During the meeting of the Government Presidium, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin announced that he has prepared a number of instructions following his week and a half trip across Siberia and the Far East. For example, he emphasised the need to quickly finish work on the construction programme for the Vostochny space centre and to develop the infrastructure of the Chita-Khabarovsk Motorway.

The Prime Minister also said that the government will act on a request by lorry drivers and introduce amendments to safety regulations for wheeled vehicles that would permit the use of articulated lorries up to 20 metres long.

Following his visit to the Kamchatka Territory, Vladimir Putin issued instructions to optimise control and oversight customs procedures in the fishing industry. An additional 1 billion roubles will be set aside to develop Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky.

Following his trip to the Krasnoyarsk Territory, the prime minister instructed the Ministry of Education and Science "to consider additional incentives to promote innovative research at higher education institutions."

In addition, the prime minister demanded that work to replace rundown housing and to develop Siberian and Far Eastern residential communities be intensified.

Transcript of the beginning of the meeting:

Vladimir Putin: Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen.

Let's begin by discussing current events. A pleasant event has happened today - three GLONASS satellites were successfully launched. Thus, there are currently 24 satellites in orbit, with two satellites for backup. Another three satellites will be launched soon and one more in December. This means that the satellite constellation will include 30 spacecraft, namely 28 operational satellites plus two backup satellites. This is a full constellation to ensure global coverage.

A decision has been made to support several enterprises within the framework of support for the defence industry. Mr Ivanov, could you please expand on that.

Sergei Ivanov: Just as you said, three GLONASS navigation satellites were successfully launched from Baikonur early this morning and have been put into orbit. There are currently a total of 26 satellites in orbit, with two of them functioning as backup. Eventually, after these new satellites are put into operation after certain technical procedures, the satellite constellation will effectively be able to provide global coverage. When you were driving along the Chita-Khabarovsk highway recently you could see for yourself that the GLONASS signal is steady even in remote areas.

Vladimir Putin: The signal is steady everywhere.

Sergei Ivanov: We plan to complete the formation of the permanent satellite constellation for global coverage by the end of this year. We plan to launch another three satellites on November 30 and, as you said, we will commence flight tests of a new-generation GLONASS-K navigation device at the end of December. The lifespan of a satellite will increase to ten years. As it was mentioned at a recent meeting on GLONASS in Ryazan, which you chaired, the major issues we are currently facing are connected not with satellites but with using the signals on the ground. The protocol, which you signed following that meeting, envisages a set of measures. It includes 13 instructions in regard to the work of regional officials, transport authorities, a number of ministries and departments and municipalities. These measures will help quickly bring a return on the funds that we invested in the satellite constellation, which will benefit businesses and our economy, and make it more transparent. You have given these instructions just recently and we are monitoring their implementation.

As for the support for the defence industry, three enterprises have received subsidies within the Government Commission on Preventing the Bankruptcy of Strategic Facilities and Organisations and Certain Defence Industry Organisations. The Rostov Optical and Mechanical Plant in Rostov in the Yaroslavl Region received 274 million roubles, Moscow's Mayak factory, which is part of the Russian Technologies Corporation and manufactures aviation equipment, received 177 million roubles and the Voskhod facility in the Far East received 77.4 million roubles. These funds will be given to these facilities for debt repayment on taxes, duties and other obligatory payments, which cannot be restructured under the law because these are payments due to the state treasury.

Naturally, the provision of these subsidies to each facility is based on their step-by-step action plans for rehabilitation and improving production efficiency that these enterprises submitted to the government. Such subsidies are provided only under these conditions. Naturally, all three enterprises are participating in executing the government defence order.

Vladimir Putin: Good. Mr Shoigu, I have signed a public contract to purchase aircraft for your ministry. Could you please expand on this issue? What do you plan to purchase and when? How will these aircraft be used and where?

Sergei Shoigu: Ladies and gentlemen, Mr Prime Minister,

Following up on the president's and prime minister's instructions, the government developed a resolution to respond to the recent events on the railway and the highway between Moscow and St Petersburg. This resolution envisions a series of measures to resolve the problem of traffic congestion on this motorway and improve road safety. Through this decision, the government allocates funds to purchase five Kamov Ka-52 helicopters.

We have developed a pilot project. By the first quarter of 2011, we'll have built and equipped helicopter pads at each hospital along this motorway in order to bring in the injured and ill.

Our second objective is providing the Novgorod, Tver, Moscow and Leningrad Regions with medical aircraft.
As you know, now that Mil Mi-2 helicopters and Antonov An-2 airplanes have been decommissioned, we are short of medical aircraft. We're working on this problem with the Ministry of Healthcare and Social Development.

