President Dmitry Medvedev said Thursday that Russia and the European Union will "speak with one voice" on the financial crisis at a summit this weekend, on the eve of crunch talks with EU leaders.

"I think that we are going to speak with one voice in Washington," he told business leaders in Cannes, southern France, ahead of a Russia-EU meeting in nearby Nice on Friday that he hopes will turn the page on the Georgian war.

Medvedev said that Russian and EU positions "coincide" on a number of points in relation to the crisis, which began in the United States, apart from a few "nuances."

The G20 summit Saturday of leaders from the 20 richest economies and emerging economic heavyweights will discuss strengthening the global financial architecture in the wake of the worst crisis in the sector for generations.

Europe, to be led in Nice by French President Nicolas Sarkozy, has been hoping to enlist Russia as a key ally in its bid to reform the world financial system.

Like the EU, Medvedev called for "reform of the world financial system" and of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

"Russia is ready, together with the EU and other partners, to participate in working out the parameters of a new financial architecture," he said.

He also praised the way the euro single currency had held up throughout the crisis, saying that had it not existed "the consequences would have been much worse."

The Russian president said he would also take measures by the end of the year "to develop the ruble," so that it too becomes a great regional currency.

Medvedev has slammed the United States, accusing it of precipitating the global crisis by boosting growth on the back of a "financial bubble," and has echoed Europe's calls for an overhaul of the world economic system.

Sarkozy and other EU leaders want the Washington summit to push for a swift and aggressive reform of free-market rules, and Moscow's vote could help overcome resistance from President George W. Bush's lame duck administration.

Medvedev also expressed hope Thursday that Barack Obama's administration would bring "cooperative relations."

"The new administration wants to see things in an objective way, and I hope that the new president will be able to do so," he said. "We are open to developing good neighbourly relations with the United States."

Medvedev's stance on the financial crisis could assuage some European concerns about Moscow's belligerance since the August war against Georgia.

Ahead of this latest twice-yearly EU-Russia summit, officials admitted that the conflict had severely undermined relations, but common ground could be found as soon as the summit gets underway.

"The question of the financial crisis has come to fore. It is on this question that we will begin our conversation at the summit, especially as it comes on the eve of the G20," Russia's EU ambassador Vladimir Chizov said.

"This will allow us not only to compare our positions with those of our key EU partners, but also to find areas in which we can work together," he added.

On Monday, the European Union decided to restart talks on a new strategic pact with Russia that were frozen in the wake of Russia's incursion into Georgia, despite the reservations of some member states.

Russia's neighbour Lithuania openly opposed the decision, and other states expressed concerns, arguing Moscow has failed to respect a ceasefire deal and has reinforced its troops in Georgia's breakaway regions.

While France, Italy and Germany want a rapid rapprochement with Moscow, former Soviet satellites in eastern Europe and, to a lesser extent, Britain and Sweden are determined to maintain pressure over the conflict.