Again, all 24 nations were represented as lower- level officials sat in for the missing ministers. He said the most important task facing President-elect Vladimir Putin is to improve Russia's economic and legal structures to encourage more investment in the country. The two institutions said Russian consumers have been buying more domestic products because they cannot afford the cost of imported goods. The two institutions also called for increased legal and economic reforms in Russia. The meeting also issued a communique that expressed no alarm over recent economic indicators in the United States.
Many analysts say the overall global economic improvement is due in part to American prosperity.
But recently, the U.S. stock market has declined dramatically, and a government report on Friday indicated that inflation could soon resume in the U.S. economy. This indicates that it believes other nations should not depend on the U.S. to lead the global economy. Phillip Hay, a spokesman for the World Bank, expressed confidence that today's meetings would be held despite the continuing protests. We're optimistic that the meetings will go ahead as planned, and as we promised that they would at the beginning of this long, long week.