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Opinion
June 7, 2019 www.intellinews.com I Page 20
Russian investment in essential infrastructure — including the expansion of a fleet of icebreaking vessels and the restoration of Soviet-era military bases along the shipping lane.
Russia’s administration of the NSR, which sits within its Exclusive Economic Zone, is already quite advanced and controversial. It issues permits for use of the route, requires transiting foreign ships to have a Russian pilot, and reserves the right to refuse passage and employ force to ensure compli- ance with regulations. The Chinese are also building icebreakers and working with Russia on a joint research centre, part of whose mandate will be to forecast ice conditions along the NSR and provide recommendations for Arctic economic development.
Some commentators have suggested that Rus- sia and China’s cooperation in the Arctic has its limitations. For the moment, so the argument goes, theirs is a marriage of convenience, particu- larly given Russia’s sanctions-enforced isolation and China’s trade war with the US. But in the long term, tensions may arise if Moscow’s territorial claims begin to clash with Beijing’s desire to de- rive significant economic benefits.
For the Americans, who have been slow to recognise the strategic importance of the Arctic, their rivals’ growing footprint there is ringing alarm bells. In early May, at the Arctic Council — a body represent- ing littoral states, including China, which holds ob- server status — US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo railed against both Moscow and Beijing, and dis- missed the latter’s claim to be a “near Arctic state”.
In what looks like an emerging new ‘Great Game’ in the Arctic, he said that the Trump administra- tion would strengthen America’s presence there, remarks echoed by US National Security Adviser John Bolton also in May. Bolton told US Coast Guard Academy graduates that the service, supported
by new icebreaking vessels, will lead the way in “reasserting American leadership” in the Arctic.
Quite how America’s renewed interest in the region will play out is hard to predict. As a ma-
jor littoral state, the US has legitimate concerns about Russia and China’s accelerating plans. But, notwithstanding its difficult relations with both, constructive engagement will likely be cen- tral to ensuring that its economic and security interests are protected.
Rebecca Emerick and Yigal Chazan are analyst and head of content respectively at Alaco. Alaco Dispatches is the business intelligence consultancy’s take on events and development shaping the CIS region.
Moldova’s banking sector turning the corner
Moldova has long been a money-laundering black hole. Then in 2014 they had a shock when more than $1bn was stolen from the bank sector – equivalent to 15% of GDP.
Belatedly the government is now responding. Stakes in three of the country's biggest banks, which together account for about 80% of the sector’s assets, have been sold to the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and private investors and the central bank has been given real teeth to enforce regulations.
bne IntelliNews editor-in-chief Ben Aris talks
to special advisor to the president and head
of strategic planning at Moldova-Agroindbank (MAIB) Corneliu Munteanu and asks if Moldova’s banking sector has turned the corner.
Corneliu Munteanu
special advisor to the president of Moldova, head of strategic planning at MAIB
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