President Dmitry Medvedev sees closer cooperation with C.I.S. countries as a shortcut to ending the global liquidity crunch. “The crisis will not last forever, and we must be ready to launch new cooperation projects with our neighbors,” he said during a joint session of the State and Security Councils in Moscow. Medvedev was also optimistic about the prospects of establishing a single economic area to include Russia, Kazakhstan, and Belarus as of January 1, 2010. He said Russia would go ahead with its plans to become a regional financial center despite the current crisis, which, he said, could only facilitate this process. “Our key task is to ensure longtime friendship with our neighbors,” Medvedev said adding that the CSTO and the Eurasian Economic Cooperation Forum were guarantors of regional security and efficient countermeasures against terrorism and drug trafficking.