"Strengthening our country's position internationally and promoting our national interests through culture is a top national priority," Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said in his opening remarks. He added that the cultural dimension is becoming more important in international life and that the Federal Agency for the Commonwealth of Independent States, Compatriots Living Abroad, and International Cultural Cooperation (Rossotrudnichestvo) should become a key soft power tool. The prime minister noted that countries with strong images attract more foreign direct investment and technical know-how. "Russia remains very strong in this regard, with competitive advantages in basic science and education despite the fact that we ourselves criticise the current state of affairs. This does not change the fact that we remain a very powerful country in the area of science and education," Dmitry Medvedev said.

The prime minister said that Russia's international cultural presence is below its potential. Mr Medvedev also mentioned that 35 more offices of the Russian Science and Culture Centre will open by 2015, and that these centres need to be "modern and multi-functional facilities catering to different social and age groups and to all people who are interested in Russia".

"The performance criteria should be based on specific and practical achievements, such as the number of people studying the Russian language or involved in cultural exchanges, the number of thematic courses, the quality of information resources and websites," the prime minister said.

Working with compatriots abroad – the global Russian community – is a critical part of our activities, believes the prime minister. "I'm aware that Rossotrudnichestvo pays much attention to promoting the Russian language. The number of Russian language courses is growing, and the number of students is growing as well, but we still need more of them," Dmitry Medvedev said.

Russia's image should become a key element of the work done by Rossotrudnichestvo, the prime minister said. The problem of underinvestment in the Russian economy is directly related to this issue. The prime minister stressed that this is a quite practical issue. "There are many examples where projects with Russian participation, even such a landmark project as the Nord Stream, were held back only because the public abroad was wary of Russia's involvement," Mr Medvedev said. According to experts, Russia is a country with high investment potential that has not yet been fully realised, the prime minister noted. "Foreign investment flow is below potential, and the reasons for such under-investment are associated with the image and reputational losses that we have sustained. These problems should not be played down, they do exist," the prime minister said, adding that "we are partly to blame".

Among other challenges facing Russia in this area, Dmitry Medvedev highlighted improving Russia's competitiveness on the education market. The prime minister said that at least five Russian universities should become part of the top 100 international universities by 2020. The prime minister noted that much is being done in this area for Russia's closest neighbours. Currently, about 80,000 full-time students from the CIS and Baltic countries study at Russian universities and over 19,000 of them receive federal grants. "However, the international ratings are not in our favour. I believe that for various reasons Russian higher learning institutions are unable to present themselves to their best advantage. Rossotrudnichestvo should help them attract international students and postgraduate students and promote educational services available in Russia on the world market in specialties where the Russian education system enjoys well-deserved recognition," the prime minister said.

The prime minister also stressed the need to attract skilled professionals from abroad. "We see mostly low-skilled workers coming to Russia, even though we need them as well. Other people go to other countries, but we should try to turn this trend around and make it work for us, making Russia attractive to prospective workers," Dmitry Medvedev said.

In his closing remarks, the prime minister urged Rossotrudnichestvo to maximise the use of innovative information technologies in its work.