Ustyuzhanina: First of all, what is your overall impression of the forum?
Dutkiewicz: This is an important event from my perspective. You cannot compare similar events in the world, because this forum is specifically about ideas in the area of politics and society. We have the Davos Forum, which is predominantly economic, as well as other smaller forums related to different aspects of development, but this forum is a kind of new approach, combining both the social, economic and political development in one. So, in this sense it is quite an unparalleled platform for an international interdisciplinary debate.
Ustyuzhanina: What questions raised at the forum you consider the most important, most crucial?
Dutkiewicz: I believe that there are two or three of them. One is the state of democracy in the world, how to make the system efficient without losing the democratic quality of the process. Democracy is very costly, sometimes very inefficient. And, particularly during the time of crisis, we are emphasizing the role of efficiency. At the same time, democracy is something that people are associating with their personal gains or losses. From that perspective, democratic opening in Russia was not very successful. Democracy in Russia is associated with very chaotic 1990s.
Ustyuzhanina: The question of modernization was also raised at this forum. What do you think of modernization in Russia?
Dutkiewicz: It is a very complex process. Russia is to a certain extent a modern country. No doubt about it. The problem is that the development of this modernization to the point where Russia will become competitive in the world markets. At the moment, Russia is not very much competitive in most of the areas of export. The only competitive area by now is energy export. This is not the sustainable type of development. In other words, what the President told us, modernization is inevitable. Everything will be put into the service of making the Russian economy not only stronger, but more efficient and innovative. For this, Russia should reconstruct the industrial base - that’s the crucial thing right now.
Ustyuzhanina: And the last question. You participated in the meeting with the Russian President. How did it go?
Dutkiewicz: It was a very open discussion. We asked many questions, ranging from the political system and the economic development to his personal ideas about the Internet and the use of Internet. He was very positive about the future of the country and the economy. We left with the impression that President knows what he is doing and has a clear plan how to implement it. However, without any jumps and leaps forward it would be a rather long process. Mr. Medvedev is not in the mood to quickly fix the problems.
Ustyuzhanina: Thank you very much for the interview.
Dutkiewicz: Thank you so much.
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