ST. PETERSBURG, June 21 (Itar-Tass) - President Vladimir Putin said the Group of Twenty is more apt to live up to present-day realities that the Group of Eight.
“On the whole, this [G8] is a good and needed forum but it is such a broader platform as the Group of Twenty that becomes increasingly able to live up to present-day realities,” Putin said at meeting with G20 Youth Summit participants on Thursday, June 20.
“It’s hard to imagine that we could adopt concerted decisions without such countries as China, India, Brazil or Mexico and that these decisions would then be followed by all global economic players,” the president said.
In his opinion, no effective decisions can be made without these countries.
As for the G8, “this is a mechanism that has been functioning for a long time.”
“It does not make binding decisions, but as a forum for coordinating the positions of different economies, it is quite good and actually useful for everyone,” he added.
Putin believes it necessary for the G8 to listen to different opinions, not any one that would dominate and provide the basis for decisions.
“It is important to have a democratic forum where everyone would listen to each other, debate without mutual recriminations and work out a common approach,” Putin said.