Gaidar-Naumann Forum In Berlin

On 26 November in Berlin, the FNF Moscow Office and the Egor Gaidar Foundation jointly conducted the annual Gaidar-Naumann Forum, which brought together Russian and German experts and public figures. The topic for this year’s meeting was “The new vector in Russian – German relations, economic cooperation in a time of sanctions and geopolitical alliances”.

In the time of the Russian – German economic relations crisis and the emergence of the Eurasian Economic Union, sanctions create problems for both the German and the Russian economies. At the same time, there exists an explicit need for the Russian economy to modernize. 
The Forum was opened by Dr Karl-Heinz Paqué, Vice-President of the Board of Directors of the FNF, Mr Boris Mints, Chairman of the Managing Board of the Egor Gaidar Foundation and Mr Ernst-Jorg von Studnitz, a former German Ambassador to Russia. 

Dr Karl-Heinz Paqué emphasised that free trade is the basis for economic prosperity and that sanctions have both positive and negative effects which must still be examined. 

Evgeny Gontmakher, Deputy Director of the Institute of World Economy and International Relations, stressed that the sanctions are not the only reason for the deterioration of the Russian economy and mentioned, among other reasons, the Russian economic dependence on oil prices as well as the inefficiency of the state apparatus.

Dr Anatoly Chubais, CEO of Rusnano, expressed his concerns about the refugee crisis and nationalist movements in the EU. He also said that part of the political elite in both the EU and in Russia doesn’t want to search for a compromise which is detrimental to EU –Russia relations because the European and the Russian economies will always be interconnected. Apart from that, Russia and the EU have a common enemy in the Islamic State – one more reason to re-establish political cooperation.
 

Mr Ernst-Jorg von Studnitz, a former German Ambassador to Russia, said that it was a great mistake to exclude Russia from G8 negotiations and NATO consultations, and that dialogue should be continued.

As a part of the event, a documentary, ‘Collapse of an Empire’, was also presented in Germany for the first time.

For more information please visit or contact the Moscow office of FNF here.