It is almost two years since the publication of Oleg Davydov's significant study Inside Out: The Radical Transformation of Russian Foreign Trade, 1992-1997, and a lot has changed since then, including the August 1998 financial and banking crisis in Russia. Nevertheless, the views Davydov expressed in that book are still relevant, and many of the recommendations he made have been implemented, to good effect. This book, Liberalization of Russian Foreign Trade, takes up where the first left off. Here, Davydov teams up with Valeriy A. Oreshkin, and they systematize and explain the issues related to the formation of Russia's foreign trade policy. The transition from centrally planned economy to market economy has been difficult. The largest problem, of course, has been integrating Russia into the world economic community and learning how to do business with foreign counterparts and competitors. Another problem, of potentially overwhelming proportions, is the issue of Russia's foreign debts, and the authors investigate how the country might modernize its infrastructure and invest in its future despite the enormous foreign-debt repayments. Part of the solution, the authors believe, will come from foreign investments, yet Russian businesspeople must continue to convince foreign investors that investing in Russia is a good risk. However, given the rise of criminal activities in the foreign-trade arena, foreign investors are understandably hesitant. In the forseeable future, the creation of internal and external conditions for a more complete integration of Russia into the world economy will remain a top priority. But the key milestones to that greater goal are already in flux. In an objective and informed way, this book provides the best explanation available of how those milestones have changed, and how such changes may affect the future development of a competitive Russian economy.

Oleg Davydov's Inside Out examines Russia's foreign economic relations from 1992 to 1997, a period of drastic change and transformation. During these years, as it underwent the change from state monopoly to free market, Russia's economy was rebuilt and the very principles of foreign trade redefined. After 1992, both industrial and agricultural enterprises in Russia were unchained and received the right to trade freely without any permission from "the top." Davydov studies the changing role of the government in Russia's economy as it actively searches for new markets and seeks to integrate Russia's economy into the world's. These economic reforms, Davydov proposes, should result in the integration of the Commonwealth member countries, Russia's admittance into the WTO, and the creation of a free trade zone with the EC, all of which will provide tremendous opportunities for Russia as it embarks on the road of a sustained and democratic development.