Zee Beam News

RBC, 03.10.2008, Astrakhan 13:30:52.In light of the global financial crisis, many international regulations may be revised, Russian Economy Minister Elvira Nabiullina told a Caspian Sea summit in Astrakhan, a major city in southern European Russia. International financial architecture as a whole will inevitably change, Nabiullina asserted, and the role of traditional financial investment institutions, financial organizations, and separate currencies will be reconsidered. The minister stressed that the creation of effective multilateral economic ties within the Caspian Sea region was especially important in this context. She reiterated that trade between Russia and Azerbaijan grew 56.5 percent to $1.256bn in January-June and Russia-Kazakhstan trade rose 28.4 percent to $11.6bn. Russia's trade with Turkmenistan (excluding natural gas trade) surged 2.3 times to $464m in the first seven months of 2008, whereas Russia-Iran trade stood at $3.3bn in 2007, up 53.7 percent from the year before.