Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev received an invitation to a conference on security in Munich. According to experts, this invitation may indicate that the main issues on the agenda of the upcoming conference will be the issues of the economy.
MOSCOW, 21 Jan. The invitation of the Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Dmitry Medvedev at a security conference in Munich may be due to the fact that economic issues will be Central in the agenda and with the desire of Russia to represent the country, without drawing the figure of the President, according to polled analysts.
Earlier Thursday, Prime Minister’s press Secretary Natalia Timakova has informed that Medvedev has received an invitation from the organizers of the security conference in Munich. After discussion with Russian President Vladimir Putin, it was decided that the Prime Minister will head the Russian delegation, she said. As told journalists the President’s press Secretary Dmitry Peskov, Putin will not attend the conference because it does not fit into his work schedule.
Economic issues come to the fore?
The invitation of the Prime Minister of the Russian Federation suggests that the main issues on the agenda of the forthcoming conference on security in Europe will be economic, said the Director of the International Institute of the newest States Alexey Martynov.
“Actually the Prime Minister, as the second person in the state is responsible for economic bloc,” the expert added.
He recalled that in previous years the agenda of such events was considered in a greater degree the issues of foreign policy, now with them all “more or less clear”, and an increasingly relevant economic subjects. Also on the agenda is the question of waiver of sanctions policy, restoring economic ties, which can also be discussed on the sidelines of the conference.
“Dmitry Medvedev will go to this conference to represent Russia, present the Russian economy and to discuss, primarily, issues of economic cooperation on the European continent, i.e., the dismissal or the rejection of the unreliable from the point of view of the organizers of the sanctions policy, restoring economic ties. While the restoration of economic ties is a humanitarian issue, and it is those challenges that now face Europe – I mean the million influx of migrants,” — says Martynov.
He suggested that in addition to formats of statements that suggests a similar event, also held several rounds of bilateral negotiations in the economic sphere.
There are no preconditions for breakthroughs in the West’s position
According to the President of Institute of national strategy Mikhail Remizov, the choice as the head of the Russian delegation in Munich is not the President, and the premiere is associated not with possible topics of discussion: the President “believes that no sufficient reasons to expect any breakthroughs in the positions of Western States”, the expert said.
“Those steps that could have been done on convergence, they are made. Obviously, the President must go into orbit to have a critical impact on any questions. I don’t see any other political motive, except the simple desire to provide a high level representation using a figure of the President”, — said the Agency interlocutor.
According to the Agency Sputnik, the Munich security conference (IBC) will be held from 12 to 14 February. According to the Chairman of ICD, Wolfgang Ischinger, the Central theme of the meeting will be the prevention of conflicts and review of governance arrangements. According to him, Putin in a friendly tone twice rejected the invitation to the Munich conference.
The Munich conference was founded in 1962 as “the meeting of representatives of defense ministries” of the countries-members of NATO, currently is an international forum gathering politicians, diplomats, military, business, scientific and public figures from more than 40 countries. Since 2009 also holds annual offsite meetings in a more narrow composition. The last such meeting was held in October 2014 in the Indian capital new Delhi. The next meeting of the group will be held in 2016 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
