Garegin Tosunyan said although the global credit crunch should not be ignored it could be used to make Russia's financial markets more attractive for foreign investors and push the importance of the ruble up to third or fourth place in the world.
"Making the ruble a reserve currency would have a positive effect on the Russian economy, however a number of financial institutions would need to be modernized in order to achieve this," said Anatoly Kazakov, the chairman of the council of finance and banking in the CIS.
Kazakov added that establishing a unified payment system between CIS countries would be needed.
He also said that Russia needed financial specialists capable of identifying and advising on the possible repercussions from the global economic crisis.
