BMIR # 17

2010-10-14 20:54:48  The UBS tax affair, attacks against bank secrecy… The Swiss banking market is being assailed from all sides. Michel Y. Dérobert, Secretary General of the Association of Swiss Private Bankers, discusses his views on the crisis that is shaking Swiss banking and how to get out from under it in an exclusive interview with Business Mir.

2010-10-14 20:38:01  Outside observers tend to forget what’s at stake, distracted by the media frenzy surrounding the debate that took place between Switzerland and the United States to reach an agreement concerning UBS. A reminder that the Swiss financial sector is still the world’s leading safe deposit box.

2010-10-14 20:16:51  Trusts entities and their function remain unclear to a lot of people, although Switzerland already ratified “the Hague Convention on the Law Applicable to Trusts and on their Recognition” in 2007. Charles Adams and Benjamin Ivinson, lawyers at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld’s Geneva office, met with Business Mir to discuss the ins and outs of the Swiss trust industry.

2010-10-14 19:45:39  Plans to create an ultra-modern science and research complex for developing and commercialising new technologies near Moscow are well underway. Installations for this vast project are expected to take between 3 to 7 years to complete at an estimated cost of $4 to 6 billion. The project has already attracted the interest of several European companies.

2010-10-14 19:33:37  Many politicians claim that developing innovation in Russia can only be accomplished by Western experts. Nobel Prize winner Jaures Alferov, who was recently appointed Co-Chairman of the Skolkovo Foundation’s Scientific Advisory Council, has a somewhat different opinion on the matter. He kindly agreed to share his views in an exclusive interview with Business Mir.

2010-10-14 19:13:13  Most Russian companies had to endure both the crisis as well as ongoing state reform. Tatyana Kruglova, Head of Customs Holding Group Targo, discussed how her company survived the crisis in an interview with Business Mir.

2010-10-14 19:01:57  Kyrgyzstan’s coup d'état in the spring of 2010 brought down President Kurmanbek Bakiyev’s government. Obvious causes of coup included the government ban on “Kurultai” (National Council) gatherings and the arrest of opposition leaders. But experts claim that other internal and external factors – ranging from drug trafficking to the interference of major regional players – served to precipitate events as well.

2010-10-14 18:35:40  This year – as in the past – the Russian press has been spreading rumours about plans to restore the country's monarchy and the enigmatic bestseller “Project Russia” is being widely discussed. While it is more of a joke, the question begs to be asked; where would Russia be today if a strong king was heading the country? Who would be worthy of assuming the Russian throne – a Romanov or a Rurikovich? Neither the historians nor the country’s spin doctors have been able to come up with a satisfactory answer...

2010-10-14 18:18:35  In April 2010, construction on Nord Stream finally began off the Swedish coast. Business Mir discussed the pipeline with Deputy Communications Director Jens D. Müller at Nord Stream AG’s headquarters in Zug, Switzerland.

2010-10-14 17:46:29  From March 15-16, 2010, Russia’s Chief of General Staff and Army General Nikolai Makarov met with Swiss Armed Forces Commander-in- Chief Major-General André Blattman on a working visit to Switzerland.