http://www.russiatoday.com/news/news/36560/video
January 28, 2009, 22:03 Putin lashes out at world financial system as Davos kicks off The world's largest event of its kind - the Davos Economic Forum – has kicked off in Switzerland with Prime Minister Vladamir Putin delivering a key-note speech at the forum’s opening ceremony. As the largest recession in decades continues gaining momentum, Russia’s Prime Minister emphasized the reasons for the crisis and laid out ways of dealing with it. ”As we see it, the crisis was triggered by a combination of several factors occurring simultaneously. This is the collapse of the existing financial system. It is the result of poor quality regulations. And as a result of this, huge risks were overlooked,” said Putin. “This has been prompted by a colossal lack of balance that piled up over recent years,” Putin continued. “First of all, this concerns the imbalance between financial operations and the fundamental value of assets. This is the result of the increasing burden on international credits and the sources providing them.” ”It is time to start a specific dialogue on how to make the transition into a new model - smooth and irreversible,” Putin also said. To learn more about Putin’s plans for a global economic revival please follow the link And after a half-an-hour speech Putin answered questions of participants in the forum. This year, more world leaders than ever before arrived at the Swiss resort of Davos for the world’s largest economic event. At the same time, a number of corporate leaders have decided to drop out of the discussion. The World Economic Forum in the Swiss ski resort of Davos has always been the flame for the moths of global finance and politics, but now the times are changing. The world economy is in chaos, banking is in crisis and the mood in Davos is more somber than suave. There is a bright side, however, as the forum is the perfect chance to take real, global steps towards change. Russia’s interest in the U.S. is not just about finance. As the Obama administration prepares to lay out its foreign policy, Russia is, according to Putin, ‘cautiously optimistic’: “What we have heard in recent weeks, or maybe months, gives reasons to be somewhat optimistic. We’ve seen certain signals regarding the anti- missile defense. We’ve also noticed that in Obama’s circles there are talks about not rushing things, and the need for further analysis. We welcome such statements”. Being together is all good and well, but it’s unlikely to happen in Davos. The U.S. is only sending top Obama advisor and confidant Valerie Jarrett. Steven Schrage from the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies explains why. “It would convey a very bad signal to send a large contingent to an event that has an elite aura when there are real domestic problems,” he said. In tougher times it is apt that Davos is distancing itself from champagne and caviar, but luxury is still prevalent, and the limos and helicopters attest to that. Still it is hoped the Davos forum can provide real solutions to global financial troubles and organisers say Russia's role in the process is very clear. “Russia is going to play a critical role both at Davos and much more broadly. On the economic side, it has an extremely important role to play. But also on the political side - we are delighted to have Prime Minister Putin here for that reason,” said Robert Greenhill, WEF managing director. However, the media's scepticism about Davos is obvious. The headlines like ‘Chief executives make their Davos excuses’ (Financial Times), ‘Caviar days are over for Davos crisis debate’ (AFP) or ‘A chill wind blows through Davos as global crisis bites’ (Telegraph UK) attest to this. Whatever happens this week, whether it is successful or not will not be known for a long time, but the participants are certainly set on doing all they can. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "World-thread" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/world-thread?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
