The world's largest free trade area in terms of GDP and population – the Comprehensive Regional Economic Partnership (CEP) – has been operating since January 2022. It includes 15 countries of the Asia-Pacific region: China, Japan, the Republic of Korea, all ASEAN countries, Australia and New Zealand. The main agreements within the framework of the VREP relate to the liberalization of foreign trade in goods with the prospect of liberalizing the services market, mutual investments and labor market regulation. The VREP maintains import tariffs in trade between member countries for 20 years. The exception is Singapore, where there are no import duties. The agreement details the procedures for determining the origin of the goods. It provides for an acceleration in the rate of tariff reduction and a departure to previously reached agreements in the case if the existing level threatens the interests of the national economy. The article considers the specifics of regulating tariff policy in the trade of fuel, ferrous metals and clothing, as well as import tariffs on basic foodstuff (cereals and meat) for the most densely populated countries of the European Economic Area. It is noted that import tariffs are absent or reduced for raw materials (coal, oil), but remain the same for manufacturing products (petroleum products, rolled products and ferroalloys). In terms of clothing, both developing and developed countries defend certain positions. There are positions on food (rice, chicken meat) protected by most member countries. The author notes that the interests of food security are more important than the requirements of trade liberalization.

This article is devoted to the study of the relationships between modern geopolitical conflicts and structural and dynamic changes in modern international trade. The author notes the ambiguous impact of conflicts on international exchange, as a result of which trade models undergo significant changes. Geopolitical conflicts, which have changed the conditions for further participation of countries in international trade, have become a serious challenge to the current openness of markets. It is the superposition of several successive shocks (the Chinese- American trade conflict, the pandemic and the risks of deglobalization) that make the scenarios for the development of international trade uncertain even in the foreseeable future, since the very impact of conflicts on trade has become wave and cumulative. Conflicts will ultimately not lead to a reduction in trade relations between countries, but will only reformat them and modify them, which will likely have a negative impact on trade costs that will be associated with the restructuring of global supply chains. International trade in the future will become more fragmented and regionalized, but in the medium term it will restore its pre-pandemic dynamics. Trade policy will gradually adapt to increasingly frequent geopolitical conflicts, gradually moving away from the main established principle of international trade – liberalization, but without abandoning it completely.

Economically and technically advanced nations differ from developing countries by having numerous competitive, innovative and active enterprises. High-tech innovations are particularly important for the global economy, for this reason, many economists and politicians tend to underestimate the importance of innovations introduced by small and medium-sized firms from low- and medium-tech sectors of the economy. In their innovation activities, SMEs acquire ready–made technological solutions on the market, or introduce innovations in a special way – in the DUI mode. The theoretical concept of DUI (learning by doing, using and interacting) explains why many small and medium-sized enterprises succeed in innovation without research and development (R&D) efforts. This article examines the theoretical issues of introducing innovations without R&D, and also provides data from empirical studies of innovation activity obtained during the surveys Mannheim Innovation Panel of the Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research and German Manufacturing Survey of the Frauenhofer ISI Research Institute for the period 2002–2020.

The article is devoted to the search for conceptual solutions to the problem of ensuring sustainable economic growth in the new unstable economic conditions. This topic remains extremely relevant in the modern world, where various challenges are faced, such as climate change, resource depletion, population growth, increased social inequality and other problems. The authors explore the evolution of the concept of sustainable development, highlighting various essential aspects of understanding the category of sustainability. In different time periods, climate change and environmental challenges, social justice and efficiency, global cooperation and risk management, digitalization and technological innovation have consistently been at the center of the problem of sustainable development. As a result, strategies to reduce the negative impact on the environment and adapt to climate change have been replaced by strategies of green technologies, which, in turn, have been replaced by strategies of international cooperation and coordination of actions by all members of society to solve global problems of our time. The authors prove the importance of considering not only environmental, but also social aspects when developing sustainable development strategies to ensure social justice and improve the quality of life of all segments of society. In conclusion, the authors conclude that risk management related to economic instability, environmental changes and other factors requires new strategies for sustainable development, which in turn is impossible without effective public management, public involvement, and informed decision-making.

