As an expert on Russian-British relations, I think 2019 was a very fruitful year in the development of relations between our countries. Many events were held to form a positive image of Russia in the UK and Great Britain in Russia. Cultural, social, social, political, business and economic events were held.

Let’s go in order:

January – British public organization Westminster Russia Forum signs an agreement with the Russian National Endowment for Public Recognition

January – conducting social networking in honor of the Old New Year

February – An international agreement was signed between the Westminster Russia Forum and the Russian Reliance

February – Russian Culture Festival Maslenitsa in London

February – Appointment of the Westminster Russia Forum Representative in Kazan

March – an article on Russian-British relations was published on the site viperson.ru

April – Westminster Russia Forum and the Siberian Alliance Group of Companies entered into an agreement on cooperation in the development of social and political interaction between countries, business and cultural projects, as well as interaction with Russian regions.

May – May 9th celebration in London with the participation of Russian veterans and veterans of British Arctic convoys on the Belfast cruiser.

June – Nicholas Cobb, Chairman of the Westminster Russia Forum gave a large interview on Russia Today and the Sputnik news agency.

June – Meeting with the chairman of the Siberian Alliance Group of Companies and the director of the British company Cobb Energy Communications, discussed the development of Russian-British relations in the field of energy

June – opening of the Westminster Russia Forum office at the International Business Center. A meeting in the leadership of MGIMO and interaction on educational projects in the UK and Russia.

July – The Westminster Russian Forum took part in the International Forum on the Development of Parliamentarism in Moscow. The representative of Great Britain, Chairman of the Westminster Russian Forum, Nicholas Cobb, took part in the Second International Forum on the Development of Parliamentarism. Nicholas Cobb speaks at a forum meeting in the structure of the International Security Section. Recall that the II International Forum “Development of Parliamentarism” was held at the initiative of the State Duma. This year, 132 countries attended the forum. About 800 foreign guests and delegations from 14 international parliamentary organizations took part in the events.

August – meeting with the General Director of the National Civil Committee and the Deputy Chairman of the Independent Civil Society Organization, discussing the development of Civil Society in Russia and the UK, building joint plans.

August – holding a meeting with Russian Ambassador Alexander Yakovenko and Nicholas Cobb, Chairman of the Westminster Russia Forum at the Russian Embassy in London and discussing the strategic development of Russian-British relations

September – Westminster Russia Forum, RusFor, Siberian Alliance Group together with Rossotrudnichestvo hold a series of events for one month to develop charity to help children with disabilities in conjunction with the National Inva Academy in London

September – The international conference “Prospects and Opportunities for Strengthening Security and Cooperation in Europe” was held on September 27, 2019 in Kaliningrad at the site of the Museum of the World Ocean. The organizer is the Russian political party United Russia. The forum was attended by over 150 representatives of political parties from 30 European countries. As a result of the forum, they signed a memorandum on non-interference in the internal affairs of sovereign states.
Nicholas Cobb, a member of the Presidium and consultant on international relations with Great Britain of the National Civil Committee of the Russian Federation, gave a speech on the formation of a positive image of Russia in the field of ensuring national security of the country and expressed hope for a productive interaction on international security issues between Great Britain and Russia.

October – October 10, 2019 The Westminster Russia Forum, together with MGIMO, the Siberian Alliance Group of Companies, the State Duma and PACE representatives, successfully held the third annual conference in London, dedicated to strengthening international relations between European countries, the UK and Russia. The meeting was held at the site of the international law firm Pinsent Masons in London, which has already become an international platform for the development of interstate relations. The event was attended by 180 top-level delegates, including 22 speakers from Belgium, Russia, Germany, Switzerland and the UK, discussing business, culture, sports, interfaith relations and legal issues, and political interaction between the countries.

October – rewarding with high civilian awards of honored public figures, businessmen, financiers and cultural figures, politicians of Great Britain and Europe from the National Fund for Public Recognition.

October – rewarding with high civilian awards of honored public figures, businessmen, financiers, cultural figures and representatives of Russian government agencies from the Westminster Russia Forum

November – The annual November Russian-British business forum in London brought together a record 1000 business representatives from two countries. This indicates the mutual interest of British and Russian entrepreneurs in the development of cooperation, despite the difficult adverse political weather. Reception at the embassy on the occasion of the completion of the Russian-British business forum.

