Rio Tinto Ltd’s (ASX:RIO) chief executive Tom Albanese has told Dow Jones he believes European leaders are taking the right steps to fix the region’s economic problems, enabling the world to “get on with its business”.

Mr Albanese appears to be cautiously optimistic, his comments recorded during the World Economic Forum in Davos.

Less than two months ago Mr Albanese had been far more pessimistic about the “knock-on-effects” of the European debt crisis for Australia.

Rio Tinto reported a net profit of $7.5 billion in the first half of the 2011 calendar year.