Russia’s choice is continued internationalization
-Our choice is the continued integration of Russia in the world economy, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said in Monday’s government session. He highlighted that the world financial crisis will not make Russia turn towards protectionism and isolationism
In this Monday’s cabinet meeting, Premier Putin underlined that Russia’s strategic choice is a continued integration of Russia in the world economy. -Russia will also in the future be a firm supporter of the development of integration processes, he said, adding that “isolationism is absolutely not our choice”.
In his speech, published at government.ru, he highlighted Russia’s economic success over the last years with foreign trade increasing 120 percent to 579 billion USD over the last eight years. He underlined that the strengthening of Russia’s foreign economic policy will remain one of the most important factors for long-term economic growth.
The Russian government is currently in the process of elaborating a bill on the country’s foreign economic policy for the next 12 years. The document will lay down the key orientation of our work on the global and regional markets for the next decade, Putin said.
The prime minister also said that internationalization is vital for the transformation of the Russian economy into a modern and innovative economy. In addition, he maintained that Russia supports reduced barriers in international trade, as well as fair and transparent rules in world economy and finances.
-As before, we are interested in and will continue to work for membership in the World Trade Organisation. –We perfectly well understand the processes which are going on there, but still assumes that we will remain in the negotiation process, and that is our goal, he added.
He also said that Russia is ready for dialogue with the EU on a new strategic partnership agreement.
