“Israel is one of Russia’s priority partners in the Middle East. We have also developed friendly relations over the past decades. We certainly value our contact and plan to continue promoting it.”

"This time, as you may have noticed, we changed the session’s format. Reporters travelled to places that I have visited this year for one reason or another. In that sense, today’s session was more focused on current issues of production in industry, we tried to look at the developments in different sectors of industry, and at those companies I visited this year, to see how my instructions aimed at stabilising them are being implemented. From that perspective, I found today’s event particularly useful and interesting."

"It can be said with a fair degree of certainty that the peak of the crisis is past, although turbulence in the world economy and, as a consequence, in the Russian economy is still there. It will take time, effort and considerable resources to get out of the crisis. On the whole, however, positive trends are making themselves felt and are clearly manifested."

The topics discussed were macroeconomics, notably foreign investments, modernisation and high technologies.

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Jacques Rogge focused on current issues of construction of Olympic facilities for the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi.

At the meeting, Prime Minister Putin and Deputy Prime Minster Ivanov focused on the Government plan for energy saving and increasing the energy efficiency of the economy.

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Vyacheslav Shtyrov discussed the situation in Yakutia.

Mr Putin and Mr Zubkov discussed the Nevsky Express train wreck.

"Next year state defence orders will be boosted considerably, specifically to 1.75 trillion roubles. We hope that this decision will not only allow us to begin the upcoming modernisation of the defence industry, but will also provide significant support to related companies and encourage the introduction of high technologies and the manufacture of cutting-edge materials and components."

The transfer of companies’ social facilities to the municipalities is a complicated process, because municipal agencies often do not want them. However, this transfer improves companies’ financial and economic position. Companies have to spend money on these facilities, and so during the crisis we are trying to help them get rid of social facilities and shift this burden to the municipalities.”