Address by the President at the Global Russia Business Meeting

Brdo pri Kranju, 17.5.2010  |  speech

Address by Dr Danilo Türk, President of the Republic of Slovenia, at the Global Russia Business Meeting (Transcript of oral remarks)
Brdo pri Kranju, 17 May 2010


I welcome you this morning at the beginning of the working day of your conference, the Global Russia Business Meeting.

This is a moment at which it is important not only to meet but to discuss the issues of the future, including in particular future economic cooperation in a new spirit. I am saying this for two reasons. There is a perception that the worst part of the recession is behind us. This may or may not be true, but the energy of economic cooperation will certainly help make it true.

The European Union is witnessing slow restoration of growth. We remain optimistic, notwithstanding the problems which Europe has to solve. And the world has seen restoration of growth, which has been quite vigorous in certain parts of the world, including in Russia. This in itself is an invitation to a serious discussion on new forms of economic cooperation, to new priorities and new visions. But then there is a broader picture, which we also have to keep in mind, and that is the political landscape in which this business cooperation is taking place. And let me emphasise this aspect very strongly.

The international political landscape is changing and it is changing for the better. This is something we have to understand and something that we have to take advantage of. This has not always been the case, but now we are in an era when cooperation and resetting of relations is a reality.

Let me very briefly refer to a recent experience which I had when I visited Moscow, together with other heads of state, for the Victory Day Parade on 9th May. It was very interesting to experience the whole event, the spirit in which it took place, and the very friendly nature of communication, visible at every step – not only in meetings with the highest officials, including the President of the Russian Federation and the Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, but also in meeting veterans and people in the streets of Moscow.

This is an era of hope, optimism and friendship. And this is something one can clearly feel. It is not only that four NATO countries participated in the parade: the United States, United Kingdom, France and Poland, but, also, that there was a genuine spirit of friendship and of optimism.

When the parade ended with the Ode to Joy by Beethoven the guests were not entirely sure whether we should stand up – was that the anthem of the entire Europe – or should we just enjoy the beauty of music, played by the orchestra of the Russian armed forces, about 1000 musicians? We opted for the latter - for the musical pleasure. We were not daring enough to welcome that piece of music as the anthem of the entire Europe. But maybe there will be another parade in some years to come when the whole atmosphere will go even further and we shall enjoy it and also symbolically recognise that we are one system, that the era of divisions is behind us.

All this is, of course, symbolism and atmospherics. But, as you know, both in business and in politics atmospherics is important. And it has a very solid and very concrete basis. If one only thinks about the important break-through of Russia and the United States, who recently concluded an agreement on strategic nuclear weapons, one understands that this success is real and that it has come after many years of stalemate. We have seen progress now and we are optimistic. There is more progress to be made.

And when we are thinking about conditions which have to be established for an expanded, vigorous, dynamic business cooperation, we can clearly think of an agenda consisting of three large areas. And each of these areas has a number of items. The first area is security, the second area is the creation of economic conditions for an expanded cooperation, and the third area is the rule of law and human contacts. Let me very briefly refer to each of them.

Security, obviously, is a complex area and it consists of an agenda, which has to be appreciated and understood as a whole - and, if possible, it has to be addressed as a whole. I have referred to the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START), which was concluded between Russian Federation and the United States.

But there is more to do. There is a need to address the issue of tactical nuclear weapons, something that many of European countries have already mentioned. There is a need to deal with missile defence systems in a new way, in a cooperative way, possibly in an integrated way, in the form of a single missile defence system, which would include Russia and NATO as partners.

And obviously, there is a question of conventional weapons. We now are approaching an era in which the existing systems of conventional forces will have to be reviewed and revised. This is a vital need for the future partnership and for the creation of a good security basis for future economic cooperation and for cooperation in general.

So, let us think about the security agenda. Obviously, your work does not include negotiations on security issues but it is important that the business communities from Russia and from Europe, as well as from every other part of the world understand the importance of seizing the momentum which now exists and of making the security agenda something dynamic, something that would go further.

