The main topics discussed at the meeting were: the consolidated budgets of the regions of the Russian Federation in 2009 and in the planning period of 2010 and 2011; the methodology of subsidy allocation to the regions; guidelines for alcohol products excise tax income distribution in the regional budgets; and the regions' balanced budgeting subsidy distribution.

The situation in the region and particularly social and economic development, the development of the transport infrastructure and the agriculture were discussed during the meeting.

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin at the meeting with the Russian Minister of Education and Science Andrei Fursenko requested that Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s works be given a well-deserved place in the educational curriculum in general secondary and higher schools.

Addressing the meeting Mr Zubkov stressed that “our task is to turn land into an attractive investment product for the farmer within a short space of time while striking a balance between economic incentives and administrative measures.”

“Comprehensive development is the most promising one. The time of infill construction is over,” he said and stressed the need to devote priority attention to the comprehensive development of territory under construction.