“This project is important for our Chinese friends and for Russia. For China it means stable supplies and a better energy balance, and for us it means access to new and promising markets in the Asia-Pacific region – in this case, the very promising and rapidly developing market of China,” said Mr Putin.
“Construction of this facility will provide an opportunity not only to reaffirm Russia’s technological status and mobilise our intellectual resources and industrial potential. What is equally important, the project will enable hundreds and perhaps thousands of professionals and, above all young professionals, to express themselves and their talents and realise their most ambitious plans.”
The meeting focused on the current socio-economic situation in the region, primarily the problem of resettling people living in dilapidated housing. Mr Kozhemyako requested an additional 500-600 million in government allocations for the programme to resettle tenants living in substandard housing along the Baikal Amur Railway. Prime Minister Putin promised to instruct the Ministry of Economic Development and the Ministry for Regional Development to once again estimate the programme’s costs. The governor said that the regional economy is gaining momentum in all major sectors.
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin drives a Lada Kalina car down the new Chita - Khabarovsk motorway
“What we will witness today is an extraordinary event for the entire country […] This is a symbolic event for Russia, even a somewhat historic event, because Russia, the country with the largest landmass in the world, for the first time in its history will have a road network that stretches its entire length. Never before has the entire country been fully connected by motorway.”