In modern conditions of global economic relations, BRICS is of strategic importance for the member countries of this association. The purpose of the article is to analyze the directions of industrial development of the BRICS and their impact on the foreign trade potential of the member countries of this association. The article highlights the basic stages of analyzing the impact of industrial specializations of countries on their foreign trade. On the basis of the selected stages a macroeconomic review and analysis of the industrial profiles of the BRICS member countries were carried out, in particular, information on basic specialization sectors was systematized, divided into primary, secondary and tertiary sectors of the economy, which occupy significant shares in the GDP structure of the bloc countries and determine the vector of foreign trade (export-import) activities of the countries. Based on the UNCTAD open data base, the authors investigated the radars of comparative advantages of the BRICS countries based on the application of the Balassa coefficient (coefficient of relative advantages), which allowed drawing conclusions about the advantages and export specializations of the BRICS member countries. Conclusions are drawn about the high potential of foreign trade cooperation between the BRICS member countries and more intensive build-up of foreign trade potential taking into account the upcoming expansion of the BRICS in 2024.

The search for new sources of financing investment projects in modern Russia in the context of external sanctions and the implementation of geopolitical threats actualizes the problem of incorporating Islamic finance instruments into the structure of the financial market. The early twentieth century development experience of a number of foreign countries shows the steady growth of the assets of Islamic banks, investment funds and the volume of issuance of investment certificates (sukuk), which constitute the main segments of Islamic finance in the world. Islamic financial assets are widely represented in the Gulf countries, Southeast Asia, the Middle East and South Asia, and Africa. The implementation of the principles of Islamic finance in the Russian Federation is hampered by legal, cultural, historical and political factors. While there are certain Islamic financial products in Russia, there is no issue of sukuk at all. In this regard, the purpose of this paper is to study the principles of Islamic finance and the functioning mechanism of the market for the investment certificates (sukuk), possibilities and limitations of their implementation in the modern Russian economy. The author defines sukuk as an Islamic financial instrument used for securitization of assets, and identifies its differences from traditional bonds. Alternative approaches to solving the problem of compliance of sukuk with Sharia principles are analyzed. The prerequisites for realizing the potential of sukuk in modern Russia are determined and the obstacles to their issuance are formulated. It is concluded that the adoption of the Federal Law of 04.08.2023 N 417-FZ "On Conducting an Experiment to Establish Special Regulation in Order to Create the Necessary Conditions for Carrying out Partnership Financing Activities in Certain Constituent Entities of the Russian Federation and on Introducing Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation" and its implementation, taking into account its provisions of pilot projects in a number of Russian regions, will make it possible to intensify the process of incorporation of project financing instruments into the structure of the financial markets of modern Russia.

The dichotomy of development and regulation of digital ecosystems has attracted the attention of many theorists and practitioners over the past 10 years. The emergence and poorly regulated development of electronic platforms and ecosystems contributed to the formation of a new business model that did not fit into the coordinates of the legal institutions of the functioning of the traditional economy. In the process of their expansion, digital platforms have demonstrated a number of advantages over traditional business models, while simultaneously increasing their fundamental disadvantages. The article reveals the causes of the emergence and rapid development of digital ecosystems, the phenomenon of ecosystem's dependence. The pros and cons of ecosystem's functioning, the formation of their monopolistic essence, the violation of fundamental market laws, and the factors of their destructive influence on the modern economy, society, and consumers are analyzed. The main directions of activity of national regulators in the USA, the EU, and Russia are presented.

The article presents an analysis of the digital transformation process in Iraq. The relevance of the article is reduced to the current need to understand the directions and features of the digitalization of the Iraqi economy in order to comply with global trends and the possibility of increasing financial and economic stability. The global digitalization requires from each country certain efforts to introduce digital technologies into the national economy for the possibility of sustainable development in the long term. Iraq is no exception in this matter and, as shown in the article, based on strategies for digital development, technology transfer and other forms of digitalization stimulation, it is actively moving forward within the framework of this global trend. To analyze the situation with digitalization in Iraq and determine trends in its development, the author uses descriptive and comparative research methods using analytical and statistical tools (graphical method). The data for the study were obtained from national and international sources, as well as from secondary sources. The study period includes 2000–2022. As a result of the research, the author concludes that Iraq could improve the conditions for digitalization in cooperation with foreign countries, both regional and non-regional