Next, we will receive two Antonov An-148-100 aircraft within the next two years through this order. They will be used during rescue operations, particularly to transport the injured in the Far East and Siberia.
This aircraft performed well during tests. It can land on unpaved runways, doesn't need a long runway to take off and to land and is suited for medium-length routes.

During the tests, the crew installed medical equipment onboard the plane quickly and easily. The need for good medical aircraft became evident during the rescue operations at the Sayano-Shushenskaya Hydro-Electric Power Station and the Raspadskaya coal mine, when we had to evacuate large numbers of people.

I'd like to express my gratitude to everyone who has made this decision possible. I hope it will expedite the implementation of the comprehensive programme to increase road safety on the motorways M4 Don, M10, and M7 Volga, which we'll attend to soon. We're developing a programme with the Ministry of Healthcare and Social Development to equip each local hospital with a rooftop helicopter pad, as in Western countries.

Vladimir Putin: Be careful not to crash into the roof...

Sergei Shoigu: Okay.

Vladimir Putin: ...Hope you're not going to land a Mil Mi-8 on the roof of a small local hospital.

Sergei Shoigu: No way. Those are Kamov Ka-32 helicopters. They are pretty good.

Vladimir Putin: I hope so. Or we'll have to repair the hospital and treat even more patients...

Sergei Shoigu: Touch wood...

Vladimir Putin: I'll return to this issue later.

Similar work should be done on the M58 Amur motorway, which we inspected recently. Construction is almost over there and now we need to create the necessary infrastructure. This motorway is empty, naked, I would even say. I have instructed the agencies involved to develop a comprehensive programme. We discussed it...

Viktor Basargin: In Chita.

Vladimir Putin: Yes, at a meeting in Chita. Your deputy attended that meeting, and he has all information on this issue. Please resolve it as soon as you can.

As far as the Ministry of Healthcare and Social Development, I have signed a government resolution to provide budget funds for the Russian Research Centre for Radiology and Surgical Technology. The amount in question is rather large, over six billion roubles, to be allocated within the next two years. The facilities should be put into operation in 2013. Could you please tell us more on this issue?

Vladimir Belov (Deputy Minister of Healthcare and Social Development): Thank you, Mr Prime Minister. This really is a large amount of money. I'd like to thank the government and you personally for adopting a series of resolutions on investment in hospitals and clinics.

The improvement of care provided to cancer patients is one of the priorities of the national project Health, and the Russian Research Centre for Radiology and Surgical Technology is making a major contribution to this plan, improving treatment methods and providing actual help to patients. We're working on this issue in close cooperation with the centre's director, Mr Anatoly Granov, a highly regarded expert and a very responsible person. We're doing our best to put these facilities into operation on schedule, in 2013. This is a massive project, which will allow us to develop solutions to treat cancer and put them into practice, thus helping to address this challenge more effectively.

Vladimir Putin: Good. Please tell Mr Granov that I'll visit his centre to see for myself the facilities under construction.

Turning our attention to the next issue of today's agenda, on September 1, the law on the prescription drug market took effect. Your comments please.

Vladimir Belov: Yes, it took effect on September 1. While preparing the draft for this law, we planned to establish the government's right to intervene in this market. But I can't say we managed to do it.

We prepared drafts for 13 government resolutions and submitted them to the government. And they are being reviewed now. Some have been combined - and the final package will probably include nine or ten resolutions in total.

I'd like to emphasise that while preparing legislation and these government resolutions we were in close contact with pharmaceutical companies, and it seems we have found some common ground. We'll see. We believe that our decisions on this issue are right and that the law will prove effective.

Yesterday you signed the provisions on licensing the production of prescription drugs. This document charges two federal executive bodies, the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Supervision, with licensing the production of drugs for people and animals respectively. It also specifies responsibilities, deadlines and measures. This decision has come at the right time and is expected to have a major positive impact on the industry. We believe that it will help us meet all the objectives on the prescription drug market strategy through 2010.

Vladimir Putin: Good. The new academic year began on September 1, as we all know. First, we have often discussed new education standards recently. What's going on in this field?

Second, a new performance review system is being introduced for teachers. Has it been coordinated with their professional unions?

Andrei Fursenko: Mr Prime Minister, as for new standards, they began to be applied on September 1. Primary school standards have been approved already.

All first forms will start switching to these standards on September 1 next year. About 200,000 first-formers out of a total exceeding 1.4 million are studying according to them even now. We have approved the transition for schools fully prepared to introduce them because these new standards involve not only curricula but also improved material conditions: new teaching aids and new classroom equipment.

