Chairman of the Management Board at the Institute for Contemporary Development (ICD)
Targeted improvements of Russia’s legislation that are linked not only to its WTO entry but also to its potential accession to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) are essential and will be made.
The St. Petersburg International Economic Forum provides unique opportunities for interviewing people who would not normally talk to the media on a regular basis. Luckily for us, as forum participants, they are obliged to speak before the cameras and answer questions, whether they like it or not. This is really beneficial for the ‘Russia’ brand.
For the time being the impression is that Medvedev has decided to follow in Putin’s wake. He has himself decided to distance himself from a number of modernization initiatives. In addition, he has abruptly given up on a number of other side issues that are still followed by the thinking part of society, such as the Magnitsky case and the YUKOS saga.
Investors seek more politically stable havens and financial markets in periods of panic or plain old anxiety. Nor do investors enter a market until they completely understand the country’s foreign investment strategy.
Regardless of who becomes president in 2012, there is no alternative to modernization. Key economic indicators, the state of society’s political structure, society’s overall state and its expectations of change all show that modernization has no alternative.