We will have important opportunities in the future. NATO is discussing its new strategic concept. That concept should include partnership with Russia, a partnership which will go much beyond the current misunderstandings. We sometimes see Russia as aspiring to have the veto power over NATO decisions. On the other hand we see the Western partners being prepared to grant Russia a kind of an "observer status", which is also insufficient. There has to be genuine partnership and the NATO strategic concept should be able to provide a framework for one. The European Union on its part will have to figure out how it fits into this picture. And obviously, the forthcoming Russia-EU summit in Rostov-on-Don will be an opportunity to address those sensitive political issues as well.

Let us not think that these issues are separated from the economic future of our cooperation. They are very much part of it and let us take them seriously. Let me also say that in this context it would be important to seize the opportunity produced by President Dmitry Medvedev of Russia, who has proposed a treaty on a new security architecture in the European area, meaning the wider European area, including the United States and Canada, the OSCE area. This is an important initiative. I responded to it favourably, many other presidents have done the same, and I believe that now we have to deal with this initiative in a constructive manner, in an open-minded manner and as a part of the broader security landscape.

The security issues are among the important basic, fundamental issues, which the international community will have to address in order to create a solid political and security basis for the future economic cooperation.

And when one talks about the economic cooperation one must also see innovation which is taking place in this domain. Let me refer only to one area of innovation, the Partnership for Progress, which is a concept that has been developed within the European Union and on the basis of which specific agreements between European Union countries and Russian Federation are already being concluded. Some people would say that Partnership for Progress is just new terminology, that we are talking about a terminological innovation, which doesn't bring all that much new economic and technological substance. But let us not be too sceptical. Let us think about the opportunities which exist.

I have seen some of those documents which define the content of that cooperation and I must say that the content of the documents recently concluded seems very exciting. One talks, obviously, about certain basic issues in this regard, for example, of the need for Russia to become a full member of the World Trade Organisation. I think we, especially Europe has to do more to make sure that this happens in a not too distant future. We know that there were complications in the past, but let us think of the whole situation today in light of these new circumstances, the new opportunities that exist, and let us work for an early membership of the Russian Federation in the World Trade Organisation.

These are the fundamentals. But then there are new elements in the picture, such as for example new technologies, green technologies, working together for support of small and medium-size enterprises and many other issues. All this is being addressed in the agreements on the Partnership for Progress.

Let us think if the forthcoming meeting in Rostov-on-Don will be able to give a new impetus, a new energy to this process, and to overcome the existing doubts. There has been a lot of terminological innovation in the EU-Russia cooperation, but the time has come to change terminology into real substance. The meetings like yours can be a welcome opportunity to consider what are the priorities, what are the real contents of a partnership, which is a partnership for genuine, economic and technological progress. This may include some larger projects or some long-term activities. In the area such as telecommunications, obviously, things will not happen overnight. But there is a great deal of need for expanded cooperation in that regard. The question of infrastructure, of traffic infrastructure in Russia - again, an area, which requires strategic thinking and strategic partnerships. And there are many other areas.

Let us not neglect energy. Obviously, energy is always one of the priorities in a discussion on Russian engagement with the rest of the world. And on energy too, we have to think in an innovative sense. We now have seen that the North Stream pipeline is becoming a reality. The South Stream is coming to a point at which there will be definitive progress, but the pace of it is yet to be determined. But let us have a vision. Let us have a vision of these two huge energy projects, which can be combined with a variety of other energy sector projects and put into a multilateral framework. This was not the case so far. So far individual countries have been negotiating with Russia various issues related to those projects. But perhaps the European Union in particular needs a kind of a combined, multilateral approach, not one based on the idea of diversification, because there is one main source of energy, and that is Russia. And therefore one needs to consolidate the existing approaches, make them more comprehensive, make them more shared and make them more multilateral. This is the need of our time.

Slovenia is becoming a centre of the European Union's energy sector regulators. It will host the headquarters of an institution of the European Union, the Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER). Obviously, we shall be interested in the subject of energy not only as a consumer of energy, not only as a transit country in the making, because we are part of the South Stream project, but also as a conscious EU member, who would like to help. And again, this is something to be discussed, something to be considered in a long-term context. Obviously, your meeting does not need to go too far into these sorts of issues, but it is important to keep them on your minds as you proceed with your conversations.

