Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has called on ‘extra-regional powers’ not to try to put pressures on the implementation of the Nord Stream project.

At the interstate consultations with Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel within the framework of the St. Petersburg Dialogue forum on Thursday Medvedev said “the benefits of this project are obvious and it will be useful to all participants.”

“We are hoping for the project’s progress. Also we expect that all extra-regional powers that have no bearing on the affair will not try to influence it,” Medvedev said.

“Germany’s idea of cooperation in the Partnership for Modernization format looks very successful to us. Such partnership is based on qualitatively new aspects. It confirms their viability and we shall be prepared to work on this project further on,” he said. “We would like to hear from government ministers what is to be done to step up cooperation in demography and energy efficiency. We have just discussed this question with businesses, we have very many good ideas in the sphere of scientific and education exchanges and in other spheres of social importance. We are extremely interested in specific results and we do hope that they will materialize.”

“Esteemed German partners, this meeting of ours is being held against the background of an extremely acute situation in the world financial markets,” Medvedev told the audience. “We shall not analyze this situation anew. The causes are well-known. Our common evaluations of the economic model that has brought about this crisis are largely identical. Apparently, attempts of one state to dictate its rules of the game do not work.”

Medvedev said that Russia had created a considerable safety margin that would allow it to go ahead with the modernization program and create conditions for a new investment wage.

“Of course, we would like to have cooperation in that sphere,” said.

“The issue on the agenda is cooperation in financial matters, including support for the creation of alternative financial centers, joint efforts to formulate universal rules of the game applicable to all, cooperation in reforming international financial and economic system on the whole.”

“And, of course, important to us are traditional spheres of cooperation in the economy, energy, transport infrastructures, automobile industry, aircraft-building and high technology industries,” he added.