily interested in port infrastructure. A Kommersant government source said that the subject was discussed in August, during a meeting between Hamid Jafar, chairman of Crescent Petroleum, and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. Putin expressed interest in attracting investment into that sector of the Russian market.
Early in August, a government resolution included a number of port assets in Novorossiisk, Murmansk, Tuapse, and the Khabarovsk Territory into a tentative privatization plan for 2010.
Nezavisimaya Gazeta
Global arms trade: contracts down to 2005 level
The U.S. Congressional Research Service has prepared a report which says that the global economic recession has had a strong impact on the arms market. According to its findings, last year saw only $57.5 billion worth of arms contracts concluded worldwide: 8.5% less than in 2008. Experts agree that the economic situation rather than wars and conflicts influence weapons purchases.
On Thursday, U.S. law-makers returned to work after their summer recess. In the remaining weeks before November's elections, they are expected to focus on the economy. Especially since congressmen and senators have just obtained fresh data on the negative impact of the recession on U.S. arms-makers.
This data indicates that worldwide contracts for 2009 totaled $57.5 billion: 8.5% down on 2008. Experts link this fall to the global recession. Last year, the United States was the world leader in arms sales, concluding contracts worth $22.6 billion. The Americans cornered 39% of the global market.
Russia, ranking second, is a long way behind. Last year, its contracts were worth $10.4 billion. It is followed by France, Germany, Italy, China and the United Kingdom.
Ruslan Pukhov, director of the Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies, comments: "Contrary to the widespread misunderstanding that conflicts and wars determine the global arms market, it is in fact the overall economic situation that plays the main role," he said, adding "It has long been noted that the arms and oil markets follow the same pattern. As oil prices grow, the leading petroleum economies - Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Venezuela and others - boost their arms purchases." Also, states usually sign arms contracts after a lengthy period of economic growth.
There is no plain answer to whether the recession has affected the Russian arms sector. Pukhov says that a series of contracts are off. But this could have been due both to economic and political causes. There are ongoing talks on the supply of Russian weapons to Saudi Arabia. On the other hand, very good contracts have been signed with Vietnam. Finally, basing an evaluation of the arms market on just one year may not be the best approach.
RIA Novosti is not responsible for the content of outside sources.
MOSCOW, September 17 (RIA Novosti)
