It is in common interest of all countries of the world today to find formative and constructive way out of difficult global economic situation, Russian President Vladimir Putin stated today, speaking at the plenary session of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.
He welcomed the participants of the forum and reminded about its history, adding that the head of St. Petersburg, Anatoly Sobchak, was the initiator of this forum's creation. "More than 20 years have passed since then. It started as a regional forum, but today, it turned into an important platform, where we can talk about different issues, exchange views on them. I would like to thank all of those who responded to our invitation. SPIEF is a platform for the discussion of strategic issues and problems, which is especially important today, when the world is in a state of transformation," Putin said.
He stressed that it is in the common interest of all countries in the world today to find formative and constructive way out of the current difficult global economic situation.
Vladimir Putin, speaking about economic relations, noted that recent meetings with the representatives of European businesses demonstrated that Europe is interested in the restoration of old relations with Russia.
A large Eurasian partnership can become a platform for the development of economic relations, so the President urged to resume technical consultation between the European Union and the EEU countries, as well as India and China.
At the same time, Russia understands EU's concern about the creation of the Transatlantic Partnership with the United States, Putin said.
"I completely understand our European partners, who talk about tough decisions for Europe in negotiations on creation of the Transatlantic Partnership. It is clear that Europe has a huge potential, and the bet on regional cooperation alone clearly narrows its capabilities. It is har to maitain the balance in such situation," he said.
Speaking about the development of Russia's economy, Putin stated that the country managed to resolve the most urgent issues of the economy and expects the growth in the near future: since the beginning of the year, the outflow of capital decreased fivefold. Inflation also slowed down. The level of 4 -5% is achievable in the medium term.
"We will continue further liberalization and improvement of the business climate. I know that many sites of the forum discussed this yesterday and today. We will resolve systemic problems, there are still many of them.We want to increase transparency, equalize relations between government agencies and businesses - they must be built on understanding of mutual responsibility, with strict fulfillment and adherence to the law, on respect to the interests of state and society, absolute value of private property rights," Putin stressed.
