The 2018 Gaidar Forum’s main theme is Russia and the world: values and virtues.

The 9th Gaidar Forum

16 January 2018

The 9th Gaidar Forum

16 January 2018

Предыдущая новость Следующая новость

The Gaidar Forum is an ongoing discussion platform for pressing current issues. The forum has been held annually since 2010 in memory of Yegor Gaidar, a researcher, economist and ideologist of the early 1990s reforms in Russia. Forum discussions centre on Russia’s place and strategic role in the world.

Among forum moderators are high-ranking politicians and prominent experts, members of the Russian Government, representatives of regional authorities, and leading economists from Russia and around the world.

The forum’s objective is to involve leading global researchers and experts in discussions of economic and political issues; to maintain a continuous expert dialogue on key political and economic problems; to address major trends and key events of national and global economy and politics; to produce strategic proposals and recommendations on the development of the Russian economy.

The forum was organised by the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA), the Gaidar Institute for Economic Policy and the Yegor Gaidar Foundation.

More to be posted soon…

The Ladoga Skerries National Park, with a total area of 122,000 hectares, will be developed in the Lakhdenpokhsky, Sortavalsky and Pitkyarantsky municipal districts of the Republic of Karelia on the northern and northwestern coasts of Ladoga Lake. The reason for creating the park is to preserve the unique natural complexes of the Ladoga Lake skerries that have no analogue in Russia and Europe. The decision will form a legal framework for providing a system of special protection for natural complexes and facilities within the national park’s boundaries.

Reference

The Russian Natural Resources and Environment Ministry introduced the measure in line with the federal law On Specially Protected Natural Areas.

The establishment of the Ladoga Skerries National Park (later referred to as the ‘national park’) has been envisaged by the plan for the implementation of the Concept for the Development of Federal Specially Protected Natural Areas until 2020 (approved by the Government’s directive of 22 December 2011 No 2322-r) and the plan for conducting the Year of the Environment in Russia in 2017 (approved under the Government’s directive of 2 June 2016 No 1082-r).

The signed resolution approves the establishment of the Ladoga Skerries National Park, with a total area of 122,000 hectares, in the Lakhdenpokhsky, Sortavalsky and Pitkyarantsky municipal districts of the Republic of Karelia on the northern and northwestern coasts of Ladoga Lake.

The reason for creating the park is to preserve Ladoga Lake’s unique natural complexes of skerries  which have no parallel in Russia or Europe and to maintain biodiversity represented by numerous vascular and non-vascular plants, lichens, seaweeds, mushrooms and softwood of natural origin that have survived in conditions of increasing human impact. The special system of protection for the national park’s premises will help preserve a rare endemic animal species, the Ladoga ringed seal, listed in the Red Data Book of Russia and the Red List of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

The projected national park will include 63 of the Republic of Karelia’s cultural landmarks, including those of federal importance  – camps, burial grounds,  ancient settlement sites (dating back to the period between 6^th-4^th millenniums BC and 12^th-14^th centuries) and the historic centre of Sortavala town with wooden and stones structures from the 19^th-first half of the 20^th centuries.

Unique landscapes and relict plant communities together with historic and cultural sights attract tourists, which will boost educational and ecotourism both in the national park and in the Republic of Karelia.

The results of the comprehensive environmental inspection of the premises validating the attribution of the legal status of a national park to the territory have undergone public discussion and obtained positive reviews from state environmental experts.

The decision will form a legal framework for provision of a special protective regime, effective for natural complexes and facilities within the national park’s boundaries.

In order to develop the market principles of price formation for natural gas, the signed resolution allows Gazprom and its affiliated parties to sell extracted natural gas at non-regulated prices to legal entities for the production of LNG for further export, as of 1 January 2018.

Reference

The document has been introduced by the Ministry of Energy. 

When implementing projects to produce liquefied natural gas (LNG) for export, it is economically feasible to share risks and profits due to the changing global market prices between the LNG manufacturer and supplier. However, the existing procedure of price formation restricts the supplier’s participation in this process. The ability to establish a contractual feed gas price for LNG plants is a key condition for participation in large-scale projects of foreign investors and institutions that provide long-term financing. The absence of the mechanism of gas supplies at contractual prices reduces the attractiveness of projects for the construction of LNG plants and thus restricts direct investments in capital-intensive sectors of the Russian economy.   

