Russia Calling: "Life Without Globalization: Uniting Sovereign Economies"

Out with the old and in with the new: The previous manifestations of globalization having been organized to benefit the differing historical chapters of Western Imperialism is at an end with the new chapter’s organization aimed at benefiting the Multipolar World of the Global Majority. Thus, Russia Calling’s message isn’t quite the same as the forum’s theme; a more apt title would be Globalization Without Hegemony: Uniting Sovereign Economies. Main sponsor VTB Bank’s CEO Andrey Kostin gets the plenary session going. The transcript doesn’t include the entire proceeding, just Putin’s participation which is his speech and a short Q&A session. So, let’s dive on in:

Andrey : Dear Vladimir Vladimirovich,

Dear forum participants,

I am glad to welcome you at the opening of the 14th VTB International Investment Forum "Russia is Calling!", which traditionally gathers not only leading representatives of Russian business, but also numerous foreign colleagues. In this regard, our current forum is no exception. Today, there are 295 representatives from 20 countries of the world – first of all, China, India, Turkey, Iran, the countries of the Arabian Peninsula, Central Asia, and Africa.

Throughout all these years, the main objectives of our forum have remained unchanged. First of all, this means attracting foreign investment to the domestic economy, providing the international investment community with the most complete information about business opportunities in Russia, the work of the Government, the Central Bank, and regional authorities to improve the business investment climate.

The forum "Russia is Calling!" has always been aimed at developing equal and mutually beneficial cooperation between our country and the outside world. It is no exaggeration to call it one of the symbols of Russia's openness over the past two decades, its readiness to integrate into the global economy and actively interact with both the West and the East.

In just a few years, the forum has taken its rightful place in the international business calendar and has become a must - have for many investors. All this was made possible thanks to the level of representation, the quality of discussions, and a rich program, but most importantly, of course, thanks to the personal participation of Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin in the work of our forum, which makes this event truly unique.

Let me once again express my sincere gratitude to you, Mr President, for this. We know that you only arrived this morning after a very difficult visit and you are already here.

Dear colleagues and friends, The first forum "Russia is Calling!" was held in the fall of 2009, at the height of the global financial crisis. Despite the fact that at that time geopolitics and the world economy still seemed to exist in parallel, the crisis was the first alarm signal of the unstable unipolar model of globalization, when the rest of the world was seriously unwell from the malaise of one, even the largest economy. Thus, he made us think about the validity of the principles underlying such a model, as well as the risks for interaction in the economy and finance in conditions of complete dominance in these areas by one country and some of its allies.

Subsequent experience confirmed that these concerns were justified: it was finance that became the main weapon of this group of countries for the realization of their own global military and political interests, the most important tool for active interference in the internal affairs of dozens of states in order to undermine internal political stability and change legally elected governments.

In 2002, while in Moscow, then-UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said: speaking out against globalization is the same as refuting the law of universal gravitation. This statement cannot be called completely erroneous. It all depends on what is meant by the concept of globalization, in the interests of whom it is developing. Recent events have shown that the previous monocentric model of globalization has broken down and is in serious crisis.

Today, the planet is undergoing a profound transformation. A significant part of the world, the global majority, whose representatives are present in our hall, has a strong demand for the formation of a more just, multipolar world order, and a new type of globalization. In fact, the title of our forum today, "Life without Globalization: Uniting Sovereign Economies", reflects this long-term trend.

There will be no return of Russia and our country's economy to the previous system. Life shows that a different model of development is possible. It is also symbolized by the geography of our guests.

So far, the situation is such that not everyone who wanted to came. We understand this. In any case, the Rubicon is crossed. Now just go ahead. And we have two busy days ahead of us.

In a few minutes, we will begin the macro-economic plenary session with the participation of the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin. The session will feature speeches by the heads of the financial and economic block, well-known Russian businessmen-Chairman of the Bank of Russia Elvira Nabiullina, Assistant to the President of the Russian Federation Maxim Oreshkin, Minister of Finance Anton Siluanov, Minister of Economic Development Maxim Reshetnikov Vladimir Potanin, President and Chairman of the Management Board of MMC Norilsk Nickel, and Yuri Maksimov, co-founder of Positive Technologies and Siberus.

