During the conference Mr Zubkov gave the Transport Ministry and the Agriculture Ministry one week to develop and submit proposals to the Government on moving grain surpluses from the Central District to other regions. "There are regions that do not produce grain, and an agreement must be reached with these regions to move the grain," Mr Zubkov said.

The conference also approved other measures, in particular, on improving the regime of grain purchase interventions. Mr Zubkov noted that the conference envisaged that for the Volga area, Siberia and the Far East grain prices would rise to 6,000 roubles per tonne, the number of accredited elevators would increase, the network of trading sites would expand and there would be more trading sessions. "I will see to it that all this is strictly adhered to," he said.

Other measures taken by the conference concern export stimulus. "Considering the grain balance it is necessary to export about 10 million tonnes of grain and grain products, in the first place flour," Mr Zubkov said. The complex of measures includes bringing down infrastructure costs of grain transportation inside the country and for export, the preservation of the exclusive railway tariff for 2009, a cut of the cost of forwarding companies' services, and of the cost of handling export grain, as well as a reduction to 30 days of the time period within which VAT is refunded to exporters of grain and its products.