OREANDA-NEWS. October 6, 2011. “We will not simply stand around. We will do our utmost to ensure that the general public and our partners, above all in the economy and politics, feel that our policy is consistent and understand that we are a stable, reliable country in which one can invest, and with which one can and should cooperate.”
Vladimir Putin’s address at the forum:

I enjoyed the address by our American friend and colleague, but it worried me slightly. I’m serious. A major American businessman said that the United States is still, for the time being, the world’s largest economy, but that China will most certainly take over the lead. Are we supposed to keep our foreign-exchange reserves in the yuan while the Chinese keep theirs in US dollars? This is an interesting situation, like a matryoshka doll. It’s a tricky situation.

Allow me now… Please, excuse me for commenting on your presentation. Really, I want to thank you because this allows me to begin by saying what I wanted to say. Getting back to what you said about Einstein: we are familiar with this story, but our version has a different ending. When he was asked a difficult question, Dmitry (Einstein’s assistant) replied in Russian. And when Einstein asked him how he managed to get through it, he said that he had made an evasive reply. “What was that?” Einstein asked. “I told him to get lost,” he said. But we will not be giving evasive responses. I want to emphasise that we will try to be as specific as possible in our answers. We are following the situation closely in this country and in the world. We are doing our best to be on guard for any surprises, and recent events have taught us a lot. This is what I would like to talk about.

I want to talk about our priorities and Russia’s strategic plans so that investors, and the business community at large, can understand the rationale and the motives behind our actions, particularly during this difficult period. Naturally, especially during this period, we need the trust of our partners and we attach great importance to it, while you – and we understand this – need us to be predictable and transparent.

Let me first of all say a few words regarding the current situation. Much has been said already about it, so please forgive me in advance if I repeat something. Anyway, several things need to be said, since this is the official position of the Russian government. We must admit that the consequences of the global crisis have not yet been overcome – we understand that clearly. Uncertainty persists in financial markets following the sharp decline in indices this August. Most alarming is that the government debt of the euro zone countries exceeds 80% of their GDP.