13 Apr 2010 15:44

BRIC has great future - Medvedev

MOSCOW. April 13 (Interfax) - The Russian President has predicted that the BRIC grouping of Brazil, Russia, India and China will have a "great future" in an article published ahead of a two-day BRIC summit in Brazil starting on April 15.

"I am certain that our countries' cooperation has a great future," Medvedev wrote in the article titled "The BRIC countries: common goals and common steps."

"And although we are only at the beginning of our path, the reliable foundation for our dialog in the BRIC format - tested, mutually beneficial partnership - allows to expect this promising forum to be successful for the welfare of our countries and people," the Russian president said.

The BRIC summit "may be a young forum, but its initial steps have already earned it high international respect."

"By overcoming the effects of the global crisis, our country is also moving towards total renovation," Medvedev said.

"The key goal is to achieve sustainable economic growth and to increase the income of our citizens on the basis of a diversified economy, modernized technology and innovative development model," the Russian president said.

"We invest increasingly more money in further space exploration, higher energy efficiency, the development of nuclear and alternative sources of energy, information, telecommunications and new medical technologies, and pharmaceutical products. We are attaching great importance to processing fossil fuels that are abundant in our country, and to increasing agricultural production," he said.

"I am certain these Russian achievements will be sought-after by our BRIC partners as well," Medvedev said.