Yaroslavl forum to discuss ways to smooth over social inequality.

MOSCOW, September 7 (Itar-Tass) - A World Political Forum (WPF) opens
in Yaroslavl on Wednesday for a third time. It has drawn statesmen, public
figures, businessmen, and scientists from 32 countries.
This time, participants in this influential forum, held under the
auspices of RF President Dmitry Medvedev, take interest in democratic
countries' problems in the"social diversity" era.
A list of those problems is not new to the world public: it mentions
contradictions between an effective economy and the principles of social
justice, innovations and traditions, human rights and the ensurance of
global security. The economic inequality of citizens bids fair to be the
theme number one within the context of Russian specificity.
Experts expect that the Russian president's remarks at the forum may
contain a rather critical evaluation concerning the population's
differentiation.
Valery Fadeyev, a journalist and member of the Public Chamber, who as
moderator is to preside over a WPF panel dealing with the theme of "The
Rich and Poor: Where is Fairness?", has remarked, "As far as I understand,
his (Medvedev's) speech will be hard enough with regard to assessments of
the state of affairs in Russia, relating, say, to affluence and poverty.
Differentiation in our country is, in general, very high as compared with
that among more or less developed countries and the highest one in Europe."
Head of the Spanish Government Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, French
Prime Minister Francois Fillon, President Lee Myung-bak of the Republic of
Korea, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, and Yukio Hatoyama,
Japanese Premier's special representative, will be among Medvedev's
interlocutors.
Zbigniew Brzezinski, former US national security adviser, will make a
separate report on the theme of "Global Geopolitical Challenges".
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin, who will probably tell those present
about the enlargement of the boundaries of the Russian capital, Vladimir
Lukin, commissioner on human rights in the Russian Federation, Vladimir
Churov, Chairman of the RF Central Electoral Commission, Valery Zorkin,
Chief Justice of the RF Constitutional Court, and UNESCO Director-General
Irina Bokova are also to take the floor there.