The article focuses on the specifics of the Israeli mechanism of foreign investments control that was created primarily under the influence of the political will of Israel's main global partner, the United States, but not on the basis of the country’s economic interests. The author considers the course of negotiations between the government of B. Netanyahu and the administration of D. Trump on the formation of an advisory committee for foreign investment approval, its goals, objectives and directions of work, as well as the differences from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS). The cases of China, Japan and India are consistently analyzed. The choice of these examples is motivated by both by the level of their business activity in Israel and the dynamics of contacts with the United States, which forces the White House to support or hinder their cooperation with its Middle Eastern partner. The author comes to conclusion that the Israeli government did not completely repeat the American experience of control over foreign investment, although it is moving towards tightening this practice. The study shows that that the main focus of the Israeli advisory committee since its creation in 2019 has been transactions with China, while relations with representatives of Japan and India have particularly no restrictions.

Under the conditions of sanctions confrontation transformation of trade and economic relations in the world arena is inevitable. This article analyzes the process of Russian formation of strategic trade cooperation within the global economic system in the context of the evolution of the geography of international trade in 2022–2023. The methodology is based on comparative and statistical approaches. The study shows the growing importance of strategic partnership with China, India and Turkey against the background of the slowdown in trade relations between Russia and the European Union after February 2022. The author's opinion is that the concentration of major commodity flows in a rather narrow group of states has several negative consequences. As the analysis has shown, there is a need to rethink the strategy of Russia's international economic cooperation in the direction of diversification of its economic ties. The purpose of the study is to develop recommendations to support domestic non-resource nonenergy exports (NRE) as a source of sustainable development of trade relations in the direction of friendly countries in the new economic reality. The article identified the most important partner countries for Russian non-resource non-energy exports (China, Kazakhstan, Turkey, Belarus, Uzbekistan and Egypt), which at the same time have the highest indicator of unrealized export potential. Based on the results of the research, it was developed recommendations how to expand the geography of Russian non-resource non-energy exports in the direction of identified strategic partners in the conditions of the sanctions.

The Ural Federal District (UrFO) is one of the most important economic administrativeterritorial units of the Russian Federation. The main branches of specialization of the Ural Federal District are oil and gas production, mining, metallurgy and mechanical engineering. In recent years, the region has faced significant difficulties due to economic sanctions imposed by Western countries. In this regard, the purpose of the study is to analyze the foreign trade activities of the Ural Federal District and develop mechanisms for its development. The tasks of the Ural Federal District include to determine the trade structure, main consumers and suppliers in order to identify the most affected sectors of foreign trade activities from the imposed sanctions; to develop mechanisms for the development of foreign trade activities of the Ural Federal District in relation to each of the regions that make up it. The study revealed that in 2021 the Ural Federal District's foreign trade relations were mainly with unfriendly countries, which currently restrict exports and imports of the Russian Federation. Taking into account the peculiarities of the region, the author proposed the following mechanisms for the development of foreign trade activities of the Ural Federal District: export diversification, orientation to hightech industries, development of transport and digital infrastructure, promotion of small and medium-sized export-oriented enterprises, state support.

This article is devoted to the study of the possibility of energy saving of buildings. The relevance of the article lies in the fact that the role of efficiency of energy saving programs is currently growing. The novelty of the research lies in the development of methodology and new approaches for the analysis of energy saving. The author suggests cross-industry indicators of strategic management of energy saving programs. They can provide analysis of a wide range of useful information to confirm the costs of investment, operation and efficiency of a project. Information modeling of buildings is used as the basis of the research in the article. Based on the analysis of scientific literature, the author has developed cross-sectoral indicators of strategic management of energy saving programs. The author proposes a calculation of energy saving taking into account such new indicators as indicators in terms of replacement cost, indicators of power losses, environmental impact, reliability indicators. A methodology for assessing the impact of energy management solutions and the use of key performance indicators is proposed. The methodology consists of a preparatory stage and a two-stage assessment. It can be used to quantify specific aspects or objectives of a project, such as economic feasibility, environmental impact, reliability and quality of electricity. In the study, the author used general scientific methods of systematization and classification of data, methods of statistical processing and generalization, logical, comparative and system analysis, as well as mathematical methods.