At the meeting they discussed the bank’s performance results for the first six months of 2011 and the implementation of major infrastructural projects by VTB in St Petersburg. They also discussed the situation in global markets. Andrei Kostin reassured the prime minister that Russian banks are fully prepared to withstand the crisis even better than two years ago.
Vladimir Putin expressed his hope that the global economy will begin to recover. “Perhaps not as quickly as we would all like, but it will begin to gradually recover,” the prime minister said.
“We see nervousness and turbulence in the international markets, but there is a lot we can do to ensure that our bilateral ties develop rhythmically and as planned, and to make sure that everything is on the rise”, Vladimir Putin said during the talks.
The conversation focused on the implementation of Vladimir Putin’s instructions to the region, issued during his driving tour along the Chita-Khabarovsk highway in August 2010. The governor reported that all the instructions, including construction of necessary infrastructure for the new highway, are being fulfilled. The two officials also discussed the region’s socio-economic development, including the modernisation of healthcare and education.
The two officials discussed the coordination of North Ossetia and South Ossetia, and North Ossetia’s socio-economic performance in the first six months of 2011. The prime minister asked Mr Mamsurov about progress in modernising the republic’s healthcare and education, and about the state of affairs in housing construction.
The Sberbank CEO shared his impressions of his visit to the Olympic facilities in Sochi and told the prime minister about the financing of several projects in Belarus.
The prime minister and Mr Patrushev discussed the Russian Agricultural Bank’s financing of agricultural producers during the harvest.
Udmurt President Volkov told Prime Minister Putin how the republic is eliminating the consequences of an explosion at Defence Ministry depots. They also discussed the region’s development in the first half of the year.