20 ministers not ready to fulfil joint recommendations - Kudrin.

ST ANDREWS, November 8 (Itar-Tass) - G20 finance ministers are still
not ready to fulfil recommendations that had been jointly developed,
Russian Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin told a news conference after the
meeting in Scotland.

He stressed that one of the issues that was high on the agenda is when
the recommendations become compulsory for the implementation of all
member-states of the G20.
Kudrin said twenty finance ministers agreed to conduct a survey aimed
at creating the mechanism of the post-crisis development. At first, this
mechanism will be common for all states, but later on it will become more
detailed. "Our final goal is to switch to coordinated policy. We are still
far from the set goal, but we have an example to follow - the EU acts like
this," he said.
The ministers agreed by the middle of 2010 to prepare an assessment of
economies of the G20 member-states. This assessment will be made under
support of international financial institutions. However, no
recommendations will be issued, as countries are still not ready to fulfil
them. At the same time other countries aside from the G20 member-states
will be engaged in this work in the future.
The meeting focused on the reforms of the International Monetary Fund
and the World Bank. However, Kudrin said, there was no talk on
redistribution of votes of the BRIC countries in these institutions.
"Everything is based on agreements reached in Pittsburgh. Discussions
will continue, but the figures of the Pittsburgh summit should lay the
groundwork for this," he said.
Delegates also discussed the strategy for getting out of the fiscal
stimulation programs. "The reduction of budget deficits will be the main
sign of scaling back the simulating measures. They will remain at the same
level as in 2009 in many countries," Kudrin said.
The problem is that many governments do not set the long-term tasks
and to a greater degree think about short-term problems. "We've discussed
the margin between them, but there is still no clear-cut picture," he said.
The G20 finance ministers also focused on the reduction of greenhouse
gas emissions. Kudrin noted that participants failed to agree on a common
position as concerns the participation of developing countries in
resolving this issue. "In my opinion, it is necessary to take a cautious
approach towards imposing new obligations on developing countries, as this
may hamper the implementation of other goals, fist of all the fight
against poverty," he said.


.Ecuador seeks direct flower supplies to Russia.


BOGOTA, November 8 (Itar-Tass) - Ecuador plans to launch direct
supplies of flowers to Russia that are currently transited through
Amsterdam, the president of the Latin American country, Rafael Correa,
said on Sunday.
"At first, flowers go to Amsterdam and from there they are supplied by
land to Moscow. As a result, the most part of the flowering period flowers
are being shipped from Ecuador to Russia, which prevents Russia's
businessses to sell these flowers to other regions of the country," he
said. "Moreover, the transit increases the final cost of flowers by 30-35
percent."
"To improve the situation we've taken a decision to establish direct
cargo flights en route Quito-Moscow that will be launched already in
November," Correa said.
In late October Correa visited Russia for the first time in the
history of bilateral relations.
"I welcome as positive the results of the visit," he said. "Russia is
the major market for our bananas and flowers."
The president also reiterated that during the visit the parties signed
"a raft of agreements aimed at boosting bilateral relations, including
those on cooperation of customs services and on avoidance of double
taxation for Russian investors in Ecuador."


.Meeting of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation opens in Egypt.

CAIRO, November 8 (Itar-Tass) - The fourth ministerial meeting of the
Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) opens in the Egyptian resort of
Sharm el-Sheikh on Sunday.
It will bring together delegates from over 40 African countries.
Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao will take part in the meeting.
Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak will open the meeting.
The FOCAC was established back in 2000 as a consultative mechanism
among China and African countries. Moreover, this organization is
considered an important and promising area within the framework of the
South-South cooperation.
At the Chinese-African summit in Beijing in 2006 China obliged to
provide considerable assistance to Africa and expand trade relations with
the countries of the continent.
China's direct investments in Africa comprised 7.8 billion U.S.
dollars in 2008. Bilateral trade increased ten-fold since 2000.

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