The modernization of Russia's financial market and an analysis of how best to attract investors should be key elements of a plan to create an international financial centre in Moscow, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on Thursday.
The Kremlin has set the ambitious goal of establishing within five years a financial hub that is able to compete with Dubai and Shanghai.
"It is not only our laws that matter,... but also how these laws are implemented by the authorities and how the rights and lawful interests of business people and those who will come to our market are protected," Medvedev said.
He said it was essential to provide comfortable conditions to foreign specialists working in Russia.
"They should feel no less comfortable here than they do in London, Geneva or New York," he said.
Medvedev believes turning Moscow into a global financial center, as well as making the ruble a regional reserve currency, is fundamental for building a viable financial system in Russia.
Senior Director of A. T. Kearney business consultancy Martin Walker has said Moscow has all it needs to implement such ambitions as Russia is one of the world's 10 biggest economies and generates large capital flow.
MOSCOW, June 3 (RIA Novosti)
