The participants in the meeting discussed amendments to the Agricultural Insurance Concept, which will receive government funding until 2020.

In order to modernise the system of agricultural risk insurance, the terms for providing government support to agricultural insurance and implementing this system must be established in law, and a number of regulatory acts must be developed. 

"I am instructing the agencies to complete, by the end of the week, the government report on the draft agricultural insurance federal law forwarded by the members of the State Duma and the Federation Council for further discussion by the State Duma in the first reading," First Deputy Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov said following the discussion on improving agricultural insurance.

"I know that some agencies have criticised the draft law. Nevertheless, it remains a priority of the government to establish a legal platform for creating an agricultural risk insurance system and to consider all comments and criticisms that may arise in the process of preparing the law for the second reading," the first deputy prime minister said. He also remarked on the need to ensure that the draft law conforms to the provisions of the publicly funded Agricultural Insurance Concept. Mr Zubkov instructed the Ministry of Agriculture to promptly revise the document to reflect the comments and proposals offered by the Federal Service for Insurance Supervision and the Federal Antimonopoly Service.

The first deputy prime minister also instructed the Ministry of Agriculture to revise the implementation plan for the Concept. "We need a list of regulatory acts indicating the specific goals and tasks they are meant to address, as well as when they need to be prepared and by whom," Mr Zubkov said. He noted that, pursuant to a presidential order, proposals on the modernisation of agricultural insurance, including amendments to laws, must be completed by November 1.

The commission members also reviewed proposals made by the Ministry of Agriculture and the Central Union of Consumer Societies regarding the improvement of all forms of industrial integration and cooperation as well as the processing and sale of agricultural and food products. Mr Zubkov noted that the president has raised the issue of improving consumer cooperation in agriculture many times.

"I would like the Ministry of Agriculture to finish up work on its comprehensive proposals on this issue. We will review them at an expanded meeting with the union's representatives at the end of October," the first deputy prime minister said.

At the end of the meeting, the participants discussed measures to implement the instructions issued by President Dmitry Medvedev regarding epizootic safety in the Russian Federation. After the discussion, the first deputy prime minister instructed the participants to draw up amendments to laws vesting regional authorities with the right to establish the rules for keeping domestic animals in private farms for each municipality and to submit them to the government. In addition, pursuant to a presidential instruction, the Russian chief veterinary officer will be vested with the authority to issue direct orders that must be complied with in the regions in the event of an outbreak of an extremely dangerous animal disease. The necessary legal amendments will be stipulated in the course of the government's work to improve supervision and licensing in the agricultural sector. There are also plans to coordinate veterinary laws with the Customs Union and other international organisations.