.Shuvalov acknowledges Almaty may contest role of financial center.

ST. PETERSBURG, June 18 (Itar-Tass) -- With the creation of the common
economic space the competition among the capitals contesting the status of
an international financial center will be growing, Russia's First Deputy
Prime Minister, Finance Minister Igor Shuvalov said at the St. Petersburg
Economic Forum on Friday.
"The factor of competition will intensify every day, and this is
good," he said, explaining that this will keep Moscow "alert." He said
investors "will always be looking for places where it is more comfortable
for them to work." Shuvalov believes that one of Moscow's competitors is
Almaty.
"Kazakhstan works well," he said, acknowledging that many decisions,
including legislative ones, in that country are taken many times faster
than in Russia.
"If the international financial center materializes in Almaty, we will
be glad and study the experience of foreign colleagues, but we do not
downgrade our own ambitions, either," said Shuvalov. He is confident,
though, that the financial opportunities of the Russian capital are still
unmatched by those of any other capital of the former USSR.
Shuvalov does not exclude the possibility of creating a "common
project, which will assist and complement", for example, an arrangement
where the Almaty system would complement that of Moscow.