I met with several teachers during the teachers' council in August. They think the new standards are interesting because they plan for rather extensive extracurricular activities, which are part of the teachers' duties, and information will be taught to first-formers in a new way.

At any rate, the strongest teachers are willing to start this work on their own initiative. We will see. I am absolutely sure that over the coming twelve months we will prepare all schools to switch to the new standards, including the standards for teaching methods. This is significant because it will be new experience for other forms, too.

As for the new performance review system, its introduction has been coordinated with professional unions according to the instruction you made during the organising committee meeting for the Year of Teacher.

The unions' principal demand at the meeting was as follows: if you are introducing mandatory evaluation of all teachers, then opportunities must be provided for professional development for the teachers so that they will be able to meet the new requirements.

The new standards propose this. This means that teachers will be evaluated every five years. If any problems arise, even if some teachers do not qualify, they will have the opportunity for improvement, and will go through another evaluation after they learn the things that they should know as teachers. If they fail on the second attempt, they will have to look for another job.

This arrangement has been agreed with professional unions. We have agreed that the evaluation procedure will be approved at the regional level. As the agency that determines policy in this field, we will supervise this.

Vladimir Putin: Okay. Mr Shchegolev (addressing the communications and mass media minister), we have started introducing a digital television network, and agreed to begin setting it up at the extreme ends of the country - the Far East and Kaliningrad. Please comment on this. We have discussed the situation in the Far East. What is going on in Kaliningrad?

Igor Shchegolev: Yes, the main work has been carried out in the Far East, where about a thousand facilities will be re-equipped or built from scratch this year. Designs have been completed and the relevant work has been contracted. Equipment is being delivered. We are working on schedule.

As for Kaliningrad, we've made an exception for it because it was not included in plans for the first stage of this process. However, we have included it in the plan considering the special situation of the Kaliningrad Region, its technological opportunities and the readiness of local authorities there. This year we have re-designed, repaired and re-equipped the five available television towers and assembled new transmitters there. About 85% of the area there is already covered by test digital broadcasting. This is good, considering the drastic time limits.

We have to build another eleven facilities to provide coverage for the remaining 15% of the territory. These facilities have already been designed, and their construction is scheduled for the first half of next year. So the entire Kaliningrad Region will have digital television by the middle of 2011. There are digital broadcasts on already, with 70% of equipment manufactured in Russia. True, some things are not made in Russia, but the most sophisticated devices, including transmitters, are manufactured in this country.

Kaliningrad has a major factory manufacturing digital converter boxes for the public. When the factory reaches its estimated output, it will be able to offer a sufficient number of boxes at reasonable prices.

Vladimir Putin: Good. I have mentioned my trip to the Far East and Siberia several times. I want to say that I had many useful workshops and meetings with members of the workforce. I summarised the results of this trip in a list of instructions to many agencies, which I have signed today.

Today, I think it is necessary to highlight certain points.. First, we must urgently finish work on the programme for the construction of the Vostochny space centre and the all-round upgrading of the Chita-Khabarovsk motorway, as I have said already.

First of all, motorway construction should be completed. It is in its final stage now. There is a 45 to 50 kilometre stretch left to build...

Voice: Thirty kilometres.

Vladimir Putin: Thirty... Thank God, only thirty kilometres remain unpaved yet. But we must finish paving, complete the development plans and begin work on developing the area around the motorway. We talked about it at the meeting in Chita, and I hope we'll make progress.

Incidentally, I want to say that the government will meet haulers halfway and amend motor transport safety regulations to authorise the use of articulated lorries, up to twenty metres long, in conformity with the request of long-haul lorry drivers in Siberia and the Russian Far East, where such lorries are very convenient.

Naturally, we intend not only import such efficient machinery, we will rely on our industry to launch the manufacture of such vehicles. This will be economical and convenient, and this matters for the people most of all.

Some issues need to be considered separately. They concern occupational safety, particularly in road construction. Participants of one meeting said that certain trades should be officially qualified as hazardous, and their request must be considered.

Next, there are fishing problems to settle. This concerns most of all the streamlining of various kinds of supervision, monitoring, customs and border procedures. Even today, we will discuss a draft law envisaging a simplified procedure for state border crossing by Russian fishermen. It will be another step toward creating a friendly climate in the fishing industry. It will also cut corporate costs, pace up jobs and, importantly, increase safety of navigation because, among other improvements, fishermen will no longer have to stay on rough waters to haul their catch from vessel to vessel but will be able to do so in territorial waters closer to shore.

