During his visit to Izhevsk, Vladimir Putin visited the Izhevsk car plant IzhAvto, which had resumed production after several months of a standstill caused by company's bankruptcy. The Prime Minister talked to the workers and looked at car models that the plant will produce.

Transcript of the meeting with the plant workers:

Vladimir Putin: Good afternoon.

Remark: Good afternoon, Mr Prime Minister. We are glad to see you.

Vladimir Putin: I am glad to see you too, especially on the occasion of the plant's reopening. There used to be 5,000 workers before the closedown, and now there are 2,500 workers here.

Remark: We hope there will be enough room for us.

Vladimir Putin: I have just talked to the plant's head and the management of the bank, which is the plant's main shareholder: there is every chance not only to reopen the plant, but to reach the pre-crisis level as well and to move further. We are working on this issue.

Congratulations!

Remark: Thanks for coming.

Remark: Thank you. We hope that your visit will bring a long and bright future for us.

Vladimir Putin: I would like the plant to develop, to establish new platforms, and it must have a good strategic partner.

Remark: Are we going to work with AvtoVAZ? Please tell we are going to work with AvtoVAZ!

Vladimir Putin: Where is the director general? There he is (points at Igor Komarov).

Remark: We really want to work with you. As long and as closely as possible.

Vladimir Putin: You see, it (AvtoVAZ) gave a part of its production over to you. Of course, these cars are not new, but it was important to restart the enterprise to make it resume its work. It's easier for an operating plant to negotiate with a strategic partner. This is very important.

Remark: We really love our work. Just give us some work, please.

Vladimir Putin: I understand.

Remark: We have been waiting for you for four years.

Vladimir Putin: We will move forward together. This is a good enterprise.

Remark: We also like it very much. It's like a home to us, and we don't want to change it.

Vladimir Putin: The republic's head and I have discussed IzhAvto and we think it is the brand of the republic and of Izhevsk: everyone is used to the fact that cars are produced here. The only thing we need is to make these cars modern, and increase their popularity on the market so that people want to buy them.

Remark: We will probably make new models in the future.

Vladimir Putin: Absolutely. AvtoVAZ has been able to share some of its production volume because of our car scrappage programme. As you see, these are classic cars that are popular within the car scrappage programme.

Remark: We understand that.

Vladimir Putin: This cannot continue indefinitely, and so new models should start appearing after the first stage, after the launch of the enterprise. I would like to emphasise that the plant needs a good new reliable partner that could bring such models here. You will need to come to terms and sign agreements with them. One possible alternative is AvtoVAZ, but there are other options too.

Remark: We hope so.

Vladimir Putin: I congratulate you once again. Have a nice day.

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After the meeting with the workers, Vladimir Putin looked at the plant's product line-up, accompanied by German Gref, head of Sberbank, which is IzhAvto's main creditor. Mr Gref said that the plant on August 27 resumed the assembly of VAZ-2104 station wagons with the bank's financial support. In the fourth quarter of this year, the plant will begin production of all the classic AvtoVAZ models.

IzhAvto's other strategic partner, South Korea's Hyundai, also plans to organise production of its new models at the plant, such as Kia Sorrento and Kia Cerato. A Hyundai representative showed Mr Putin a new version of the Cerato.

"To make the plant successful, we want it to produce the latest models," the Hyundai representative said. When Mr Putin inquired about the price of the car, he said the new Cerato is valued at 550,000-700,000 roubles, but the company was planning to reduce the price.

The Prime Minister was also shown the light trucks that Hyundai was planning to assemble in Izhevsk from December 2010. The Hyundai representative asked Mr Putin to help accelerate the adoption of the required documents to begin production of new models sooner.

Vladimir Putin and German Gref sat down at a monitor where the Sberbank head presented the development plan for the distressed plant. He said the bank planned to complete IzhAvto's bankruptcy in 2011, thus clearing away the company's debt. "The plant will continue operation and will create more than 2,200 jobs by 2014," the Sberbank head said.

"You must keep in mind that environmental requirements will be toughened every year; this concerns engines and other technical characteristics of cars," Mr Putin warned. Mr Gref assured the Prime Minister that these things have been taken into account. He started elaborating on long-term development plans for IzhAvto, but the Prime Minister interrupted him, asking to invite the workers with whom he talked some minutes ago.

"Ask the workers to come back here, let them listen. I'm sure they're interested," he said. "You must be interested in hearing about your plant's future," he told the workers who came in. "You were asking me about the plant's development plans, so you can listen to what Mr Gref is saying about it."

The Sberbank head told Mr Putin that, to make the plant operate successfully , the Finance Ministry should be instructed to continue financing the old cars trade-in programme through 2012, and the Economic Development Ministry, to draw up an agreement for car assembly.

"We need decisions on the terms of production and on a strategic investor," Mr Gref said. The Prime Minister said the issue will be discussed on Wednesday or Thursday, adding that the talks with Hyundai, the plant's partner, will begin in St Petersburg next week.

After the presentation of Sberbank's plans for the plant, Mr Putin asked the workers if they had any questions. "We want to work and make money," one of the women told Mr Putin. "That's what I want too. That is why I came here to see what is happening. I have talked to your partners, and we will continue this discussion in St Petersburg," he said. The Prime Minister promised the workers to resolve the plant's debt problems.