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Strategies & Market Trends : Investment in Russia and Eastern Europe -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Real Man who wrote (354)	7/17/1998 2:21:00 PM
From: djane	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1301

Gore to Discuss Economic Reform in Russia, Ukraine [9/98 Clinton visit preparation] russiatoday.com Updated Friday, July 17, 1998 at: NYC 11:35 a.m. London 4:35 p.m. Prague 5:35 p.m. Moscow 7:35 p.m. WASHINGTON -- (Reuters) U.S. Vice President Al Gore travels to Russia and Ukraine next week to discuss the shaky state of economic reform in both countries and to make a quick visit to Chernobyl, site of the 1986 nuclear disaster. U.S. officials said the visit will be Gore's first chance to have a face-to-face meeting with new Russian Prime Minister Sergei Kiriyenko, the reform-minded 35-year-old who replaced Victor Chernomyrdin this spring. It will also help to prepare for President Bill Clinton's September summit with Russian President Boris Yeltsin, which is expected to be dominated by the Russian economy, efforts to prevent the spread of weapons technology, and arms control. In the middle of his policy discussions, Gore will take a helicopter to Chernobyl, Ukraine, on Thursday to inspect the concrete "sarcophagus" that covers its fourth reactor, which exploded in 1996, spewing a radioactive cloud over Europe. Senior U.S. officials said that Russia's efforts to cope with its financial crisis and its plans to carry out economic reforms that it has pledged in exchange for $22.6 billion in new international loans will be high on Gore's agenda. "This really comes at a time when economic reform issues and financial crises are the key issues both for Russia and Ukraine," said one U.S. official. "The vice president will have a trip that focuses heavily on these issues and showing that we are supportive but we very much encourage those countries to move ahead with bold reforms," he added. Russia's financial markets have been in turmoil for weeks because of Asia's financial crisis, the weakness in oil prices and the government's trouble getting reforms through the State Duma, the opposition-dominated lower house of parliament. The international community threw Russia a lifeline this week when international lenders tentatively agreed to provide $22.6 billion in new funding, sending Russian shares higher. But investors, as well as the White House, are interested in seeing Russia carry out its promised reforms. "It's critical that these commitments be implemented to strengthen confidence in their economy," Clinton said Monday in a message aimed as much at the Duma as at Russia's government. U.S. officials said they see no need to lecture Kiriyenko, one of Russia's most reform minded officials, but stressed that they wanted to know how he plans to carry out the reforms. "The point is to hear from the Russians what their strategy and plan is for the implementation because it needs to be a Russian program," said one official. "There needs to be Russian leadership to make it happen." One of Kiriyenko's major problems has been persuading the Duma, which is dominated by communist and other opposition members, to enact reforms. The legislature this week passed some of the government measures designed to ease the economic crisis, particularly on taxes, but it has rejected others. Gore will begin his visit to the region in Ukraine, landing in Kiev on Wednesday morning for talks with President Leonid Kuchma that are also expected to focus on economic reform. Kuchma is desperate to clinch a $2.5 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which is sending a mission to Kiev next week. However, Ukraine's record on reform is poor and the IMF suspended a $542 million standby loan earlier this year after Kiev failed to meet a series of IMF targets. "The honest truth is that we are going to be arriving at a very critical moment for Ukraine," said one U.S. official. After visiting Chernobyl on Thursday, Gore flies to Moscow to meet Kiriyenko. U.S. officials said the meeting would not constitute a full blown session of the binational U.S.-Russian commission that he chairs with the Russian prime minister, but rather a chance for the two to get to know one another. Gore was not expected to meet Yeltsin, who plans to go on vacation to next week, but the two may speak by telephone. The U.S. vice president returns to Washington early on Saturday. ( (c) 1998 Reuters) Russia Today is a service of EIN Inc., and has no liability for content except as set forth in Terms & Conditions. Copyright 1995, 1996 EIN Inc. All rights reserved. BTW, These pages look their best in Netscape 2.0+ and Internet Explorer 3.0+. These pages designed by European Internet Network Inc. All rights reserved. Send comments to feedback. Report problems to webadmin@ein.cz.