World Bank chief: Better ties with Russia a must
George FreyRussia's ties with the United States and the European Union must be improved to ensure stability, World Bank President Robert Zoellick said Wednesday.
Zoellick said it is widely recognized that weak states export trouble — including economic problems, refugees and even narcotics and crime.
"I hope relations with Russia will be guided by a farsighted vision that can create durable, peaceful, mutually beneficial ties," Zoellick said at a speech at Berlin's Humboldt University.
Zoellick said the global economic crisis shows that the world needed "reinvented global frameworks, to weather the storms of economic changes or climate or insecurity."
"Today's financial crisis could be an opportunity to develop sounder economic relations that might be a foundation, with Russia's help, to build cooperation in solving common problems," he said.
Zoellick added that Russia's actions domestically would shape the nature of its relationships with its neighbors.
"President (Dmitry) Medvedev has spoken of Russia's need to build a rule-of-law society and his own task to develop 'civic and economic freedoms,'" Zoellick said.
He said recent summits of G-20 leaders and the G-20 finance ministers were examples of the kind of action needed to stabilize the world economy, and emphasized the need to include developing countries.
"As the financial crisis has shown, we need more than the Group of Seven to address today's 21st Century problems," he said. "Rising economic powers such as China, India, and Russia must be part of the solution."