Russia, Moscow: Foreign brewers regard Russia among the world's most lucrative beer markets, on a par with Germany and China, RIA Novosti said on November 11. The opinion belongs to Axel Gietz, Senior Vice-President for Corporate Contacts of InBev Co., one of the world's biggest breweries.

As he was addressing newsmen in Moscow, Herr Gietz strongly called Russia to enhance its investment attractiveness. Investors want a predictable climate. They don't like surprises, and they seek stability, he emphasised. Commercial barriers are among things they dislike the most, added Axel Gietz.

The businessman turned to a bill Russia recently landslided to limit beer retail trade and drinking in public. "Legislators are not to make a big bungle-even a law easy to get through will not settle any problem in one fell swoop," he warned. "Laws lose their effect when they get out of proportion with the targets they mean to strike." There are no facts to prove that beer advertising really makes teenagers guzzle more.

"That is a social problem. Brewers alone will not cope with it. The matter demands efforts by schools, parents, educational offices, the government, and retailers.

"We don't think beer advertising limited or banned altogether will come as a cure-all. We should like to retain our right to advertise beer for adults."

Axel Gietz thinks customers' age limitations will certainly reduce teenager beer drinking. Such limitations must get on a legal footing, he insists.