November – The assumption of the new ambassador of Russia to the United Kingdom, Andrei Kelin

November – the beginning of interaction between Ensemble Productions, Westminster Russia Forum and the International Police Association for the Building of Russian-British Relations in the Field of International Social and Cultural Cooperation

December – opening of the Westminster Russia Club, a Russian-British business club, and registration of the British-Russian Public Chamber in London

December – a series of Russian-British events in conjunction with Rossotrudnichestvo and the Trade Mission in London.

The post WRF in 2019 – A Year in Review By Our Moscow Director, Mr Anton Samoylenko appeared first on Westminster Russia Forum.

We have exciting plans for WRF in 2020 and will continue to expand our events, remit, team and operations into 2020 – more information coming soon.

On a final note thanks to all our supporters for making 2019 a special year for WRF and we wish you a wonderful evening and 2020!

С Новым годом!

Nic Cobb – Chair – Westminster Russia Forum

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In Russia, the New Year is often grander and even more widely celebrated than Christmas, which takes place on January 7. In fact, Russians celebrate two New Years: one on January 1 with the rest of the world and one on January 14, the so-called “old” New Year. The latter is based on the Orthodox Calendar.

The post Russian New Year: Traditions and Celebrations appeared first on Westminster Russia Forum.

Russlands Präsident Wladimir Putin hat laut einer entsprechenden Kreml-Mitteilung ausländischen Staats- und Regierungschefs seine Neujahrswünsche übermittelt.

The post Putin wünscht Merkel und Steinmeier ein gutes neues Jahr appeared first on Westminster Russia Forum.

Like many at this time of the year, we here at the WRF are looking forward to a good rest after what has been a long but productive and successful year with a number of events, a growing blog and committee through to our highly successful annual forum – it has been another important year of growth here at the WRF. Like all organisations, it is important to take stick from time to time to move ahead and this year is no exception – we have fundamentally changed the way in which the WRF operates. Here are a few key takeaways:

• Hugely successful annual multilateral relations conference with some 200 registered attendees, international speakers and great content
•  International presence – we now have ties and partnerships with international sister organisations in Germany, Belarus, Russia and Denmark
• A restructured Exec Board
• Office setup in Moscow and great 2020 plans to launch our Moscow team
• Great events plans for 2020
• An active and growing online blog

So what of our bilateral ties – some 2020 projections. Well from our stand point it has been a good solid year of continued and growing ties – politics and govt – govt issues aside, people to people ties are growing.

Culture, trade, education, sport, tourism and technical ties are growing at a good rate with business exchanges and official trade data well up on previous years. With a new govt in No.10 and a potential end in sight to Brexit to, there remains a glimpse of improvement in ties but as with everything in politics the proof shall be in the pudding.

So withstanding any major geo-political or other incidents, we are entering into 2020 with a good, solid and growing functional relationship. All in all not a bad end to the year!

We look forward to working with you all, meeting at events and enjoying a successful 2020 – seasons greetings to all and hearty thanks from the WRF team for all your support this year!

The post End of Year Message from the WRF & Seasons Greetings! appeared first on Westminster Russia Forum.

Starke Wechselkursschwankungen verzerren internationale Vergleiche; auch beim kaufkraftbereinigten Vergleich kann Russland Rang 5 nicht erreichen

Präsident Putin forderte nach seiner Wiederwahl in seinen „Mai-Dekreten“ unter anderem, dass Russland bis 2024 zu den fünf größten Volkswirtschaften der Welt gehören soll. Bis Oktober solle die Regierung Pläne dafür vorlegen.

Medienkommentare wiesen dazu oft nur darauf hin, Russland rangiere in gängigen Ranglisten bisher nicht einmal unter den „TOP 10“ der Weltwirtschaft. Selten wurde darauf aufmerksam gemacht, dass Russland bei einer Kaufkraftbereinigung des Bruttoinlandsprodukts auf Platz 6 steht.

Wir haben Informationen gesammelt, wie der Internationale Währungsfonds und die Weltbank Russlands Wirtschaftsleistung im internationalen Vergleich einstufen, und was die russische Regierung plant, um ihr Land auf Platz 5 zu bringen.