The session will be moderated by Dmitry Pyanov, First Deputy President and Chairman of the Management Board of VTB Bank. It's his birthday today, so we'll consider it a gift for him.

Tomorrow, thematic sessions and meetings of investors with the management of the largest Russian companies are planned, which will also be interesting and informative.

And one last thing. Our forum has always been famous for interesting cultural events. So today we have prepared for you a performance of the symphony orchestra conducted by the outstanding conductor, Director of the Bolshoi and Mariinsky Theaters Valery Gergiev in the evening before our reception. It is interesting that the concert will not take place as usual, in the walls of the Conservatory or some musical theaters, concert halls. It will be held in the building of the Sports Academy in Petrovsky Park, which VTB Bank presented to children in September this year. This is an academy where today there are sections for football, hockey, gymnastics and many others. And today we decided to organize a cultural festival there.

I would like to wish the 14th VTB International Investment Forum "Russia is Calling!" success and fruitful meetings and discussions to all participants.

It is with great pleasure that I now give the floor to the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin.

Please, Mr Putin.

Vladimir Putin: Dear colleagues, Ladies and gentlemen, Friends!

I would like to welcome all of you – representatives of Russian and foreign business circles-to the forum called "Russia is Calling!"in Moscow. It was created, as Andrey Leonidovich [Kostin] said, several years ago and, I think, has become such a good, traditional platform for exchanging opinions between colleagues and businesses.

Today I would like to focus on the tasks that we are solving in the field of finance and investment. And to give a general assessment of how our country's economy is developing in the current difficult conditions. It is in general terms, because my colleagues who are here, to my right, will tell you all this in detail. They actually form and implement this agenda.

You know that the entire global system of economic relations is now undergoing fundamental and, as we have just said, irreversible changes. They are related to the fact that the former model of globalization is being replaced by a multipolar model.

Andrey Leonidovich Kostin now recalled the former UN Secretary-General, Mr. Kofi Annan. Kofi was a brilliant diplomat, a very good, decent man. That much I can say for sure. He spoke sincerely, and indeed it seemed impossible to deny it at the time. Actually, there was nothing to deny, because there was globalization, it was developing. The only question is that it was understood differently by all people, and the goals that people set were also different.

People like Kofi Annan believed that it should benefit everyone, that everyone should be treated equally. Nothing like this actually happened in practice. This one country, which has just been mentioned, believed that the model of globalization should be developed differently – the United States is at the head.

Kostin just said that they are sharing with their allies. No, in practice, it turned out that they exploit their allies in the same way as all other participants in economic activity. This is what it led to and what it leads to today. I'll talk about this later.

But we want to create a new model, one that is truly democratic, one where real fair competition among all participants in economic activity really prevails. Such a change in the landscape of the global economy and the emergence of new leaders is an objective and largely natural process.

Actually, in life, in the history of mankind, it has always been so, at all times and in all spheres. This has always been the case: someone develops, then subsides, new leaders appear. So it is in the global economy today.

Nevertheless, the elite of Western countries – those that have found themselves at the top of this process-are trying to slow it down, artificially restrain growth, as they believe, on the global periphery, which they are used to exploiting, using as a resource, as a source of rent, just as a colony. To do this, they resort to sanctions restrictions, such as rocking the political situation and provoking conflicts in entire macro-regions in an attempt to maintain their elusive dominance.

Western elites have gone so far as to abolish the very principles of the market economy that they are so fond of talking about. When this system of so-called globalization was formed, we remember, and people here probably remember what was said at that time: everyone should be in equal conditions, everyone should be put in such equal conditions, borders should be open, borders should not be closed in any case. How so? This contradicts the ideas of global development. As soon as there were competitors – pop, and their own borders began to close immediately, in one second, with a click – and that's it. Here are all the principles.

Today they have already gone further. By their efforts, it seemed, some unshakable postulates were crossed out. For example, ownership rights. European jurisdictions, which until recently were considered safe, quiet so-called harbors, have actually ceased to be so. Now the principle of "friend – foe" works here, as in military aircraft, where a stranger can be robbed, left with nothing, and his assets, companies, enterprises can be blocked, taken away and even liquidated as a result of sabotage, as was the case with Nord Streams. This is what competition looks like in a rules-based world right now.