And finally, on issues of the rule of law and human contacts. Rule of law is fundamental for successful business. Legal stability, legal predictability has been proven to be of essence for any form of economic success. And we have to think about what is needed to make that happen. Partnership for Progress is a part of that. Multilateral and other stable frameworks for energy cooperation are a part of that. But there may be many other areas in which the rule of law has to be strengthened. At the recent celebrations in Moscow I also had the opportunity to talk to the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, who is very excited about the prospects of sharing experience and cooperating with Russia on an entire range of issues of the rule of law. So let us think what an agenda for the rule of law would be and where the European institutions can help. Suggestions from business meetings like yours to political leaders and to international organisations are very valuable.

And let me conclude with one point, which I think is the most practical and most necessary at present, and that is human contacts and visa liberalisation. We have seen problems in communication between European Union countries and Russia and I believe that that applies to other parts of the world and Russia as well where existing restrictions in the visa regimes are a major impediment to business communication. This is a big problem. In the meetings in Brussels early last week I discussed this issue with a number of leaders of the European Union, including the President of the Council Herman Van Rompuy and others. I must say that awareness is starting to grow that we have to make specific moves which will liberalise that communication. Obviously, this is something that always creates a debate in the European Union, and it is not an easy subject. The European Union is highly regulated and is sometimes also unnecessarily scared.

But the European Union also has recent experience. We have seen in the Balkans, in the places like Serbia and Macedonia, how visa liberalisation can change the entire political climate, and that is very important. That is a very important value to be added to our relationship. Sometimes people say: well, Russia is a huge area and one should be aware of the dangers of crime and other unsavoury elements. But we all know that criminals find their ways irrespective of visa restrictions. Visa restrictions are very harmful to business people, to students, to journalists and others, who would benefit greatly from communication.

We have to think especially about young people, we have to give the young people in Russia and in the European Union countries an opportunity to communicate, to meet, to travel, to know about each other much more than is the case now. So, we are talking about something that is really fundamental. Visa regimes may look very practical and very bureaucratic. But they are also very fundamental. Let us not forget, freedom of movement is one of fundamental human rights. And when we expand the area of freedom of movement, we are helping human rights and the quality of societies involved.

The visa liberalisation process should continue and the positive experience in the Balkans could be expanded. Wherever there are problems resulting from a more liberalised visa regime, they need to be addressed as such and not as ideological or bureaucratic problems which would stop the entire process of liberalization. I think that visa liberalisation should be taken as a basic principle and then individual problems which arise should be solved case by case. If we do so, we shall make huge progress.

And we have to be imaginative also in the practical sense. I think it would be very useful if there were more visa centres where individual visa applications could be dealt with more expeditiously than has been the case so far. This is a bureaucratic instrument which can be developed without too much difficulty. There would have to be more frequent meetings between authorities on both sides, to make sure that we all have a sufficiently specific idea about where we are and what the problems are. So, we need much more practical dialogue, a much more sophisticated administrative process for the purpose of visa liberalisation, and an expanded institutional infrastructure of visa centres, which would allow people to obtain visas more quickly.

I wanted to end my remarks by making these very specific points, because I know that for business communities freedom of communication and freedom of movement are essential and that they are not only a matter of practical choices. They are a fundamentally important matter and I would like you to know that in the European Union there is a growing understanding of this importance. There is also a growing constituency which is working for that and I am sure that that constituency will grow further.

I started my remarks with an optimistic note of a fairly general nature. I wanted to conclude then on in an optimistic note of a more practical nature. You are practical people and I am sure that you would be in agreement with me to say: Well, let us use such opportunities as the current business conference to discuss those practical things and see how to make sure that the opportunities generated at present are fully used.

I wish you every success in your work. I wish you to come to Slovenia again to use our country as a meeting point. There are businesses here that are interested in expanding cooperation, which is already very good, but it can be expanded further and, as you will see, we can also offer a quiet and friendly place where business people from the entire world meet, discuss important and useful things and go home with an understanding that they have done something useful and something good for the future.

Thank you very much.