Putin is Critical of WTO, Wants Own Economic System
In St. Petersburg today, Russian President Vladimir Putin but out a call for development of alternatives to the World Trade Organization. He would like to see a greater role for regional currencies and opportunities for developing economies.
He was speaking at an economic forum where he said that the current international economic organizations were out of touch with the realities of the world economic situation while they try to protect the interests of the developed countries of the world.
Putin expressed specific displeasure at the failure of the Doha round of global trade talks because of the arguing between rich and poor countries on regards to farm trade. He supports the creation of several world financial centers that would have their own currency systems and therefore having more influence in currency values fluctuations than they do with the current system.
Russia is the only major economy that is not a member of the WTO and needs to come to an agreement with its neighbor Georgia. There are also talks going on between the European Union and Russia in regards to Russia’s WTO membership. While the EU backs Russia in it’s quest to gain WTO membership, it also has issues with limitations to foreign investment in the Russian energy sector.
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