Who needs such rules? It is obvious that these actions are destroying the system of financial, trade, and economic relations that has been built up for decades, including and above all, of course, by the West itself. By the way, the financial infrastructure, which is based on the predominance of the dollar and the euro, conducting settlements exclusively through Western banks and the SWIFT system, is also discredited.

Today, its place is successfully taken by the system of settlements in national currencies. Of course, there is still a lot to be done here. This is an obvious thing. But it is being done, and this process will only gain momentum. I will say more, the Western financial system is clearly outdated from the point of view of technology. It has been resting on its laurels for so long, so accustomed to monopoly and exclusivity, to the lack of real alternatives, to the habit of not actually changing anything, that it has become archaic, or at least it is becoming archaic.

International payments are increasingly using much more advanced solutions, including those based on the blockchain and digital currencies of central banks. According to experts, this will lead to a real revolution in the coming years, which will finally undermine the monopoly of large Western banks, and they themselves, as we can see, are also not in the best condition, at least some of them-that's for sure.

Once again, I would like to emphasize that the world has entered an era of fundamental changes and serious challenges not only for individual companies and industries, but also for entire countries and regions of the world. Only a strong, stable and, I want to emphasize, I want to emphasize and emphasize this point, a sovereign country can successfully pass this stage and become one of the growth centers of the new global economy. This is extremely important. This is something that is connected in economics and politics. Moreover, a country with a strong industrial, technological, infrastructural, human and financial potential, with a dynamic domestic market; a country that clearly knows and is able to defend political, economic, trade interests, the interests of national business and its foreign business partners.

As it turned out, there are such countries. Despite all the external pressure, the clucking of teeth, the tapping on the table, the whispering in the ear, there are people-leaders of countries, and powerful countries, who do not give in to this pressure and are guided primarily by their own national interests, and they fit into the model that we offer for development.

We have proven that we are able to meet the most challenging challenges. The Russian economy is effectively coping with attempts from outside to restrain the development of our country. The key was the fundamental, as it turned out, safety margin that we have been building over the past 20 years, and especially since 2014, after the introduction of the first large-scale sanctions against Russia. At that time, we focused on developing the consumer sector, strengthening the financial sector and creating our own payment infrastructure.

Let me remind you that one of the first decisions of the West that year was to disconnect Russian banks from the Visa and Mastercard systems. The calculation was that this would make it impossible to pay for goods and services, bring down payments, and therefore paralyze the country's banking sector. As some Western colleagues put it, they wanted to make our citizens suffer. Such were the humanistic plans for Russian citizens. They wanted to create problems for millions of Russian families.

However, what happened in practice? Citizens and businesses have not actually noticed the seamless transition to the national payment system, which is now successfully operating and developing. At the same time, we stopped paying commissions to Western companies, and they only lost what they could have earned in Russia.

Of course, we have a lot to work on here. Probably, the Chairman of the Central Bank Elvira Sakhipzadovna will tell about it. Of course, there is. In any case, the goals set by our detractors have clearly not been achieved; on the contrary, we are simply strengthening our sovereignty in this area, and we are doing it quite confidently. This is just one example.

In finance, industry, and the consumer market, we are gradually moving away from imposed services, brands, and intermediaries. In fact, we are actively developing our own market, and this, of course, leads to systemic positive results. So, for 10 months of this year, Russia's gross domestic product grew by 3.2 percent. Today it is already higher than it was before the Western sanctions attack.

It is expected that by the end of this year – at least, we are all very much counting on it – GDP will add at least 3.5 percent. You must agree – all the people here are literate - that this is a good indicator for the Russian economy.

Russia is the largest economy in Europe and currently outpaces all the leading EU countries in terms of growth. At the same time, the so-called basic non-primary industries are taking an increasing share in the structure of Russia's economic growth. These include manufacturing, transport, logistics, construction, information, communications, and housing and communal services.

For example, in the second quarter of this year, they accounted for more than half, 54 percent, to be more precise, of economic growth. Another 44 percent are the so-called supporting industries: trade, catering, and other professional services. And only 2 percent, I want to emphasize, only 2 percent was accounted for by mining. Now let someone say that Russia is a "gas station", as they recently tried to say about it.

