Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) leaders, from left, Uzbek Resident Islam karimov, Moldova's President Vladimir Voronin, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev and Tadjik President Emomali Rakhmon arrive to attend the International Economic Forum in St.

ST.PETERSBURG, Russia - Russian President Vladimir Putin called Sunday for creating an alternative to the World Trade Organization that would favor developing economies and suggested giving a greater role to regional currencies.

Speaking at an economic forum in Russia's second-largest city of St. Petersburg, Putin lamented that today's international economic organizations "look archaic, undemocratic and awkward" by protecting the interests mainly of developed economies.

"Today protectionism which the WTO is intended to fight oftentimes comes from developed economies that set up this structure," Putin told the conference.

"In order to stimulate trade and investment it is worth thinking about creating a regional Eurasian institute on free trade that could take advantage of the positive experience of WTO," he said. He did not elaborate.

Putin said the stalled Doha round of global trade talks were a sign of the problems with the organization: "Old methods of decision-making at times don't work."

The talks have stumbled repeatedly since their inception six years ago in Qatar's capital, largely because of wrangling between rich and poor countries over eliminating barriers to farm trade.

Putin also said that, currently, global financial markets evolved around "one or two" currencies - an apparent reference to the euro and the dollar - and their fluctuations often have highly negative effects on many countries' economies and financial reserves.

"There can be only one answer to this challenge - the creation of several world currencies, several financial centers," he said. Putin suggested Russia could become one of them.

Russia remains the only major economy outside the WTO, the Geneva-based 150-member group, which sets global trade rules.

To join, Russia still needs to reach agreement with its tiny ex-Soviet neighbor Georgia, which protests Russia's strong ties with its two breakaway provinces.

Russia also is in ongoing WTO talks with the European Union. Although the EU formally backs Russia's World Trade Organization membership, issues including foreign investors' access to Russia's vast energy sector has complicated Moscow's WTO application.

Russian officials are using the two-day forum to court international capital and talk up the resurgent country, combining ambitious economic projections with promises of an open investment climate.

---

Associated Press Writer Maria Danilova contributed to this report from Moscow.