DAVOS, Switzerland (AP) - Russian finance minister Alexei Kudrin said yesterday that Russia and other countries with large gold and currency reserves can help the world economy weather the current crisis.

Mr. Kudrin, speaking to reporters at the World Economic Forum annual meeting, said there will be "sharp discussions" in the coming days about how countries with large reserves - including Singapore, China and Russia - can support the global economy by flexing the financial might of their sovereign funds.

Such funds from the Middle East, Singapore and China have been investing in major Western financial institutions that have lost billions of dollars on bad bets in the US mortgage market. Rising delinquencies and defaults among mortgages have forced banks to write down the value of bonds and debt backed by the troubled loans.

Mr. Kudrin said Russia has achieved stability in recent years because of its gold and currency reserves, now the third-largest in the world.

"Of course, we have become more dependent on the world economy, and this (crisis) will affect us, but we have a good system of defense and immunity," he said. "And therefore I think it will affect us less than the leading markets."

The finance minister said the economic crisis has not yet affected his talks with investors at Davos. He said had has already spoken with the heads of major companies that have projects in Russia requiring hundreds of millions of dollars in investment "and their plans have not changed."

"Russia today is seen as a sufficiently stable region for investment and, of course, Russia like any country that has built up big gold and currency reserves can help soften the world crisis," Mr. Kudrin said.

He spoke after a private meeting with the new president of Alcoa Inc., Klaus Kleinfeld, whose company has large plants in Russia.

Mr. Kleinfeld confirmed that Pittsburgh-based Alcoa was upbeat about its Russia investments.