In order to develop the market principles of price formation for natural gas, the signed resolution allows Gazprom and its affiliated parties to sell extracted natural gas at non-regulated prices to legal entities for the production of LNG for further export, as of 1 January 2018.

A 14,086 hectare nature reserve will be created in the eastern part of the Gulf of Finland (the Baltic Sea), on islands and in the adjoining internal and territorial waters of the sea of the Russian Federation. The reserve will preserve exemplary island ecosystems of the Eastern Baltic while the region is intensively explored. The decision will provide the legal foundation for taking special measures to protect the ecosystems as well as the facilities in the nature reserve.

Reference

The proposal was submitted by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment in keeping with the Federal Law On Specially Protected Nature Areas.

The creation of the Ingermanlandsky State Nature Reserve in the Leningrad Region was approved as per the Plan for Implementing the Concept for the Development of Specially Protected Natural Areas of Federal Significance to 2020 (approved by Government Directive No. 2322-r of 22 December 2011) and the Plan for Marking the Year of the Environment in Russia in 2017 (approved by Government Directive No. 1082-r of 2 June 2016).

Taking into account the proposals received during the public discussion, the name of the state reserve was changed to the Vostok Finskogo Zaliva State Nature Reserve (hereinafter referred to as the reserve). The name reflects the location of the reserve.

The resolution signed by the Government provides for the creation of the Vostok Finskogo Zaliva State Nature Reserve to include 14,086 hectares in the eastern part of the Gulf of Finland (the Baltic Sea), on islands as well as  in the adjoining internal and territorial waters  of the sea of the Russian Federation.

The reserve consists of nine isolated sectors belonging to the Vyborg and Kingisepp municipal areas of the Leningrad Region.

The creation of the reserve aims to preserve exemplary island nature complexes of the Eastern Baltic while the region is intensively explored, to preserve places of the highest concentration of migratory birds and nestling of aquatic and semiaquatic bird species as well as whelping and herding of seals and ringed seals, spawning of valuable wild fish and to maintain the biodiversity on the islands, including to preserve rare and extinguishing flora and fauna species plus to create conditions for education tourism. The special measures to protect the islands within the nature reserve will provide for the conservation of the ringed seal population in the Gulf of Finland, which is now no more than 100.

The materials of a comprehensive ecological survey as well as the inspection of the area, which provide grounds for designating the reserve a federal nature protected area, have gone through public hearings and have received a positive response in a state environmental report.

The decision will provide the legal foundation for taking special measures to protect the ecosystem and facilities within the nature reserve.

Since 2009, Russia has been participating in the international project to build and operate the European X-ray free-electron laser installation (European XFEL). The official opening ceremony took place in Hamburg, Germany on 1 September 2017. The facility is intended for research in a number of areas, including solid state physics, geophysics, chemistry, materials science, medicine, and structural microbiology. The signed directive instructs the Kurchatov Institute National Research Centre to pay the Russian Federation’s share of the operating costs in 2017. The funds for this purpose have been allocated from the 2017 federal budget.

Reference

Drafted by the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation.

Construction of the world’s most powerful free-electron laser, the European X-ray free-electron laser installation (hereinafter European XFEL, installation) has been completed in Hamburg, Germany. The opening ceremony took place on 1 September 2017. The installation will allow for research at a level previously inaccessible for scientists in materials science, nanotechnology, chemistry, and biology, such as studying viruses practically at the atomic level, determining the molecular composition of cells, and creating 3D images in the nanoworld, as well as recording ultrafast chemical processes in real time.

In accordance with Government Directive No.1025-r of 23 July 2009, Russia participates in the international project to build and operate European XFEL. Russia is a key partner in implementing the project and second after Germany in the size of its share (26.79 percent). The Russian Federation has made an important contribution to developing the free-electron laser idea and supplied Russian-made high-tech equipment.

The Kurchatov Institute National Research Centre (hereinafter, Kurchatov Institute) participates in the project on behalf of the Russian Federation.

The Convention on the Construction and Operation of the Installation provides for the schedule of the operating costs, under which the Kurchatov Institute has to pay its share of the costs in 2017-2019.

The signed directive instructs the Kurchatov Institute to pay the Russian Federation’s share of the operating costs. The funds for these purposes have been allocated from the 2017 federal budget.

The directive will enable Russian researchers – as full-fledged participants in international cooperation in physical, chemical, materials science, and biomedical research – to take part in experimental research at the installation, to find applications for what they develop, specifically new synchrotron radiation sources, and to access the most advanced technologies.