Vladimir Putin's opening remarks:

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen.

You have probably heard about the event held by the United Russia party yesterday, and some of you attended it. Yesterday we spoke about developing the North Caucasus region, and there was a lot of discussion about infrastructure, including developing airports and related facilities.

It's clear that airports are the key to developing the region and allowing it to reach its full potential, as well as a necessary condition for implementing business projects and realising the region's tourism potential. This is especially relevant for the town we are in today.

A good airport leads to a fundamentally new level of economic activity in any region. It also creates new opportunities for the citizens.

Here, at Mineralnye Vody airport, construction of the second runway has already been completed. The only thing remaining is to install the necessary equipment, and I'm asking you to ensure that this is done without delay. I know that a lot of money has been invested already - 2.5 billion roubles. We only need to find money for the lighting. We must do this. We must finish this job.

During this meeting we will look at the status of projects to develop Russia's network of airports as well as the progress made on structural reforms in this sphere. We all understand that for Russia, with its enormous territory, the development of aviation and airports is critical. It is one of our top priorities, and we must address it in order to ensure the unity of Russia's territory and the Russian nation.

Air transportation in Russia is currently booming. Passenger air travel has not only recovered since the crisis, it has exceeded the peak reached in 2008. In January-May, 2010 air travel increased by 32.3% against the same period of 2009.

These trends are directly related to the growing capacity of Russian airports. Since 2002, when we began to seriously address this issue, 38 runways have been renovated. Last year alone, renovations were completed in Petrozavodsk, Veliky Novgorod, Rostov-on-Don, Kirov, Nizhnevartovsk, Novosibirsk, Tomsk and Khatanga.

In 2010, construction or renovation is scheduled to be completed at large facilities, like runways at airports in Vladivostok, Voronezh, Murmansk, Gelendzhik and Sochi. In fact, the runway in Gelendzhik has already been completed and all that remains to be completed are accompanying facilities and terminals.

In the past two years, federal investment in airport modernisation has totalled the substantial sum of 47 billion roubles.

A list of priority projects for the next three years is currently being developed. I ask the Ministry of Economic Development, the Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Finance to submit this list to the government as soon as possible.

I believe that funding should be focused on construction sites that are in the last stages and on airports whose renovation or construction is part of important national projects.

We should also work harder to get private businesses involved in developing airports. There are good examples of such partnerships, which include Moscow's Domodedovo Airport, Koltsovo Airport in Yekaterinburg and Sheremetyevo Airport, where a state-of-the-art terminal was recently commissioned.

We first used a public-private partnership at Pulkovo Airport in St Petersburg. Private companies took over management of the airport in exchange for a pledge to reconstruct it from top to bottom.

The experience we gained should be applied as broadly as possible. We need to make aviation infrastructure a promising and attractive investment and establish clear-cut and comprehensible regulations in this sphere.

Let me remind you that we are working systematically on up-to-date legislation for the transport sector. Laws on railroads, motorways and seaports have already been adopted.

Clearly we need a law on airports and the airport business, which will address issues related to the effective management of airport facilities if, for example, they are jointly used by civil aviation and the Ministry of Defence. By the way, the Ministry of Defence and the Ministry of Transport could have been more energetic about coordinating the joint use of airports, which are mainly used for civil aviation.

We also need a new classification scheme for airports, which would establish reasonable certification requirements and put an end to a number of excessive and costly procedures, which will help both the government and citizens save money.

There is a special issue, which I would like to point out to the governors.

Following your requests, a law was passed in 2007 that allows ownership of airports to be transferred to regional governments.

Ownership of 14 airports has been transferred to Russia's regions so far. Corresponding decisions on a number of other facilities are in the works. I would like to emphasise that many governors have repeatedly asked for ownership to be transferred to their regions. This was your initiative. However, a regional government that assumes control of an airport is obligated to renovate it - which is the real purpose of the ownership transfer - and to do so with the funds of their regional budgets or contributions from investors.

We will closely monitor the execution of these obligations.

Meanwhile, for those airports that remain under federal ownership, we must find as many ways as possible to attract investors, and to encourage them to invest not only in the construction of airport terminals or related business infrastructure but also in renovating runways. This will help us save budget funds and expand the list of airports that are under renovation.

The last thing I want to say is that air travel is a high-tech, complex sphere. All the factors are crucial here, including ensuring flight safety, replacing the aircraft fleet, improving airport amenities, building convenient logistics systems, and developing access roads and infrastructure. This includes hotels, business centres, airport-related businesses and high-speed transport to and from the airport. In order to be competitive, we need to pay equally close attention to all of these elements.

During this meeting we will look at the status of construction and renovation projects at airports throughout almost all of Russia. Please report on the progress of plans that are already in motion.

I'd like to add that we will continue to pay close attention to this issue, as we have in previous years. We will also inspect other facilities in addition to the one we are at today. Let's conduct the meeting as follows: first, we'll hear reports from the regions and then give the floor to the Minister of Transport.

Let's begin with Vladivostok.

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Closing remarks by President Vladimir Putin:

Ladies and gentlemen,

This is a crucial issue. As I said in my opening remarks, this country's vast territory is a strategic asset, especially for building up aviation, including our fleet of aircraft, aircraft manufacturing and airports.

Some parts of the country are inaccessible except by plane or helicopter, which has a huge significance for us. We have plans for building motorways and railways. Bearing this in mind, we need to focus even more on aviation and airports.

Let me repeat: many areas, including some pretty large urban centres, are inaccessible except by aircraft.

That is why the draft orders prepared today need to be finalised in accordance with what was said at today's meeting. Both our colleagues at the local level and those sitting in this room have raised important issues.

And we need to address these issues. I want timetables and deadlines set for the overall draft order and each of its specific parts, as well as a clear list of which officials are responsible for which parts.