Yes, there are, of course, a number of sectors that have not yet fully recovered, have not fully adapted to the new conditions. For example, woodworking. There are reasons for this. It was largely tied to European markets. By the way, the situation in wood processing is also changing for the better. For example, in the automotive industry, it was going through difficult times, we had a big dependence on components. This is certainly one of the affected industries. But gradually, it is also emerging from the crisis.

I would like to note separately that, despite the objective difficulties, Russian business has shown itself to be extremely responsible. I would like to take this opportunity to thank my colleagues for this. Not only has it retained its workforce, established new logistics chains, but it is also launching projects in the domestic consumer market, in the high-tech sector of the economy, in tourism, and in other industries, and is actively occupying niches that were vacated after a number of Western companies left our market. Did they think everything was going to collapse or something? Nothing like that happened. They took everything from them and went ahead. And our entrepreneurs act very confidently.

What do I want to emphasize? We want our market to be open and competitive. This is the key to development, an incentive for high-quality growth of domestic business and the entire Russian economy. I will repeat: Russia does not expel anyone and does not close itself off from anyone, from anyone. Many foreign enterprises and organizations, despite the pressure of their governments and officials, have declared that they want to continue working in our country. We only welcome this. Such colleagues of ours, despite external pressure, either changed their name and maintained their presence in the market, or simply transferred them to management, to be honest, with the right to buy back, that's all. God grant them good health, let them work. We will only support this.

You know, you can throw loud slogans and threats at us as much as you want, but, in the end, this is the business of some Western politicians who intend to cancel Russia. But all this hype is not able to cancel out the indisputable fact that it is profitable to work with Russia and in Russia. It was profitable, and now it is profitable, and it will be profitable. And this fact is confirmed by centuries, the experience of generations of merchants, entrepreneurs, and businessmen around the world.

From the beginning of March 2022 to November of this year, the number of foreign companies in Russia, I want to draw your attention to this, despite all the pressure from the political elites of the West, the number of foreign structures and business structures operating in Russia has not decreased. Can you imagine? I was surprised to find out myself when I looked at the materials. Increased. As of March 1, 2022, 24.1 thousand foreign organizations were registered in Russia. As of November 1 of this year, there were almost 1.5 thousand more of them, namely 25.6 thousand. This is also an indicator of the willingness and desire to work in Russia. The growth of the domestic market and the expansion of Russia's contacts with the countries of Asia, the Middle East, Southern Eurasia, Latin America, and Africa opens up additional opportunities for our economy for almost any business.

I will give a few illustrative figures. Over the past year and a half, the number of domestic light industry companies has grown by 80 percent, furniture manufacturers – by 30 percent, and children's toys – by 20 percent. During the same period, that is, over the past year and a half, the number of trademarks owned by Russian companies has increased by more than a third. What does this mean? That investments in projects to produce such products, create new enterprises and jobs throughout the country are profitable and profitable. So, for the first nine months of this year, the profit of large and medium-sized companies in the real sector exceeded 26 trillion rubles. It turned out to be about a quarter more than a year earlier. This is a good indicator. Business doesn't just make a profit, it invests in development, which means it believes in the prospects and future of our economy.

In the second quarter of this year, investment in fixed assets increased by 12.6 percent, and in the third quarter – by 13.3 percent. Investments are growing. What does it mean?

Everyone here understands exactly what this means. This means that conditions are being created for future development in the medium term-this is an obvious thing. It is necessary to support the growing business activity and, above all, to ensure the availability of financial resources for businesses, for those areas that meet the needs of the domestic market and export demand.

I know that the Central Bank's interest rates are going to be discussed right now, and our colleagues are going to have a discussion with each other right in front of your eyes. This will be both useful and revealing. But what do I want to say?

Yes, there are always such disputes: where is the rate, where is the business activity, everything is clear. But the figures I mentioned show that in general, the right direction of development in decision-making by the country's financial and economic authorities is still being found and is being built in the right direction.

