Transcript of the beginning of the meeting:

Vladimir Putin: Mr Mukhametshin, I have a few questions regarding support for the Russian language abroad, primarily, of course, in the CIS, but also in other countries. Moreover, I would like to know about your work at Slavic universities abroad and our involvement in programmes to support development through international organisations. We are spending a considerable amount of money on these projects: hundreds of millions of dollars. Is this money being spent effectively?

Farit Mukhametshin: Thank you very much. These are very timely questions, questions that we need in our work. As you know, our agency was established 18 months ago. Today it is ready to tackle major, challenging projects, including building cultural ties. Our priority, naturally, is the Russian language: support for Russian schools and Russian language courses, the establishment of Russian language centres at our missions abroad.

At the same time, we are working jointly with the Ministry of Education and Science to promote Russian educational programmes. Many countries, especially in the CIS, are asking us to expand these opportunities as much as possible. This means Russian schools, Slavic universities in the CIS, Russian language courses and quotas stipulated by the government - 10,000 annually - for international students at Russian universities. All of this requires a certain level of coordination.

There is a federal programme for the Russian language that has received considerable annual funding to send textbooks and train and retrain teachers, but this programme is mainly the responsibility of the Ministry of Education and Science because they are the contracting agency. There will be a new federal targeted programme in 2011, which we have prepared in conjunction with all the ministries concerned. Under it, our agency will take on this responsibility and manage the programme through our science and culture centres abroad.

Our priority for the first year has been developing our facilities abroad. Our agency has offices in 73 countries, including 54 major science and culture centres. We inherited some of them from the Russian Centre for International Scientific and Cultural Cooperation.

We have opened centres in Baku, Yerevan, Chisinau and Abkhazia, and we are in the final stages of agreements to open more in Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan. We expect to have science and culture centres in all CIS countries by the end of 2010 and the beginning of 2011.

Our priorities include support for the Russian language, support for compatriots living abroad, joint projects with interested countries and the creation of a common Russian language curriculum.

Interesting projects are under way in Armenia. We have launched a pilot Russian language project there and hired teachers for it. The Armenian president supports our programme. We are currently preparing a joint programme for our two countries, so that this work can be carried out in a comprehensive fashion.

I think we are ready to submit proposals on the comprehensive, systemic nature of these projects in conjunction with the Ministry of Education and Science. Each project has its own objective, and they are all separate. The Russian School programme is separate from the Slavic Universities programme. The approved quotas for international students at Russian universities are not part of our overall bilateral and unilateral objectives. In other words, these areas seem to be isolated from each other.

Vladimir Putin: So there is a lack of coordination.

Farit Mukhametshin: Yes. We are ready to work out a relevant government programme together with the Ministry of Education and Science. You also asked about international development support programmes.

This year, it was announced that we would contribute between $800 million and $1 billion to these programmes in one year - just one year. This is a lot of money, but they will be disbursed, as planned, through international financial organisations. Naturally, Russia is actively involved in this. We have an idea of perhaps bringing some of the programmes directly under the national programme to support international development through a government resolution, which would allow us to render assistance to our neighbouring countries, including CIS countries. This is the support for Russian schools, universities, our offices abroad and public health.  For example, the establishment of specific health centres, such as a hepatitis centre in Tajikistan.

This would also involve education for young people in these countries, as well as future migrant workers. For example, we currently have a trilateral programme with our German counterparts to train Tajikistani young people for work abroad. They study for two years at a technical school or vocational school. In this way they will be able to speak Russian and be trained in a profession so they can be assigned work in Russia in an organised fashion. Or as regards the Ministry of Agriculture. We and Tajikistanis are involved in several UN programmes, for example the programme called "Children's Breakfasts." There are many such programmes and relevant requests. But unfortunately, we do not have a national programme.

Mr Putin, we should think about this. If there will be such a directive, we are ready to submit proposals. We have already submitted them. A working group headed by First Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Denisov was set up, and we reported to Igor Shuvalov's commission [the Government Commission on International Humanitarian and Technical Assistance]. The working group comprises 16 representatives from our ministries and departments. We're currently refining the programme.

Vladimir Putin: Let's do it just like that. Prepare this programme. Clearly, this should be done in close coordination with the Russian Foreign Ministry and together with international organisations, so that all of our efforts on a national level are in line with the programmes being implemented by the international organisations themselves. But our programmes would be structured so as to better meet our own national interests in our relations with our neighbours.