Global Policy Forum ends in Yaroslavl

A plenary session today attended by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev
closed the Global Policy Forum “The modern state: democratic standards
and efficiency criteria”. Over 500 officials, politicians, experts and
politologists from 35 countries took part in the forum, reports
ITAR-TASS. Before noon the Russian President held an informal
discussion with well-known political analysts, and after noon made a
statement on five universal standards of democracy. South Korean
President Lee Myung-bak and Italian Prime-Minister Silvio Berlusconi
also prepared speeches. Democracy is not just a political regime,
democracy can liberate millions of people in our country and billions
over the world from humiliation and poverty, claimed Medvedev.
Democracy begins when a citizen says to himself: “I am free,” he
added.