Nizhny Novgorod to discuss prospects of WTO membership

The XII All-Russian conference of representatives of small and mid-sized companies "Small and medium-sized business: the prospects for development under conditions of Russia joining the WTO" will take place next week in Nizhny Novgorod. Nearly 500 people will take part in the conference.

Deputy governor of the Nizhny Novgorod region, Dmitry Svatkovsky, stated that the conference would take place on May 24-25. It will gather the managers of small and mid-sized companies from all regions of the Russian Federation. The main subject of the conference is the prospects for development against the background of Russia's WTO membership.

"During two days of work, we will discuss all examples and terms of Russia's membership in the WTO," Dmitry Svatkovsky said.

Dmitry Krasnov, the General Director of the Chamber of Industry and Commerce of the Nizhny Novgorod region, said that 311 people had already registered their names to take part in the event. The managers of nearly 120 companies are expected to submit their registrations for the conference too, Vremya N reports.

It is worthy of note that the governor of the Nizhny Novgorod region, Valery Shantsev, has recently told of possible changes in the structure of the regional government. According to the governor, the local authorities discuss an opportunity of establishing the Ministry for Science and Innovations in the region.

"This week, Dmitry Medvedev presented his suggestions to Vladimir Putin about the structure and the personnel of the new government. They have not been published yet - Putin will need to consult the candidates first. Changes may take place in the regional government of Nizhny Novgorod too. For example, we are in the process of discussing the opportunity of establishing the Ministry for Science and Innovations in the Nizhny Novgorod region. Despite the achievements and the leadership in the field of innovations, it is obvious that we need a stronger breakthrough. One needs to pay more attention to science - this is the future. There is science in agriculture, in the transport industry, in entrepreneurship and in public utilities, so we need to think about a separate ministry," Valery Shantsev said.

The head of the region also said that should the new ministry appear, it will be established on the base of another ministry, which already exists. The reorganization of several ministries will make it possible not to increase the personnel of the government.