After being appointed
Deputy Prime Minister for foreign trade in the fall of 1993, he began to liberalize Russia's export regulations in order to appeal to Western economic partners. This was also part of an effort to eventually join the
World Trade Organization. The first meeting with WTO officials took place in July 1995, with Davydov leading the Russian delegation, but the process to enter was postponed after the
1998 Russian financial crisis. Davydov paid a visit to
Tehran and praised increased
Russian–Iranian cooperation in 1995. In Europe he negotiated to reschedule Russia's debt payments to some six hundred banks. In September of that year, at an economic forum in
Beijing, Davydov stated that Russia's strategic goal is to increase cooperation with Asia-Pacific countries. In March 1996 he identified
China as the country's main strategic partner in the region. Davydov stated: "Moscow's turn to the Asian Pacific region is dictated by its firm conviction that the center of global trade in the 21st century will move to this region, which already accounts for 40 percent of global turnover." Later, in December of the same year, he traveled to
Singapore and met with then-
Brigadier General Lee Hsien Loong, future
Prime Minister of Singapore. In 1997 Davydov also referred to
India as an important strategic partner for Russia, stating that the country did not allow
Ukraine a license to export parts of
T-80 and other tanks, as the Russian government did not want Ukraine to sell it to India's traditional adversary
Pakistan. ==Death==