Plenary session Success Factors: Ideas, Personnel, Skills.
The
forum’s main theme is National Projects: From Strategy to
Action.
The Russian Investment Forum exhibition includes promising investment projects from the regions and companies.
The Prime Minister visited the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China and talked with China’s Ambassador to Russia Li Hui.
Excerpts from the transcript:
Conversation with Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of the PRC to the Russian Federation Li Hui
Li Hui: On behalf of the President of the People’s Republic of China Xi Jinping and Premier of the PRC State Council Li Keqiang, I would like to convey to you sincere New Year’s holiday greetings and wishes. The Lunar New Year, also known as the Spring Festival, is the biggest and most important holiday for China. It is different from others in that it gathers all family members at one table. Today you are celebrating the Chinese New Year with us. We are very grateful to you. I would like to thank you again for coming here.
Dmitry Medvedev: Mr Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China, colleagues.
I would like to congratulate you and the friendly people of China on the Lunar New Year. This is indeed your biggest holiday and it is a great holiday. We are happy to have this opportunity to meet with you today and to convey our warmest words, our friendliest wishes to the Chinese people.
Some time ago I promised Mr Xi Jinping, President of the People’s Republic of China, that I would visit you one day. Although visits are not made very often, it was very important for us to visit our Chinese friends – the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China, on such a wonderful holiday. I am not sure that we haven’t spoiled your holiday and vacation with this visit because the Chinese people have two weeks off. But as far as I know, the Ambassador and the Embassy employees are working nevertheless. Thank you for receiving us at this time. Please allow me to convey to you, and via you, our best wishes and greetings on the Lunar New Year to President of the People’s Republic of China Xi Jinping and Premier of the State Council Li Keqiang.
We hope to continue our productive contacts in the New Year as well so as to promote the spirit of partnership, our strategic partnership, and cooperation, which has distinguished our relations in the past few years.
In 2019, it will be 70 years since the establishment of diplomatic relations between our countries. In this respect, our visit to the Chinese Embassy is also symbolic. Once again, we are happy to congratulate you on thus big holiday.
Li Hui: Thank you. I am happy to welcome you to our Embassy. This is a big honour for us.
The Prime Minister met with ISO President John Walter and ISO Secretary-General Sergio Mujica.
Excerpts from the transcript:
Meeting with principal officers of the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO). With ISO President John Walter
Dmitry Medvedev: Mr Walter, Mr Mujica, welcome. I am pleased to have the opportunity to meet with you and to discuss interaction between our country and the International Organisation for Standardisation.
I just attended a meeting devoted to industrial development in our country, which speaks volumes about the role of standards. We discussed the need to introduce modern standards (I am talking about some of our country’s industries), and the need to create international standards that would be applicable in our relations with our partners, including the Eurasian Economic Union. I hope that your current visit to our country will be successful, improve mutual understanding, and enhance our country’s participation in the major work that you do.
John Walter (via interpreter): Thank you very much, Mr Medvedev. We are honoured to have this opportunity to meet with you. We do not often meet with prime ministers. Our presence here and the fact that we, the Secretary-General and I, have come here, says that we are striving to build up our ties and at the same time shows that Russia has close ties with the ISO. After all, Russia was one of the founding countries of the International Organisation for Standardisation and is a prestigious and authoritative member of our organisation.
Separately, I would like to note that one of the goals of our visit is to emphasise the importance of Russia’s participation in the ISO, as well as the importance of what we can do to help Russia derive all the possible benefits of using international standards.
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The purpose of the forum is to facilitate the emergence of common initiatives to accelerate the development of digital economies in countries of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) and to enhance their competitiveness. The main topic on the forum’s agenda is the integration of Eurasian technoparks, launching joint innovative projects, as well as sharing the best practices on promoting and supporting IT startups and young professionals.
Excerpts from Dmitry Medvedev’s remarks at the forum’s plenary session:
International Forum Digital Agenda in the Era of Globalisation 2.0: Eurasian Ecosystem for Innovation
It has become a marvellous tradition to come here in early February to discuss the prospects of digitalisation across the EAEU space.
It is crucial for the five countries of the Eurasian Economic Union to become part of this agenda as quickly as possible.
