International Conference on Economic Change in Former Soviet Republics

Home>>World

Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, January 22, 2003

International Conference on Economic Change in Former Soviet Republics

Strategies will be mapped out at an international conference in Switzerland to help seven former Soviet republics change to market economies, Swiss Radio International (SRI) reported on Tuesday.

DISCUSSION

CHINESE

SEND TO FRIEND

Strategies will be mapped out at an international conference in Switzerland to help seven former Soviet republics change to market economies, Swiss Radio International (SRI) reported on Tuesday.

Swiss Finance Minister Kaspar Villiger is to open the two-day meeting in Lucerne in central Switzerland with an appeal for better cooperation among these countries. The meeting is organized

by the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the Asian Development Bank.

The seven countries involved are Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

Villiger is expected to urge the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) to open their borders to goods and services from their neighbors despite the sometimes deep political differences among them.

"It is a sad fact that these countries are not trading among themselves, and that they are not really cooperating," the SRI quoted Giorgio Dhima, a Swiss Finance Ministry official, as saying.

"If they could work together more closely and open their borders," international financial institutions would help them with supplementary loans, Dhima added.

"Switzerland has a stake in this process because four of these countries are members of the Swiss grouping within the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank," Dhima was quoted as saying.

Some 200 delegates from governments and international organizations are to attend the Lucerne conference, which will address issues like poverty, corruption, debt burden, social policies and the development of the private sector in the seven former Soviet republics.

Questions?Comments? Click here

Russian Air Force to Upgrade 20 Su-27s in 2003

Putin Calls for Union State with Belarus

Bush Rejects China Mechanical Device Import Quota ( 4 Messages)

Reason for China's Development of Manned Spacecraft ( 5 Messages)

How's US$52.7bn Foreign Investment Introduced Into China? ( 5 Messages)

Chinese Bid Farewell to Outworn Doctrine of Egalitarianism ( 6 Messages)

Can US Strategic Intention be Realized? ( 3 Messages)