The main thing is to create conditions for an effective structural transformation of our economy, to increase labor productivity and increase citizens ' incomes, and to improve the quality of life. This is also a very important indicator – income growth: real wages have so far increased by 7 percent, real disposable incomes of the population - by 4.4 percent. Isn't that right?" All right.

This is also a very important factor not only in social policy, but also in terms of economic development and the internal state of a society that is committed to positive work. This is important for increasing labor productivity, as I said, income growth, and so on.

It is necessary to create the widest range of tools for financing investments, designed for any scale-from small enterprises to large, largest, and systemically important companies.

What is extremely important, these tools should be tailored to the specifics of the business, take into account the phase of its development and, of course, the specifics of the area in which it operates, where the plans of a particular business are being implemented. As you well know, it is these parameters that determine the most convenient and effective type of financing in each specific case – debt or equity.

Of course, the banking sector and the stock market play a leading role in promoting such mechanisms. Russian banks, despite the fact that most of them were under sanctions, are operating steadily and sustainably, have a solid margin of safety and are increasing lending to the real sector.

I constantly communicate with representatives of large companies, medium-sized ones, and representatives of the financial sector. Everyone is always unhappy with each other, that's always the case. I think it's everywhere. But the figures show that decisions are being made, life is moving on, the economy is developing, and overall the result is being achieved.

Some experts, I want to return to those who predicted that because of the sanctions, our banks will stop developing and will not finance the economy. Instead, the banking sector has improved its efficiency and reached record lending volumes in the entire history of Russia. The volume of lending is record, both corporate and mortgage. There are certain risks here. The government and the Central Bank are now also discussing this issue, looking for certain solutions in order not to" overheat " this market. We know the negative experience of some countries where the mortgage lending market was, to put it mildly, not provided with real money. We know what that led to. We try to take into account all the experience, including negative ones, so that nothing like this happens in our economy.

However, as for lending. If last year the volume of ruble-denominated loans to the corporate sector increased by 9.5 trillion rubles, then since the beginning of this year it has added more than 13 trillion rubles.

We can confidently say that internal sources of lending to Russian companies have replaced external ones. This was one of the most fundamental issues for our economy.

I can't say that everything is completely resolved. No, of course, because Western lending is cheaper and the volumes there are different, but in general there is no problem here today.

The same can be said about government borrowing. For the first time in a long time, the federal budget deficit was fully financed from domestic resources. At the same time, Western portfolio investors themselves, or rather, under the pressure of their governments, have again deprived themselves of the opportunity to earn money in our highly profitable market. You can only sympathize with them. Let them have more influence on sound decisions that should be made at the level of government structures in their countries.

A few words about public finances. In the first 11 months of this year, the federal budget deficit amounted to 878 billion rubles – or about 0.5 percent of GDP. And if you look at the consolidated budget, then there is a surplus of 837 billion rubles at all, if you collect regional finances and so on. That is, in general, the Russian financial system is in an absolutely normal, absolutely healthy state.

Let me remind you that at the beginning of the year, some experts expected that Russia would face a budget deficit of 3 or even 5 percent of GDP. By the way, this would not have been a disaster, and there would not have been a big problem given the low level of our debt, but nevertheless it did not happen. In short, again, they gave out wishful thinking in their forecasts, but in reality everything turned out differently, as you can see.

At the same time, we also see problems, of course, tasks that we still have to solve. So, to maintain positive dynamics, it is necessary that the economy and Russian companies have more opportunities to attract resources in our financial market, increase the number of placements of their securities that are in demand within the country.

In this regard, I would like to say the following. At meetings with leading Russian business associations during economic forums, the issue of capital outflow often arises, and opinions are expressed that large profitable businesses would like to save and invest in Russia – it is both safer and more profitable here. But there are not enough investment tools. So in fact, I think it is. It is necessary to launch such investments, develop a modern financial infrastructure, and create effective channels for transforming corporate savings into investments.

I draw the attention of the Government, the Central Bank, and our development institutions to this. I ask the Government, together with Vnesheconombank, to ensure the earliest possible launch of investment projects under the program of equity funds.

The essence of this mechanism is that banks send free funds to the fund, and this fund guarantees the return on investment. The guarantor is Vnesheconombank. Thus, banks can participate in real sector business projects as co-founders.

