By Oleg Shchedrov
BERLIN, March 31 (Reuters) - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev urged international leaders on Tuesday to discuss the creation of a modern currency system, speaking ahead of a G20 meeting set to focus on a new financial architecture.
"The current system is not ideal," Medvedev said at a joint news conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin.
"We cannot develop in the next 10 years if we do not create a new infrastructure including new (currency) systems... We should think about creating a new currency system," he said.
Both Merkel and Medvedev will meet their counterparts from the Group of 20 countries in London this week to discuss the global financial crisis.
"The G20 format should not give a final recipe, but rather provide a start to work on creating a new infrastructure. This work should lead to irreversible changes in creating a new financial system, currency system," Medvedev said.
Medvedev said he agreed with Merkel that financial rules needed a complete overhaul to avoid crises in the future.
"We really are close on what needs to be done and what positions need to be defended at the summit," he said.
Merkel said G20 leaders had to take clear steps on a new financial structure.
Russia has already proposed the creation of a new reserve currency, to be issued by international financial institutions, according to the text of its proposal to the G20 meeting published earlier this month.
Russia supports expanding the IMF's Special Drawing Rights (SDR) to include the rouble, the yuan and gold. But it sees no chance of the G20 summit accepting a new reserve currency, news agencies quoted a Kremlin aide as saying on Saturday.
China caused a stir ahead of the G20 gathering when it suggested the world move toward greater use of the International Monetary Fund's Special Drawing Rights, created by the Fund in 1969 as an international reserve asset.
Other G20 leaders have made clear that for now the dollar's status as the dominant reserve unit remains. (Writing by Kerstin Gehmlich; Editing by Jon Boyle)