Vice Premier Alexei Kudrin To Participate In Annual Meeting Of Un Economic And Social Council

Vice Premier, Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin, currently in the USA, will arrive in New York on Tuesday. In the course of a two-day visit to the city, he will participate in the annual summit meeting of the UN Economic and Social Council and the Brettonwood institutions. Eradication of poverty, the problem of foreign debts of developing countries as well as development of international financial system will be the key issues on the agenda. Alexei Kudrin will deliver a report on the situation in the banking and financial system of Russia as well as legislation in this sphere. Yesterday Alexei Kudrin and US Vice President Dick Cheney discussed in the White House problems, concerning the preparation of the forthcoming meeting between the Presidents of the two countries. Kudrin told this to Russian journalists, a RIA Novosti correspondent reports. I delivered the Russian President's aspirations, and also heard President Bush's wishes conveyed by Vice President Cheney," he said. Kudrin stressed that the timeframe of the meeting of the two Presidents had not been discussed yet. According to the Vice Premier, Russia's accession to the World Trade Organization /WTO/ had also been highlighted in the course of the meeting. Alexei Kudrin described the meeting as a "very warm" one. "We reached an agreement on close cooperation at the ministerial level, using all necessary instruments", - he noted. According to him, in the course of the meeting the sides exchanged opinions on a number of problems of the bilateral economic cooperation without touching upon the issue of restructuring the Russian debt. Alexei Kudrin is expected to return to Moscow on May 3.