Wie Wirtschaftsminister Oreschkin Russlands Wachstum beschleunigen will

Anfang Oktober legte Wirtschaftsminister Oreschkin in einer Rede vor dem Föderationsrat dar, dass Russland vor allem durch Maßnahmen zur Erhöhung der Zahl der Erwerbstätigen, mit höheren Investitionen und weiteren Maßnahmen zur Verbesserung der Arbeitsproduktivität für mehr Wachstum sorgen will:

• Erstens werde die Regierung durch eine Verlängerung der Lebensarbeitszeit, eine stärkere Zuwanderung und Veränderungen des Pensionssystems für einen Anstieg der Zahl der Erwerbstätigen sorgen.
• Zweitens habe die Regierung bereits im Juli einen Plan zur Erhöhung der gesamtwirtschaftlichen Investitionsquote auf 25 Prozent des Bruttoinlandsprodukts gebilligt.
• Drittens wolle die Regierung die Arbeitsproduktivität erhöhen, unter anderem durch eine Unterstützung der Digitalisierung der Wirtschaft (siehe Ostexperte.de: Russlands digitale Agenda 2024), verstärkte Innovationsaktivitäten und den Einsatz moderner Management-Methoden.

Oreschkin zeigte sich zuversichtlich, dass das sich das Wachstum der russischen Wirtschaft nur 2019 vorübergehend auf 1,3 Prozent abschwächen werde. Dank der Wirtschaftspolitik werde es 2020 auf 2 Prozent steigen. Danach werde es sich über der 3-Prozent-Marke halten.

Russlands Wachstum werde sogar stärker sein als das Wachstum der Weltwirtschaft. So werde Russlands Wirtschaft in den Kreis der fünf größten Volkswirtschaften der Welt vorstoßen. Dabei werde Russland den vom Internationalen Währungsfonds ausgewiesenen Rückstand seines Bruttoinlandsprodukts gegenüber dem deutschen Bruttoinlandsprodukt in Höhe von 4 Prozent überwinden und einen Vorsprung gegenüber der Wirtschaftsleistung Indonesiens halten.

Wo steht Russlands BIP im Ranking der weltweit größten Volkswirtschaften?

Als Kennziffer für die Produktion einer Volkswirtschaft wird fast immer das Bruttoinlandsprodukt verwendet, also der Wert der im Inland hergestellten Waren und Dienstleistungen (soweit diese nicht als Vorleistungen für die Produktion anderer Waren und Dienstleistungen verwendet werden). Für internationale Vergleiche wird es mit den von den Zentralbanken veröffentlichten Wechselkursen aus der nationalen Währung in US-Dollar umgerechnet.

Bei Umrechnung zu laufenden Wechselkursen liegt Russland nur auf Platz 11

Die Weltbank veröffentlichte in ihrer Datenbank im September solch eine Liste für das Jahr 2017 (Gross domestic product, millions of US-Dollars). Auf ihr sind 200 Nationen nach der Höhe ihres Bruttoinlandsprodukts in jeweiligen Preisen aufgeführt.

Russland erreichte Platz 11 (Bruttoinlandsprodukt: 1.578 Milliarden US-Dollar). Auf Platz 5 steht Großbritannien mit 2.622 Milliarden US-Dollar. Um auf Platz 5 dieser „Weltrangliste“ aufzurücken, hätte das russische Bruttoinlandsprodukt also rund 66 Prozent höher sein müssen.

Auch der Internationale Währungsfonds veröffentlicht Angaben zur Entwicklung des Bruttoinlandsprodukts in jeweiligen (oder laufenden) Preisen. Sie stimmen mit denen der Weltbank für das Jahr 2017 fast völlig überein.

In der Datenbank des Internationalen Währungsfonds lässt sich eine Abbildung zum Vergleich der Entwicklung des BIP in laufenden Preisen in Russland und Deutschland erstellen. Sie zeigt, dass Russlands BIP 2017 in laufenden Preisen rund 57 Prozent niedriger war als das deutsche BIP (rund 3.700 Milliarden US-Dollar).

For more please click for original article

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