Transcript of the beginning of the meeting:

Vladimir Putin: Mr Nagovitsyn, I have a lot of questions. I've looked over the briefing materials. Industrial production in Buryatia is growing steadily, the republic is implementing a number of large projects. And in the energy sector, in 2011...

Vyacheslav Nagovitsyn: Yes, we plan to commission a new generating unit at the Gusinoozerskaya power plant next year.

Vladimir Putin: There has also been some progress at the aircraft plant and on your section of the Baikal highway. Over 200 million roubles were spent this year for the construction of your section of the highway. We are also investing federal funds in the reconstruction of Ulan-Ude Airport. There are interesting joint projects with the Russian State Atomic Energy Corporation as well as some projects in the gold mining industry. Severstal is involved in these. Finally, large investments in the tourist special economic zone are planned for this year.

How are preparations going? How do you assess the situation? Is progress being made?

Vyacheslav Nagovitsyn: First of all, Mr Putin, I would like to thank you and the government you head. The support measures not only helped in our republic, they revolutionised our economy.

I would like to mention some interesting facts. We have been fighting unemployment in Buryatia, and we actually managed to cut it by 2.8% during the financial downturn. There were over 7,500 layoffs as a result of the crisis. But we found work both for workers who had just been laid off and people who had been searching for work for a long time already.

Let's not forget about the budget investment. You correctly noted that we are carrying out a number of projects under the development programme for the Far East and the Trans-Baikal region, which includes a highway to the tourist zone that will run along Lake Baikal. We have also started construction on transmission lines to the tourist zone.

I would also like to mention two parts of the Baikal Harbour special economic zone - Turka and Peski. The bidding is completed, and construction of the infrastructure is underway. We have a schedule so that we can synchronise the work, and we have chosen the residents of the economic zone. We have to complete the infrastructure by the end of 2011. In accordance with the agreement, the resident companies are already building the necessary hotels and the tourist and recreational infrastructure.

Vladimir Putin: So there has been progress?

Vyacheslav Nagovitsyn: No doubt about it! There has been a lot of really good progress.

Last year we managed to keep our economic performance at pre-crisis levels. Salaries and wages grew at an increasing rate that eventually reached 13.6%.

As for investments, we managed to achieve a 22.9% increase in investments during the crisis.
So we have met your challenge to use the crisis as an opportunity to make strides forward. I'll admit that we did not try to keep companies from cutting jobs and optimising their staff. Rather, we felt that it was our duty to find new jobs for the unemployed.

Plants were purchasing machines and equipment, and so, naturally, they had to cut jobs. These plants are now quite confident. At the end of the first quarter, our growth rate was 9.4%, which is a good showing.

Also, the birth rate was higher than that in the pre-crisis period. We have had a natural increase of 4,500 people, which is 27.7% more than in 2008.

Vladimir Putin: This speaks to the public mood. People are planning their families, which extends our horizon for planning. This is a good thing.