Transcript of the beginning of the meeting:
Vladimir Putin: Good afternoon, Mr Trotsenko, Work for shipbuilding companies has increased somewhat.
It was less than 40% of capacity, and now it's over 50%. However, that's not enough. What prospects do you see here? This is the first point I'd like to discuss today.
Second, how are the projects going we've launched to develop the industry? Let's discuss projects in the Far East in more detail. And also, I'd like to discuss unpaid wages with you. Has this issue been resolved? If not, why?
Roman Trotsentko: Good afternoon, Mr Prime Minister, The United Shipbuilding Corporation finished last year with a profit of 92 million roubles. That's not much compared to our annual turnover of 150 billion roubles, but is way better than the nine billion-rouble shortfall we sustained in 2008. This is the first year we've finished in the black. All 80,000 employees of our corporation have received their salaries, and we don't owe any back taxes.
We can say that we have completed this first, most difficult anti-crisis stage. The current situation is challenging but stable, and allows us to move forward. You rightly noted that shipbuilding facilities are running at an estimated 52% of capacity, which is not much.
We're planning to implement several measures soon, which can be divided into three groups. The first group of measures involves increasing work for civilian shipbuilding companies. We have seen more customers beginning to place orders with these companies. These are mainly orders for small, so-called river/sea vessels with capacities of 6,000 to 7,000 tonnes, placed by privately held companies that would like to have their own fleets. Russian shipyards are capable of building vessels of this tonnage.
The second major area of our work is government defence contracts. We're going to launch a series of new projects soon. I'm happy to report to you that the official tests of the Project 677 submarine have been completed successfully. This new submarine has been given a name, the St Petersburg, and its ensign will be hoisted on May 9. Admiralty Shipyards in St Petersburg has invested a great deal of effort in building a new submarine powered by diesel fuel and electricity, with enhanced invisibility characteristics.
Vladimir Putin: It's a very quiet submarine.
Roman Trotsentko: Yes, it is. This work has been exacting, but Russia will now have new opportunities in the international arms industry. This is the third area where the United Shipbuilding Corporation should grow.
As far as our other complex projects from last year, we're finishing the official tests of the Nerpa submarine in the Far East. Everything is going as planned. We're also upgrading the aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov. The situation has improved greatly here, we have a good permanent team, and there is a weekly schedule. So we'll meet the obligations assumed by the Russian Federation.
You've issued quite a few directives regarding the Amur Shipbuilding Plant.
All salaries that were due have been paid; and the plant has a lot of work. We've placed an order for a large, complex, seven-megawatt icebreaker. This is the first time this shipbuilding plant will construct such a large and sophisticated vessel. We continue to build at a rapid pace new generation corvettes for the Pacific Fleet. The plant is operating; and I can certainly say that the effort to rescue this company and its personnel were not in vain.
As for the Far East, we're finishing design-work on the docks in the town of Bolshoi Kamen. It's a joint project with our Korean partners. I'd like to particularly mention that we're happy to have chosen these partners.
They have invested a lot of effort and their own technology in the design. We'll finish tendering procedures in May and begin construction in June.
The situation is a bit more complicated in Chazhma, where we planned to build a facility to manufacture oil platforms, as I'm sure you remember. Unfortunately, construction had to be suspended since the Ministry of Defence has not yet transferred this site to us. At present, international companies are refused access to this site. For example, Singaporean engineers involved in the design-work and design decisions were denied access to the site after they had arrived.
The situation in the Far East is stable, and we expect more orders, mainly in civilian shipbuilding. This applies to vessels to explore continental shelves and service oil rigs. This is what Far Eastern companies specialise in.
As far as our work with Ukraine, we've analysed the situation, and Ukraine is one of our major trading partners, supplying components and vessel systems to Russia. We import over 6,000 items of equipment from Ukraine, and some of that equipment is crucial for us or we cannot get it anywhere else. Without Ukraine the Russian shipbuilding industry would have difficulty producing its vessels.
We're considering the integration of two large Ukrainian companies into the USC. These are the marine turbine manufacturer Zorya-Mashproekt, which produces gas turbines, and the More plant in Feodosia, a major producer of light metal-alloy, specifically aluminium, vessels. These are Ukrainian state-owned companies that are not producing at capacity. If they are integrated into the USC, we could resolve the issue...
Vladimir Putin: We agreed with our partners that these issues would be worked out. Please pay close attention to them. Moreover, you should be directly involved in the discussions to merge these companies if both parties show interest. Going back to the Far East, we agreed to remove a part of old repair docks from the Vladivostok embankment to give the city more opportunities to develop.
Roman Trotsentko: Mr Prime Minister, we're doing our best to fulfil your directive. We'll have relocated shipbuilding plant No. 178 away from the central embankment of Vladivostok by September. A total of five site development projects have been worked out with regard to the Vladivostok embankment. This will be the marine façade of the city. Public hearings will be held in Vladivostok in May, where Vladivostok residents will be able to choose the best project.
Vladimir Putin: There is also a museum there...
Roman Trotsentko: Yes, this project envisages redesigning the embankment and creating a Naval museum. This will be the cultural centre of Vladivostok, where one will be able to feel the spirit of the sea. We believe that this embankment and the new bridge across Zolotoi Rog (Golden Horn) Bay will create a new image of Vladivostok, a modern city with a bright future. These sites will attract more tourists.
Vladimir Putin: When will this work be started?
Roman Trotsentko: We believe it can be started in late 2010. We need some time to develop design projects and relocate production facilities away from the embankment. But we plan to finish all works on the embankment by the APEC summit.
Vladimir Putin: Good.