KAZAN, July 25./ITAR-TASS/. Russia should learn to use all the mechanisms of the World Trade Organization (WTO) to protect its interests rather than to simply withdraw from it, Russia’s First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov said on Friday.

“We should stay in the World Trade Organization, even if its role is weakening while regional economic organizations are getting stronger,” he said at a meeting with participants in the international educational forum Summer Campus of the Presidential Academy. “The WTO is helpful in any case. We should learn to use all instruments available at the WTO, since countries which have been WTO members for a long time know how to use special protective measures, conduct anti-dumping investigations - a new thing for us. But we shall learn to do this without fail.”

Trade in energy sources is the basis of Russia’s economy strength but budget spending should depend entirely on oil and gas prices, Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov said.

“All arguments that Russia’s economy should not depend on sales of energy resources are empty talk. As long as it makes it possible to build strong economy we should go on. But we should not depend on these incomes while planning federal spending. The budget should not depend on sales of energy resources,” Shuvalov told participants in the international educational forum Summer Campus of the Presidential Academy.

He assessed as an exceptional success Russia’s signing a gas contract with China this May. “I think the contract with China was an exceptional success.” He said. “We would have been much weaker without this contract with China. And our Western friends, who are imposing sanctions against us, understand it well.”

The annual Summer Campus of the Presidential Academy has been held in Russia’s republic of Tatarstan since 2012. Lectures and training seminars for Russian and foreign students are given by Russian and foreign experts, businessmen and top-ranking officials.