maturities. moving into 2008, concerns about potential spillovers from slower u. s. growth and weaknesses in the financial system weighed increasingly on advanced economy equity markets. as the step - down in growth of gross domestic product ( gdp ) in a number of advanced economies became apparent, we also began to see reduced growth and prospects for growth in many emerging market economies, and stock markets in emerging economies declined sharply. throughout the world, the challenges posed by weakening economic activity were further complicated by mounting inflationary pressures as food and energy prices soared. by now i believe it has become clear that the initial assessment that the united states had decoupled from the rest of the world was incorrect, and that, in fact, the global economy remains closely connected by both trade and financial linkages. global trade linkages trade linkages among countries are, broadly speaking, relatively well understood : one country's imports are another's exports. that is, of course, an oversimplification, but it captures a key element of global trade linkages, that exports to other countries can provide a direct and powerful stimulus to the domestic economy. the importance and benefits of free trade are widely accepted, although agreement on how to allocate these benefits is not always easy to come by. when domestic markets for goods and services are unrestricted and open to sellers worldwide and when supply adjusts efficiently to meet changes in demand, costs to consumers are minimized. the recent sharp increases in global food prices have underscored the importance of reducing barriers to trade in agricultural products. reducing such barriers was one of the key subjects of the latest set of talks in the doha round, and i am disheartened that this round of talks collapsed. given the urgent need to expand the global food supply to meet burgeoning world demand, it is particularly unfortunate that these negotiations were unable to make progress. global financial linkages today's global financial linkages are quite complex and subtle. the nature and extent of these financial linkages are reflected in a range of characteristics, which include not only the net international investment positions but also the sizes of gross cross - border claims and liabilities positions, the composition of these positions by asset type, and the returns on the underlying assets. a quick review of these characteristics of u. s. financial linkages to the world will help resolve some puzzles in international finance that might otherwise suggest that the united states faces a different “ reality ” than other countries. first, investments made

course, it is important that this industry, which is important to the economy ’ s development, is sustainable, transparent and adequately regulated. the series of drafted laws has passed the first reading in the state duma, and now there is serious work to be done in preparing them for the second reading. the most important of these is the introduction of a unified system for evaluating business reputation, management qualification requirements and requirements for the founders and owners of non - bank financial institutions. such requirements are already defined in the banking system, and it ’ s very important to increase the responsibility of the owners and management of financial organisations for their sustainability and good governance, and in our opinion it is very important to bring in similar norms for non - banking organisations too. another draft law currently in the duma, and now particularly important, aims to improve the effectivity of regulation in the fight with insider trading and market manipulation. at the moment our legislation lags behind global practices. we understand what an urgent topic this is, and in order to make our economy more attractive to investors there should of course be effective mechanisms in place to counter insider trading and market manipulation. the next important issue is the bill concerning a financial ombudsman for the rights of consumers of financial services. recently at the state council presidium there was discussion about rights protection for consumers of financial services, and, of course, a financial ombudsman could be one of the instruments used to increase the effectivity of consumers ’ rights protection. we propose to bring this in gradually. and here, too, i hope i can count on support for this project from the ministry of finance and the government and state duma as a whole. these bills are in the process of being finalised before submission to the state duma. firstly, for us it is important that a bill toughens liability for false statements in the financial sector. we are carrying out major work on improving the cyber resilience of financial organisations and combatting cyber attacks. so it is important for us, taking into account the benefits of digital technology development for the financial sphere, to provide an adequate level of security and protection from risks. therefore it is necessary to amend the law in order to establish legal requirements for the protection of financial organisations ’ information and to combat theft of their clients ’ funds. we are now working on drafting this bill, too. and also worthy of note is our work, together with the ministry of finance, on the initiative for the pension savings