Russia to provide credits to India, China

We are ... allocating credits to China and India for purchasing the Russian equipment. By doing this (we are) ensuring jobs and income for our enterprises and domestic manufacturers," Putin said, addressing the 10th Congress of the ruling United Russia party. He, however, did not elaborate the amount and the projects for which the credits will be offered to India. It may be possible that Moscow could provide credit for the construction of four more nuclear reactors, including two new third generation units of 1200 MWTe at Kudankulam nuclear power plant. An agreement to this effect is to be signed next month during President Dmitry Medvedev's New Delhi visit. "We are behaving with responsibility with our partners, taking direct part in the international anti-crisis efforts as well as supporting our allies on the bilateral basis," Putin said, also announcing transfer of up to USD 1 billion to IMF. The Russian Prime Minister described the situation as serious, saying that "what started as financial crisis has now transformed into global economic crisis." He proposed a set of measures, including tax cuts and other incentives, to focus on the development of "real sector of economy."