G-8 Finance Ministers describe Russia's economic achievements as impressive

The results of Russia's economic development over the last three years "have been declared impressive," reads the final communique of the G-8 financial ministers' meeting in France. Russian Deputy Prime Minister, Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin reported the news to President Vladimir Putin at a session with government on Monday.

At the G-8 finance ministers' meeting, Russia took part in the discussion of all issues that were not "simple", he admitted. During discussions, each minister spoke on his country's economic development. "I spoke in detail on the situation in Russia, proceeding from the factual data," the Deputy Prime Minister said.

At first the words of acknowledging Russia's economic development as "impressive" were not going to be included in the document, yet they were added to the final document, Kudrin pointed out. Moreover, the document says that Russia will continue its structural reform.

The meeting also discussed the issue of supporting the world's poorest countries, Kudrin said. The Finance Minister of France noted Russia's role in this matter, he pointed out. The meeting's participants agreed that the annual $50 billion allocated for their support was not enough, Kudrin said.

Vladimir Putin in his turn noted that this issue required attention. He also spoke in favour of providing support to other countries, including the CIS.