MOSCOW, October 9. /TASS/. Russia will not create barriers for international trade or close itself off from the global market, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev wrote in his article for the Voprosi Ekonomiki (Economic Questions) magazine published on Tuesday.

"Russia will not create barriers for international economic relations. We will not close ourselves off from the global market, and we will definitely not ignore it. One of our priorities is to expand Russia's role in global trade, to form our own chains of added value, to participate in foreign trade unions and agreements," Medvedev said.

According to the prime minister, Russia plans to lift regulatory barriers for traffic, liberalize the currency exchange rate for exports, and ease the visa regime for tourists on the basis of reciprocity.

Medvedev said Russia had managed to avoid economic and political crises. "We have prevented a macroeconomic (and especially a financial) crisis, mitigated pressing financial problems without a critical increase in debt dependence, avoided a crisis of the banking system. What is more important is that the country has escaped a trap of a political crisis," he noted. The prime minister added that Russia has a stable state budget and low government debt. He said that the government has managed to push down inflation to the level of ensuring macroeconomic stability for the first time in nearly 30 years.

In these conditions, the cabinet of ministers is primarily tasked with "using the positive potential and timely neutralization of risks," Medvedev said. "The agenda currently includes carrying out structural and institutional reforms that will allow to realize the full potential of entrepreneurship, to lift excessive barriers in labor and capital markets, to ensure production growth. The main objective is to form a solid foundation for improving people's well-being," he concluded.