Russians Plan for Medvedev-Obama Meeting
This Monday in Moscow, Arkady Dvorkovich, the Russian President's Assistant for Economics at the G-20 Summit, presented the final program that Dmitry Medvedev will outline at the upcoming forum in London. The Russian proposal consists of the following: First, there should be a formation of a common regulatory system. Second, discussions should start on a new monetary system. And third, member countries should take firm commitment to reform the IMF and its recapitalization. "If these three components will be accepted and if there will be a promise to realize the economic incentives, we will be satisfied," declared Dvorkovich.
Moscow insisted that the additional funds be deposited to the IMF with the condition of reforming this international institution. To ensure that the IMF did not lose momentum for reform, Dvorkovich suggested the idea to provide such deposits not directly, but through the purchasing of bonds. Reform of the IMF in one form or another is supported by the UK, Germany, Indonesia, China, Canada, Mexico and Saudi Arabia.
Earlier, China and Russia had put forward the proposal to review the role of the dollar by accepting something similar to the "suprereserve" currency. But, as is acknowledged openly in Moscow and by Dvorkovich, the probability of establishing a global currency is "insignificant." "Our objective was to initiate discussion on this topic, because we understand that the current system is inadequate and contains in itself too many risks associated with the unilateral actions of a small number of countries that are responsible for the release of reserve currency," explained Dvorkovich.
Analysts and experts are alarmed at the lack of the initiative by Russians to combat protectionism. Earlier, Dvorkovich referred to the World Trade Organization, which came to the conclusion that "almost all countries over the past six months sought to implement measures that can be attributed to protectionism...But we are yet to see any serious global risks because of this," Assistant to the President added. "While many countries are insisting that the the London Declaration should include stricter rules on this subject, the debate on this issue will have to go on." Igor Nikolayev, Director of the Strategic Analysis of the Federal Budget Committee, stated: "By this statement, Moscow has demonstrated that it does not consider protectionism a threat, but rather will continue to refer to this issue. The irrationality of this is striking."