The first such fund has been created, and it is up to the broad practical use of such a tool and the real financing of specific initiatives. We have been working on the creation of this fund for a very long time, and we have had a lot of discussions with the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs on this issue, but it was created in order to finally get involved and start working.

Today, the Russian stock market actively attracts funds from citizens. Brokers ' services are already used by more than 27 million people, about a quarter more than a year ago. The value of the assets that they own is about 9 trillion rubles.

Citizens ' savings should serve as an important source of investment resources, as is done in many economies around the world. Work for the economy, for development and bring additional income to the people themselves. We are already creating attractive conditions for those who are ready to invest and earn money in the country for a long time. But investments in foreign securities have shown what it is worth. The unreliability turned out to be so obvious, and the actions of the Western partners are so – I don't even know what to call it-uncivilized, to put it mildly, these actions can be called. It's just that money was stolen from people and individuals. Just an outrage. But nevertheless, we have to deal with such things. They are destroying their own economy in this way, the ones who are doing it.

From January 1 next year, a new tool for long-term savings of citizens will be launched. We are talking about voluntary savings in non-state funds. Such funds of citizens in the amount of up to 2 million 800 thousand rubles will be insured by the state. In other words, their return will be guaranteed. I believe that the same insurance mechanism should be extended to long-term individual investment accounts. Here, the maximum amount of insurance, insurance coverage can be 1 million 400 thousand rubles per person. That is, the same amount as when insuring bank deposits.

I expect that this will increase the flow of funds to projects with a long payback period. For example, in the construction of infrastructure, logistics corridors, terminals, and other large-scale long-term projects.

According to the results of the first year of the program of long-term savings of citizens, the volume of such investments should be at least 250 billion. For the country, this is not a very big figure, but it is quite possible to start with this, and in 2026 this resource should grow to 1 percent of GDP.

Separate solutions are needed for the capital of fast-growing high-tech businesses. Here, as a rule, only the idea itself is valuable, a new technology and a great desire to implement them, but as a rule, there is not enough resource for development, for entering the market. We have already provided for measures that will stimulate the demand for innovation on the part of the largest corporations and companies with state participation. They will more actively allocate funds for direct and venture capital investments, for the purchase of domestic high-tech products.

The Government and the Bank of Russia certainly need to pay more attention to this segment, including the need to simplify the issuance of securities of small, dynamically growing companies, not only on exchanges, but also on investment platforms where private investors can become real co-owners of promising startups. Of course, there are some details that need to be considered, but it is certainly necessary to move in this direction.

Dear friends!

Financial stability, self-sufficiency of the banking system and the stock market are important elements of the country's economic sovereignty, and we will definitely move forward on this path through joint efforts of the state, society and a strong national-oriented business. We will work together with our foreign partners. We see this as the key to Russia's successful development and its strong position in the changing world and in the world of the future.

Thank you for your attention. Thank you.

A. Kostin: Thank you very much, Vladimir Vladimirovich.

Colleagues, you know that Vladimir Vladimirovich has a very busy schedule of international contacts today. Nevertheless, in order not to break with tradition, he agreed to answer a number of questions, several questions. And what he will not have time to answer, we have many fellow speakers who will continue to answer questions.

Vladimir Putin: And they'll do it better than I can.

A. Kostin: I doubt that, of course. Even more likely it's not, but it doesn't matter.

Vladimir Putin: Don't hesitate. I speak absolutely sincerely, 100 percent.

A. Kostin: Please, colleagues.

Yu Xinyu: Dear Vladimir Vladimirovich,

I'm very glad to see you. My name is Yu Xinyu, Passion Company.

I would like to ask you a question: how do you see the future of technological cooperation between the two countries after all the stream of restrictions, primarily from the United States, against China, which has strengthened the country's desire to be autonomous and self-sufficient?

First of all, I am talking about the transfer of critical technologies. Are there concerns that this will lead to a slowdown in technological progress, since each country will have to go through the entire path of development of each technology entirely? Many will also have to reinvent the wheel. What will be the path of Russia? What areas are you willing to cooperate in and what areas are you not willing to cooperate in?

