Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has tasked Prime Minister Vladimir Putin with supervising the creation of a special fund to attracting investment, the Kremlin said on Monday.

Medvedev ordered the government to submit its proposals by March 1.

The order came after Medvedev's visit to the World Economic Forum in Davos on January 26, during which he delivered a speech focusing on Russia's business potential and the government's efforts to improve the investment climate in the country.

Ahead of Medvedev's trip to Davos, Presidential Aide Arkady Dvorkovich said Russia's investment climate, previously described by the president as "very poor," was a result of rampant state corruption, excessive red tape and an inefficient judicial system.

Dvorkovich also said Moscow would prepare proposals on the creation of a global financial center, part of Medvedev's vision of modernizing the Russian economy, within three to four months, adding that the Russian government was not planning to toughen laws for businesses or raise taxes.

Medvedev said during his Davos speech that the financial center would become not only the core of Russia's financial system, but also the impetus for the development of financial markets in the entire post-Soviet region.

The president has also ordered the government to develop support mechanisms for Russian students studying abroad, as well as to draw up amendments to Russian laws allowing the recognition of diplomas granted by foreign universities, the Kremlin said.

RIA Novosti