#11
Moscow News
No. 25
July 3-9, 2002
A Good Sherpa Is Key to a Good Summit
Interview by Dmitry Babich
Sergei Prikhodko, head of the RF presidential Foreign Policy Administration, on G-8

At the first G-8 meeting with Russia's participation that took place in Denver in 1997, the Russian delegation was not admitted to the main session of the "rich and influential men's club" that discussed global financial problems. The explanation given at the time was as follows: The Russian economy was incomparable in size to the economies of the seven leading industrial countries, and so it had to sit out in the lobby while they conferred. Are we now admitted to all sessions?

At the latest summit, Russia took part in every single discussion of major economic matters. On the summit's eve, the leaders of the other seven members of G-8 held a brief separate meeting, but they discussed matters on which Russia had spoken out earlier. Incidentally, preparation for the summit is in fact the main part of the work. This is where you see the extent to which your opinion is heeded - and not only the opinion of a president but also of his aides, or the so-called Sherpas.

What are they?

In principle, the word summit itself means the highest point of a hill. And Sherpas are people who live in the Himalayas and are known in the West for their services as guides and porters on climbing and trekking expeditions. So the Sherpa in the diplomatic sphere is the chief coordinator helping his president to understand problems discussed at a particular summit. A good Sherpa at a summit is a most valuable thing."

Who was our president's Sherpa?

The president chose economist Andrei Illarionov. But a wide range of other experts were also tapped in preparing for the summit. A week before the summit, the president held four extended sessions, each lasting several hours, with members of the government, experts from the Economy Ministry, the Finance Ministry, the Interior Ministry, and other government agencies and departments.

At the summit, we did not ask anyone for money nor default on any of our debts, thus substantially increasing our foreign-policy capacity.

But do we have people efficient enough for our new-look foreign policy? In his recent statement at the RF Foreign Ministry, the president said that our diplomats had to be retrained with a greater emphasis put on economic matters and the defense of our compatriots' rights abroad.

I would rather not assess my colleagues' performance, especially since all of us have to study real economy simply because until recently our economy was anything but real. It is certainly easier and more pleasant to engage in "pure" foreign policy - arms cuts, diplomatic formalities, and so forth. But unfortunately, new problems arise every day, and we need to be able to deal with them as we go along.

The president is to hold a large conference with the participation of all Russian ambassadors abroad, scheduled for mid-July. Appraisals will be made and new tasks set there. Incidentally, the president is already setting an example by actively lobbying for our business interests abroad.

How exactly was he doing that at the G-8 summit?

Lobbying for national interests is a perfectly normal thing - it's a president's prerogative. U.S. steel tariffs were not discussed at the summit, but in bilateral contacts Putin constantly talked about the need to remove barriers to our export.

The summit witnessed an active sharing of information on Russia's admission to the World Trade Organization (WTO). Our position is that our admission to the WTO should not drag out, but neither should it damage Russia's economic interests. This position finds understanding among our G-8 partners.

Many people get the impression that admission to the WTO is but a lever to pressure Russia. For instance, Kyrgyzstan has been admitted to the WTO. Is our economy less in compliance with the international division of labor principles than Kyrgyzstan's?

Paradoxically, it is more difficult to integrate a larger economy into the WTO than a smaller economy. Entry to the WTO can affect the interests of a number of sectors of our industry: This number is much larger than in Kyrgyzstan.

Our economic interaction with Japan remains at a low level while recently angry voices have been heard in Tokyo complaining about the lack of progress on the Kuril problem. At the summit, the president agreed on Japanese Prime Minister Koizumi's visit to Russia in December 2002 or January 2003. Would it be right to say that the freeze in Russian-Japanese relations is now over?

I will not comment on your assessment of Russian-Japanese relations. I can only say that we have never interrupted political dialogue with Japan, including on territorial problems.

But the Japanese clearly hoped that a peace treaty would be signed in 2000, as promised by former President Yeltsin. That these hopes were dashed was deeply disappointing to the Japanese side. Hence the recent dismissal of a number of Japanese Foreign Ministry officials who were accused of being soft on Russia.

Both sides only spoke about their aspiration to sign a peace treaty in 2000. Meanwhile, the difference between aspiration and reality in politics can at times be considerable. Expectations were raised above all in Japan. For our part, we are now calling on our Japanese interlocutors to advance on all lines - economic, political, and cultural. Our policy toward Japan is reflected in the new foreign-policy concept and is not subject to any fluctuations, influenced by considerations of political expediency.

Won't our rapprochement with the G-8 states worsen our relations with China, which is concerned about U.S. military presence in Central Asia and NATO's growing ambitions?

U.S. presence in Central Asia was not discussed at the summit. As for our relations with China, we synchronize our positions in real time, and so far there have been no problems here. Our partnership with the United States in fighting terrorism in Afghanistan is above all in Russia's own interests - if only because Moscow is much closer to Afghanistan than Washington is.

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