Vladimir Putin: First of all, it concerns China directly. We are ready to cooperate in all areas. We don't have any restrictions. This also applies to military technologies. When we think about our prospects, about the future world order, and think about the unconditional security of our country,we are moving away from traditional relations in this area: bought – sold. We think about the future, we think about technology. This is the first one.

And if in fact, as for your question. As for technological limitations, whether individual countries will need to start from scratch, with a clean slate, or, as they say, from the center of the field, reinvent the wheel. You understand, I said this in my speech. These restrictions are imposed in order to ensure their absolute dominance, to preserve it at all costs. There were always restrictions. No matter how much they once wanted to close the secret of gunpowder, it still became the property of all mankind, for better or worse. No matter how anyone introduces any restrictions on Kokom's lists later. Yes, they held back the development of the Soviet Union. But all the tasks that he set for himself were solved.

In the 90-ies, after the Soviet Union was gone, it seems that these Kokomov lists were formally canceled, but in fact they continued to operate. Today, the so-called collective West, especially the United States, wants to maintain its dominance at all costs, especially in the technological sphere. Is this possible or not? No, of course not. This was not possible before. In the Middle Ages and during the Cold War, it was impossible, but now, in the age of the Internet, in the age of such speeds, exchanges, including scientific exchanges, it is simply impossible. This is the first one.

Second. Of course, at some stage something there will be able to hide and so on. But those who withhold information may find themselves trapped, or they may not get something on time. This is the second one.

Third, we should not think about these limitations. We must look forward and go forward and act on a broad front, first of all in the field of education, which is becoming a factor, in fact, of economic growth itself. We must do this with those who want to work in this way, in a modern and civilized way, and within the framework of our common BRICS organization, we must create some kind of scientific and educational platforms, create the same investment platforms, and engage in developments starting with education.

If we act on a broad front, support and help each other, we will not be hindered by any restrictions of those who are trying to retain some advantages. I have no doubt about that.

We will also work with the People's Republic of China. We have very good and trusting relations with President Xi Jinping, both at the government level and at the level of business circles. I have no doubt that no one will be able to stop or slow down our development.

Alexander Kostin: Colleagues, who else? You are welcome.

:(as translated)Tong Jin Hu Dear Mr. President,

I represent the Chinese company Huang Jin. My name is Tong Jin Hu.

I am very grateful to President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin. I just have one question. We have established extensive cooperation in mining, and we still have a great potential for further development.

After the departure of foreign enterprises, I would like to see a more liberal policy here, because we have very powerful enterprises in China that would like to develop mining and the mining industry in Russia.

I remember that three or four years ago, $ 30-40 million was allocated for this purpose. Our company, for example, is very responsible, engaged in mining. We have very strong competencies in this area. We would like to cooperate.

Thank you very much, Mr. President.

Vladimir Putin: I can only welcome your desire to work in Russia.

You didn't specify the scope of your activity, but specific companies, and what specific projects you have in mind. Of course, we are ready to accompany and support them.

As for greater liberalization, if you think that there are some things that limit the possibility of expanding your activity in our economy, we will definitely consider them. Only I have to understand what exactly this is about.

Our colleagues will speak, and the Minister of Economic Development is also sitting on the podium, so you can discuss it more specifically with him. Thank God, our relations with China are developing very efficiently. Our goal was to reach 200 billion dollars in trade turnover next year or in the coming years. We will reach 200 billion this year, and I don't think anyone has any doubts. If your company can contribute to this joint movement forward, we will be only too happy.

Please talk to your colleagues about what exactly they are talking about. Agreed? Thank you.

A. Kostin: Please ask the next question.

: (as translated)Anil Agarwal I represent Cosmos Group, based in New Delhi.

Mr. President, you have given us a brilliant view of the economic and political landscape of the future. I congratulate you. We know that Russia plays and will continue to play a very important role in shaping world politics and will always have a significant impact on the state of affairs in the global economy.

Given the current conflict, political tensions and Western sanctions, the Russian Federation has formulated a new geopolitical strategy. Monetary and fiscal policies are being implemented, and Russia is managing its economy very successfully.