The world is going through the so-called Fourth Industrial Revolution, and the possibilities offered by digital technology are rapidly expanding, including in the field of artificial intelligence, motor transport and quantum computing.
More and more sectors of the traditional economy and even everyday life are going digital.
We have laid the foundation for our joint work on the digital agenda. This was the job Russia set out to do last year during its presidency in EAEU bodies.
Our next step will be to adopt a roadmap for implementing the digital agenda. The Eurasian Economic Commission has already selected eight projects, and another 20 projects are in the pipeline.
We proposed to the members of the Union to start work on four priority integration projects. Of these, two can be implemented under the digital agenda. It is about creating Eurasian internet resources – educational, science, culture and tourism websites, and a digital platform for small and medium-sized businesses. We have developed such a platform, and it is being used quite successfully.
In our country, the digital programme is a national model. It provides for the creation of virtually all components of the ecosystem for the digital economy’s growth. We have earmarked about 1.8 trillion roubles for it for the next five years, or, roughly, $30 billion. Part of this money is from the federal budget, the rest from extra-budgetary sources.
We have pretty good experience in creating innovation ecosystems from scratch. Given the scale and diversity of our economy, this experience can be useful for our partners in the EAEU.
Now we have several tools to stimulate innovation. There is the national technology initiative – a long-term public-private partnership programme to stimulate industries, operating since 2015.
Another innovation leader is the Skolkovo Foundation, which also receives both federal and private funding.
Fundamental and applied scientific research continues to create the groundwork for the development of innovation. We also finance it, of course. Private companies and companies part-owned by the state make their contributions.
Over a period of the next three years, we are to approve at least 30 so-called digital transformation strategies of state corporations and part-owned companies.
We have established the Ministry of Digital Development as part of the new Government formed last year. It is not just a “transformation” of the former Communications Ministry – it implies a change in the development paradigm of this sector, that is, a change in ideology.
Security and digital sovereignty is also a very important field.
Digital integration is a common goal of the Eurasian five. If any of the countries say that they are not ready they will basically miss out on the opportunity for full-fledged communications with the other countries and will not be speaking the same language with them. Therefore, our progress towards the digital agenda, development of common services and a common communications model must be equally shared by everybody.
Since 1 January 2018, our country provided an opportunity for equal access to the software from the states of the Eurasian Union. The key condition is that such software must be included in the common registry of software and databases of the EAEU states. The registry operates alongside a similar Russian registry. Our law on contractual purchases regulates state procurement of software from the companies in the Eurasian five; therefore, copyright holders from the Eurasian Union can register their products in the registry and gain access to our market and participate in the procurement process.
We are ready to offer our Eurasian Union partners interesting software products and digital solutions. The scale of our economy allows for their mass production.
It is the private businesses that are responsible for the economy’s digital transition – by using the state-run infrastructure, both domestically and across the entire Eurasian Union.
We are supporting international projects. Our friends are also building competence centres.
Digital communications is a new special language of human interaction. If we do not learn how to use them together, it will have a negative effect on our competitiveness.
More to be posted soon…
On 1 February, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev will attend a regular meeting of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council in Almaty.
During the meeting, the heads of government from the Eurasian Economic Union’s member countries will review topical matters of integration cooperation within the framework of the Eurasian Economic Union.
For example, they will discuss the implementation of the Intergovernmental Council’s decisions, the implementation of the Union’s digital agenda, efforts to ensure the free movement of goods, services and workforce in the Eurasian Economic Union, as well as certain customs regulation matters.
In addition, members of the Intergovernmental Council will exchange opinions on the status of 2018 mutual trade, on topical economic development trends of the member states and proposals to guarantee sustained economic development.
While in Almaty, Mr Medvedev will also take part in the work of the international forum Digital Agenda in the Era of Globalisation 2.0: Eurasian Ecosystem for Innovation. The forum mostly aims to chart joint measures making it possible to expedite the development of digital economies of the EAEU member countries and to make them more competitive.
Forum participants will discuss prospects for integrating Eurasian technoparks, launching joint innovation projects and exchanging experience in the field of promoting and supporting startup companies and young specialists in the IT sector.