It is not trans-national corporations or international organisations that are taking responsibility for the fate of millions of people at this difficult time. It is governments that are carrying out anti-crisis programmes and taking market stabilisation and social protection measures, and this is what is helping the global economy to return to normal.
Overcoming all of the consequences of the economic downturn requires renewed growth in the global economy and efforts to minimise the risk of sharp fluctuations in the global situation, the President said. The international financial and economic organisations must undergo reform and the big countries need to carry out more responsible economic policies.
Priorities include states being responsible towards their citizens and towards each other. They must be effective in ensuring social and global security, and persistent too in their commitment to democratic values and progress and in their ability to develop mechanisms for productive cooperation and peaceful resolution of disputes.
Mr Medvedev called on countries to take responsible decisions over the coming months, including at the G20 summit in Pittsburgh at the end of September, in order to avoid a new and even more dramatic wave of economic upheaval.
Prime Minister of France Francois Fillon and Prime Minister of Spain Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero also took part in the conference which was attended by more than 550 delegates from 18 different countries.