4 june 2010

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin meets with the management of General Electric

Participants:
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said that the Russian government will help General Electric start joint ventures with Russian partners in energy and medical technology. According to the prime minister, Russian companies know “the best side of General Electric.”

Transcript of the beginning of the meeting:

Vladimir Putin: Mr Immelt, gentlemen,

It's good to see you. Welcome!

We met before in Sochi in 2009. But your company's history with Russian partners and the Russian economy in general spans almost a century. And this relationship has been successful. We know the best side of you. Your company has made a good name for itself on the Russian market in such areas as aircraft engineering, rail technology, medicine and aviation.

I am pleased that you're ready to take this partnership to a new level, by which I mean the prospect of starting joint ventures in the energy industry and medical technology.

You can count on the support of the Russian government for all these initiatives. We don't want to just buy your equipment, which have a good reputation on the market. We want to work together to boost the level of technology in Russia, to provide new opportunities for our economy and our industrial enterprises, and to equip them with the latest technology.

Once again, welcome! It's good to see you.

Jeff Immelt (retranslated from Russian): Thank you very much, Mr Prime Minister. We had an excellent discussion the last time we met in Sochi. I asked you to help us find Russian partners to carry out investment projects together. So I'd like to thank you for giving us this wonderful opportunity.

We think the agreement on energy and healthcare is a good starting point. I can see that it gives us the opportunity to co-invest, together with our Russian partners, in high-tech products that we can use in our work with both Russian and international customers. I believe we can do more. So, I want to thank you once again. Our teams will move quickly. And we'll move even more quickly after this agreement is signed.

Vladimir Putin: I think you've chosen very good areas to invest in, as we have big plans for the energy industry in your area of expertise: the renovation, reconstruction and construction of new power plants.

As for medical technology, next year we're going to launch a major healthcare modernisation programme, and we'll make large investments (large for our country) in this programme. So, the production of diagnostic and other medical equipment is, of course, very important to us.

Jeff Immelt: I think this will be world-class technology in both areas and that our Russian partners will be very strong. And so we believe that we'll start making great products both for the Russian and global markets very soon.