Promoting the fishing industry remains a key government priority, Prime Minister Putin emphasised at the meeting.
Among government support measures, Vladimir Putin mentioned lifting customs duties for imported biological seafood. In addition, the prime minister emphasised the need to streamline the system of state veterinary oversight and to create a workable system of monitoring the fish-processing sector.
Speaking on shipbuilding, Vladimir Putin said Russian companies should only purchase foreign built ships when a Russian equivalent is not available and added that, like the aircraft industry, shipbuilding needs regulatory mechanisms which will not hamper the development of the Russian industry.
Mr Putin's opening remarks:
Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen.
We've been discussing issues related to the fishing industry quite often this year, and this was also the case in the past two or three years. It should be noted that the industry is responding with good performance. As of July this year, the total catch of bio-resources came to 2.5 million tonnes - more than in the same period last year. So there's been some obvious headway made, with a year-on-year increase of 160,000 tons.
But as we're all aware, good catch is just the beginning of a long production chain, which includes stages such as processing, transportation, and distribution. At the end of the day, success will be measured by the share that local products hold in our domestic market.
For reference, the share of Russian-made products in domestic consumption was 72.4% in 2009, while by 2014 it has to reach at least 80.5%.
We see the advancement of the fishing industry as one of our key priorities. Despite the federal budget limits, we've decided to maintain spending on the federal targeted programme in the industry at the original level (over 32 billion roubles) and to extend [the programme] for one more year, through 2014.
As you know, we subsidize loans taken out by enterprises to build and upgrade vessels as well as to develop processing and storage infrastructure for the fishing industry. Funds are also being spent to set up special fish markets in Russian regions. By the way, it would be interesting to hear from you today about where the first such markets are going to appear. The industry's top management has its own plans for this.
I'd like to emphasise that in its efforts to deal with problems of the fishing industry, the government maintains a constant dialogue with enterprises and industry associations, trying to take their interests and their economic situation into account. We also help them implement business initiatives and development plans. For instance, acting on a market operators' request, we've issued a resolution to expand the coastal fishing area in the Barents Sea. Here, too, a similar resolution is in the making. We decided this in principle at a commission session on August 17, and are now preparing a government resolution to this effect.
Our April meeting in Murmansk proved highly productive as well. It raised several issues related to the removal of excessive administrative barriers and the improvement of the sector's state regulation mechanisms. We managed to find some specific solutions. One is about scrapping customs clearance requirements for fish being brought into Russia. We discussed this again just before our current meeting. Experts believe that it will take just one more government resolution to lift customs duties on seafood. We intend to make it duty-free now.
Indeed, it's not fair that fishermen catching fish in our exclusive economic zone should be obligated to pay customs duty as if they were importing something. It's nonsensical. I totally agree that it should be scrapped.
But [to make this happen] we'll probably have to introduce some relevant amendments into the Customs Code of the Customs Union of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan. I don't think our Belarusian and Kazakh counterparts will protest, though, as this issue is of no interest to them whatsoever.
We must also streamline the system of state veterinary oversight. I met with fishermen just now, and they raised this issue once again. I told them, too, that we'd already made the decision in principle. I'd like to inform you that we're going to remove all redundant types of regulation now. Sanitary control [of fish] from the place of catch to the shore will be done under the supervision of the Russian Agency for Fishery while the Federal Service for Supervision of Consumer Protection and Welfare will monitor fish the rest of the way to the consumers. Also, we agreed to create a workable system of monitoring the fish-processing sector.
Today, I'd like to hear reports from officials of the relevant agencies on the implementation of these instructions, including with regard to the drafting of appropriate regulatory acts.
I also hope to hear your proposals on further improvement of control and other administrative procedures in the fishing industry.
We also need to reflect on how to eliminate redundant border control requirements - not all of them, mind you, but just those that are redundant (the fishermen also raised this issue at our meeting right before). The idea is to ensure the protection of our borders while also alleviating the strain of border control formalities for the fishermen. Currently, they're supposed to send a notification 34 days in advance, then spend a couple of days on their vessel waiting for inspectors to arrive; afterwards they proceed to the shore to submit more paperwork to the relevant agency. That's excessive, clearly.
Border control officers have nothing against [lifting some of the requirements]. So, all these formalities just need to be streamlined.
I also think it's important we examine today some of the issues related to coastal processing and logistics. The challenge is to make sure that fish caught here, on the Pacific Coast, or in sub-Arctic regions, is distributed to consumers all across the country regardless of distance, and that it is high-quality and affordable.
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Vladimir Putin's concluding remarks:
Russia, obviously, is a maritime state, so fishing is of critical importance, and this includes all aspects of the business. These are the catch, on which fishermen's incomes and their families' wellbeing depend; supplying Russian-caught fish to our population, which is all the more important as fish is a major part of a balanced diet; and then there are transport problems, meaning delivering the fish to the primary consumer areas. Last but not least, the matter involves industry.
As I have said, there is a natural clash of interests here. Russian fishermen want to purchase quality ships, which are presently available abroad, while our shipbuilders want them to buy ships at our wharves.
Remember, shipbuilders are our people like any other, and they have families. They also have production potential, and the nation's future depends on them. Where else does our future lie? In nuclear and other energy industries, ship and aircraft building, space exploration, nanotechnology and other high technology.
We will be a third-rate - not even second-rate! - country unless we think of a way to develop all these areas, and our third-rate status will eventually impact us all - fishermen, industrialists, and so on and so forth.
But again, we need the wisdom of Solomon not to undermine the fishing industry while giving shipbuilders a chance at the same time.
An important rule is to always face reality. We must acknowledge that, to put it mildly, we are not presently among the leaders of commercial shipbuilding, and civilian aircraft-building, for that matter. We certainly lead the world in military aircraft-building and shipbuilding, especially for some classes of submarines, but here - not yet.
However, this is surely one of our niches, and we must work in it. This is where the paradox lies: if foreign manufacturers are clever - and our foreign colleagues, partners and friends must be very clever, otherwise they would not be so efficient - they see that if the Russian market has no restrictions, they will never come here with their technology, which we need, and so they need to know that the Russian market will introduce some restrictions at a certain stage. Everyone should know this. What we need is for our cooperation to be governed by lasting and transparent rules.
We will formulate this objective in general today, and we will tackle the problem together. The regional governors who are here will also take part in this work. They are interested in the development of both fishing and shipbuilding, and in partnering with fishermen, trade unions and employers' organisations. I only ask you to make it a genuine corporate partnership free of parochial lobbying and the parochial egotism of fishermen and shipbuilders alike. This should be teamwork aimed at satisfying everyone and revealing our prospects for future progress and its stages.
I repeat, this is the place to talk about what the Kamchatka Territory governor has said: we will create conditions necessary to import parts and equipment. We will encourage our partners to establish joint ventures and even companies with 100% foreign capital in this country. But I want you to realise that our partners need to know whether they can come to work here, or whether our market will be closed to them. But these should be our joint decisions. Let me say it even more clearly: after we make our joint decision, we expect that we will have no rows over it in this country, and that Western manufacturers will not come here to stir up the row. So we will make the decision together with you and, after it is made, I expect that we will implement it together.
Thank you.