I also want to stress that simplified procedures should not provide loopholes for poaching and unfair business. The state should not only promote fishing but also protect wildlife from being wasted or poached.

Third, I call on the Ministry of Education and Science to create additional incentives for innovative work in the universities. The minister and I met with students in Krasnoyarsk, and I think they were right to call our attention to certain unsettled problems and some remaining obstacles, which must be removed.

The Ministry of Natural Resources should also develop a programme for the efficient use of the potential of Russian national parks and nature reserves for tourism. They are numerous, vast and highly attractive in the Far East. However, our current regulatory framework places too many restrictions on this, some of which are quite unnecessary, and so gets in the way of our enjoyment of these natural treasures. Research and environmental protection in the Far North also need support.

Fourth, we should more actively work on pulling down dilapidated housing and improving towns and villages in Siberia and the Far East. This concerns Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, the lands along the Baikal-Amur Railway and the small villages in the entire country but especially in the Far East and Siberia, where they are especially numerous. Towns also have plenty of problems. I have visited Norilsk, and I must tell you that there is ample room for improvement there, to put it mildly.

As for Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, I have signed an executive order today for a sole contractor. We allocated 3.5 billion roubles to the Kamchatka Territory but failed to hold a competitive bidding round, even though a year passed since then. The 3.5 billion is still sitting untouched in bank accounts. I had to sign an order today to appoint a sole contractor.

As for Norilsk, which I have already mentioned, roughly 27 billion roubles will be allocated to the city within ten years, and from various sources, to settle municipal problems. The situation differs from place to place but housing and public utilities are extremely neglected in many Far Eastern cities.

I have already mentioned Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. We will make an additional targeted allocation of a billion roubles for its improvement: 300 million this year and another 700 million later.

And, yesterday I asked authorities in St Petersburg to assist Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. It needs a good plan for urban development and a way of getting rid of its slums. The city is an open field for real ambitious work.

I want to stress that people's needs and interests underlie each of those orders. I have visited a dormitory, and I think you should see for yourself what it is like. When the Ministry of Regional Development joins hands with regional authorities to tackle these problems, they must first of all concentrate on new accommodations for those living in such deplorable housing conditions.

All the same, local housing has to be reinforced against earthquakes. We should make new housing earthquake-proof, and we should do this carefully according to the latest standards.

I want to say a few words now about today's agenda. We will discuss reports by the Ministry of Economic Development and the Federal Antimonopoly Service about competition in the Russian economy. I want to stress once again that the encouragement of competition is a strategic target of the government. It is clear that every problem cannot be solved in one fell swoop, but delaying this work is unacceptable.

In connection with this, we must even now elaborate a national system of indices for the objective evaluation of the state of competition in our country; this will allow us to see how things really are and make balanced decisions on issues sensitive for all market players.

Not any less important is accomplishing the revision and removal of excessive administrative regulation of the construction industry, education, healthcare and other economic sectors.

Last but not least, all constituent entities were to approve their own programmes for the development of competition by September 1. I want to remind the Ministry of Economic Development and the Federal Antimonopoly Service that they should permanently monitor the effectiveness of those programmes, so that we can see practical results in the end, instead of only formal reports. Particularly, special attention should be paid to the de-monopolisation of local markets and the development of retail trade. In the regions that are serious about this, there are fewer opportunities of boosting retail prices (this is totally ruled out in many cases) and most prices are really lower than elsewhere. As you surely understand, this is especially important with the current state of the food market.

The Federal Antimonopoly Service has been instructed to arrange for the permanent monitoring of price formation on basic food commodities and take immediate action against bloated prices whenever they are noticed. There are instances of tough responses to the irresponsible conduct of some manufacturers and traders. The service is really efficient in some regions.

Of course, nobody, including federal and regional authorities, can demand that a producer work at a loss. This is prohibited by the law. However, monopolistic profiteering that causes prices to rise is unacceptable. This applies to everyone involved in the market, from the farm field to the shop counter.

There is another issue directly involving food market stability. To protect our consumers, we have introduced a temporary ban on grain exports until January 1, 2011. What do we see now? Grain is stockpiled in anticipation of what will come next. To avoid undue anxiety and guarantee stability and predictable terms of economic activity for all market players, I deem it necessary to say that we will be unable to consider prospects for the continued prohibition of grain exports before next year's harvest, when it is clear how much we have. Going back and forth is inadmissible here. Our grain farmers and traders should work calmly on the basis of objective conditions and domestic market demands.

Let's get down to business.