It is hard not to notice that in terms of GDP growth, Russia has achieved significant results, despite significant difficulties. I congratulate the brilliant team that achieved this result.

Russia has historically been a partner and has very strong ties in various spheres with our country. Russia can develop the North-South transport corridor in its own interests and in the interests of the countries of this region.

Mr. President, both Russia and India can play an extremely important role in geopolitics, in ensuring the economic growth of our countries. Our countries have agreed to trade in our national currencies: rubles and rupees. Given the new opportunities that are opening up, how can you accelerate the expansion of our bilateral trade and economic ties and achieve prosperity?

Thank you.

Vladimir Putin: First of all, I would like to say that relations between Russia and India are developing steadily in all areas, and the main guarantor of this is the policy pursued by Prime Minister Modi. He belongs to the cohort of world political figures that I mentioned without mentioning their first and last names.

I cannot imagine that Modi can be intimidated, intimidated or forced to take any actions, steps or decisions that are contrary to the national interests of India and the Indian people. And I know there is such pressure. By the way, we never even talk about it. I just look at what is happening from the outside, and sometimes, to be honest, I am even surprised by his tough stance on defending the national interests of the Indian state.

But nevertheless, this is happening, and I repeat, the trade turnover is growing. Last year, it was $ 35 billion a year, and in the first half of this year it was already $ 33.5 billion. In other words, the growth will be significant.

Yes, we all understand that to a large extent India gets preferences due to discounts on Russian energy carriers. Well, it does the right thing in fact. I would do the same in their place, if the current situation is like this. They earn money, and rightly so. But, of course, this is not enough. We have much more opportunities. In the world ranking of the world's economies by purchasing power parity, India ranks third in this list in terms of economic volumes, while Russia ranks fifth. Let me remind you of China, the United States, India, Japan, and Russia. The three largest economies in the world by purchasing power parity.

Of course, if we have a trade turnover of $ 200 billion with China this year, it would be right for us to increase it with India. Question: How do I do this and what should I do?

The first step, as you have just mentioned, is to pay more attention to the development of logistics. One of the projects that we will now discuss with our guest, who has already flown to Moscow, the President of Iran, Mr. Raisi, we will discuss with him this North – South corridor, among other things. And India is certainly a beneficiary. India is interested in implementing such routes. The Northern Sea Route needs to be developed, which is also a very promising area in the field of logistics. There are other routes that we can talk about. This is all very important, of course.

The second thing we need to do is develop the financial infrastructure. We have already talked about this here, and I mentioned that we need to use more national currencies in mutual settlements. We need to ensure that payments are made unconditionally, so that there are no delays in payments, and so on.

Based on these basic things, of course, we should pay more attention to investments and investment flows. Not just investments, but investments in specific projects, in enterprises, to increase the volume of our cooperation. There are enough fields of activity: traditional pharmaceuticals, agriculture, and industry. We have a lot to work on. So we will do it.

I am sure that everything will work out.

A. Kostin: Thank you.

Can I ask you one last blitz question?

How do you see our hall in 10 years by participants? Will American and Western European investors return here, and what do you think about this?

Vladimir Putin: As for investors, they, unlike those who command them, are smart people. They are already invisibly present here, I assure you.

I really hope that we will be able to communicate with them directly, personally. Contacts continue, to be honest, just shouting from the political level does not allow us to work, but in the end, in my opinion, sooner or later common sense will prevail. I'm set up this way.

A. Kostin: Thank you very much.

Let's thank Vladimir Vladimirovich for such an eventful speech. Thank you.

Vladimir Putin: Thank you very much. Good luck. [My Emphasis]

Wit and wisdom, although there’re many so-called investors within the Outlaw US Empire who aren’t any smarter than the politicians. Putin’s reply to the sharing of technology question was very forward looking and related to his vision of how BRICS+ will evolve, which hasn’t been completely articulated at one time; so far, it’s only been exposed in short segments, some being emphasized above.

No one knows when or even if the Western Neoliberal nations will finally wake up to reality and free themselves from their colonial bondage. As Putin said, that’s their business; Russia and the Global Majority have important things to accomplish as they build and refresh the Global Order, which shouldn’t be termed an order since that denotes a hierarchy that no nation wants.

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