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MEDVEDEV: Russia and the world economy

Forging alliances with APEC to secure a prosperous Asia-Pacific

By Dmitry Medvedev | Friday, November 21, 2008

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EXCLUSIVE, OP-ED:

During the last decade, Russia has been working actively and initiatively in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum. In the run-up to the APEC Summit in the Peruvian capital, I would like to present my vision of the place and goals of this authoritative regional alliance and prospects of Russia's participation in it.

The modern world is changing rapidly. These dynamic shifts are particularly evident in the Asia-Pacific states. It is in this region where all pluses and minuses of the globalized economy and enhanced multifaceted interdependence are observable. It is these countries that are increasingly facing new challenges that cannot be addressed without creating a better security architecture and institutions for sustainable development.

I am convinced that APEC can and must play an increasing role in the search for the ways to secure stability and prosperity for our common region. During the Lima Summit we shall discuss prospects of economic, investment and technological cooperation, as well as ways and models of further development of Asia-Pacific cooperation.

I would like to emphasize that minimization of the consequences of the global financial crisis and ensuring the energy and food security are, to my mind, topics of priority.

The global economic crisis was prompted mainly by financial market imbalances and faulty economic policies of certain countries.

In order to protect the national economy and ensure the functioning of the real sector as well as the early recovery of the banking system, Russia is taking effective stabilization measures. We have developed a program to minimize crisis impact that is being implemented. In our anti-crisis domestic policy we attach great importance to enhancing international collaboration. We consider that it is a key to solving the priority task of establishing a multi-polar international financial and economic system.

It is the APEC countries, in particular, that will have to largely assume the task to unravel the world economic crisis. Today, the role of the emerging economies is growing as never before. Against the backdrop of the comedown of traditionally sustainable economies (and even the threat of recession in a number of developed countries), the possibilities to maintain high growth rates, APEC member states' market investment capacities, and the high human and technological potential of these countries, allow us to consider that this region will become the locomotive of sustainable world economic development in the future. We believe that many APEC countries will become leaders in the post-crisis period and will gain new positions in key markets.

We have voiced a number of proposals to modernize world economic structure and finances at the G-20 Washington summit. I believe that it is necessary to discuss them at the APEC meeting. The organization's substantial mutual trade turnover bodes well for establishing a more flexible modern system of international trade, as well as to strengthen the role of regional currencies.

The summit agenda contains such topical issues as energy security, food shortage, climate change and trade security, as well as the issue of increasing social responsibility of the corporate sector. A substantive discussion of these issues and development of agreed decisions fully meet APEC's program goals.