Russia expects business to actively participate in preparations for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit to be held in the Russian Far East this fall, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday.
“Events have already been held at which our initiatives were submitted for introducing innovative agricultural technologies, creating emergency response centers in the region and establishing cross-border educational space,” Lavrov said at the opening of a session of the Foreign Ministry’s Business Council.
“And, naturally, we count on the promotion of these and other initiatives with the active involvement of Russian business circles,” he said.
Russia hosts APEC on Russky Island near the Far Eastern city of Vladivostok in September.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has endorsed the agenda of Russia’s APEC presidency in 2012, which includes measures to liberalize trade and investment, strengthen APEC economic integration, provide food security, improve transport systems and cooperation on innovation .
Russia has prepared specific proposals on all these areas, Lavrov said.
The Russian Foreign Ministry is formulating the agenda of the forthcoming APEC summit with the assistance of the APEC Business Advisory Council and in cooperation with APEC’s Russian research center, he said.
“I believe that it is in our common interests to involve the leading associations of our entrepreneurs in this cooperation as broadly as possible,” he said, referring to the Russian Chamber of Industry and Commerce, the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs and the Opora Russia public association of small and medium business.
