The Belarusian nuclear power plant near the city of Ostrovets, Grodno region, is being built taking into account new standards dictated by both global changes in global security requirements and the development of technology. Vitaly Polyanin, vice president and project director for the construction of the Belarusian NPP of ASE IC JSC (Engineering Division of Rosatom State Corporation) spoke about the final stage of large-scale Russian-Belarusian construction in an interview with ES magazine.

DOI: 10.33917/es-1.167.2020.28-35

Global challenges as the core of the processes of globalization and formation of a new world order provide direction and rhythm of transformation processes in all countries. The article dwells on a set of interconnected global challenges, their retrospective dynamics and future trajectories. Particular attention is paid to the place of Russia in global transformations. It was revealed that thanks to measures taken at all levels of management, positive dynamics have formed in relation to many challenges, but the progress is developing at the expense of ecology and safety. Critical for Russia is a fundamental science cost lag; with such a gap, we won’t be able to ensure defence, economic and technological security and will form the future for ourselves on the far reaches of the world progress

DOI: 10.33917/es-1.167.2020.36-41

The traditional and most developed form of international economic relations is foreign trade. This article analyzes the dynamics and structure of Russia’s foreign trade with the EU countries in the period from 2011 to 2018. It should be emphasized that external challenges not of an economic but of a political nature have led to the disruption of economic cooperation between the Russian Federation and the EU, including in the field of trade, which underlines the relevance of this study. The purpose of this study is to identify the impact of sanctions and counter-sanctions on the dynamics and structure of mutual trade between Russia and the EU

DOI: 10.33917/es-1.167.2020.42-47

The article examines the nature of trade representatives abroad and their role in Russian exporters’ participation in value chains. To this end the author proposes a role model for functioning of the Russian trade missions, as well as analyzes operation of Russian trade representatives in some EU countries in the paradigm of value chains and proposes measures to increase trade missions’ efficiency in some EU countries. As part of the analysis, the author made use of analytical reports on the state of economy and the main directions of foreign economic activity, prepared by trade representatives, as well as analytical materials received from trade missions of the Russian Federation abroad

DOI: 10.33917/es-1.167.2020.48-52

The article analyzes the consequences of increase in FRS rates for developing economies. It is shown that even minor changes in this indicator significantly affect not only the direction of global financial flows, but also the growth prospects of developing countries. Therefore, it is necessary to take into account the influence of market expectations regarding direction of the US FED interest rate when formulating monetary policy, applying monetary control tools and developing proposals for macroeconomic decisions

On October 15, 2019, the President Hotel Hotel in Moscow hosted the Integration Eurasian Industrial Congress, a new international discussion platform for discussing current problems and prospects of industrial cooperation in the EAEU and the movement of industrial goods on the EAEU common market, as well as developing effective tools for the goal of effective integration and development of interaction of entrepreneurs in the EAEU and friendly countries. The keynote address was delivered by the Deputy Minister of Energy of the Republic of Belarus Vadim Zakrevsky, telling the participants of the Congress about the challenges that have emerged today in the field of creating electric and gas markets

DOI: 10.33917/es-8.166.2019.48-57

Over 5 years after the signing of the Treaty on the Eurasian Economic Union, the experience of the integration process has been accumulated, its pros and cons, potential and obstacles for a new stage in the development of the EAEU have been identified. The accuracy of estimates of the 5-year integration dynamics affects the effectiveness of decisions on further integration. A complete, reliable, qualitative statistical assessment of the economic condition of the Union is a necessary basis for the successful dynamics of the Union at a new stage

DOI: 10.33917/es-8.166.2019.58-65

Today, the European Union (EU) is facing many challenges in the economic and financial sphere. Europeans are becoming less gullible with EU institutions and less tolerant of supranational interference in domestic politics. As a result, the process of European integration is gradually being modified. It was assumed that the process of economic integration, making Europeans more interdependent, should also lead to cultural assimilation and deeper political integration. Was the project too ambitious, given that Europeans are sufficiently heterogeneous in their economic interests, beliefs and sociocultural values to form a successful political union? Or are current difficulties a consequence of the inefficiency of supranational institutions? And how has the process of European economic integration affected cultural assimilation? All of these issues are becoming increasingly relevant as European integration develops

DOI: 10.33917/es-8.166.2019.66-75

The article presents analysis of the dynamics and structure of foreign economic relations of the Western Balkans countries, considers the specifics of foreign infrastructure investment projects, evaluates the importance of foreign economic relations for socio-political institutions. Scientific novelty of the study is determined by application of least squares methods and gravitational modelling. To identify factors determining the vector of economic cooperation, the authors have analyzed macroeconomic data, as well as the trade flows dynamics: gravitational model of foreign trade was taken as the basis. The authors assume that many problems of the modern socio-economic and political development of the region stem from its past, namely from reproduction of both individual elements and the system characteristics of historical models. In particular, the analysis confirmed historical dependence of the political and economic development of the Western Balkans on external players. Historical determinism of the foreign policy course (identified through institutional analysis) coexists with economic factors arising the incentives of neoclassical economic theory

DOI: 10.33917/es-8.166.2019.76-82

Analyzing development of the global industry for servicing agricultural production and formation of international value chains around it, the article substantiates the thesis on formation of exploitation relations within the chains. To this end, the most important innovations in the field of biotechnology, development of their patent-licensed protection system and structural regrouping of the most important companies — players in the global agrochemical market are examined in interrelation with one another over a period of the last forty years. On this basis, formation of oligopolistic structure of international companies, controlling the key links of the chain, which are infrastructural in relation to the others, is shown. Combined with the synergistic effect of the batch sale of technologically heterogeneous goods and services, this creates conditions for monopolistic exploitation of agricultural producers. The latter do not have access to alternative sources of similar goods and services that are competitive in comparison with the “packages” offered by oligopolists. As a result, for each unit of invested capital, the income of the latter is greater than that of agricultural producers, that is, within the chain the income is redistributed in their favour, including funds from end-consumers. The given monopoly is bilateral in nature, as technology companies also transfer part of their income to market leaders, who buy these technologies, for the right of access to their marketing opportunities.