Russia should help create new rules of world economy

In his recent video blog post Russia's President, Dmitry Medvedev, has addressed the global economic crisis and its impact on Russia.

Governments and central banks of major countries around the world are now doing a great deal to improve the economic situation by providing the necessary resources. We have also taken several measures that should restore confidence in the nearest future in the financial sector and normal lending. In addition, we have set in place measures aimed at sustaining retail trade, agriculture, construction, engineering and the defence industry. We are trying to help small business. Due to the drop in global demand and the difficulties involved in obtaining credit, these are the areas that require our priority support. By and large, our actions should offset these negative factors.

Gold and currency reserves and the Stabilisation Fund were set up for precisely such difficult periods. And we have an opportunity to avoid the foreign exchange, banking and debt crisis. We can meet today's challenges without losing all the potential for development that we have created.