Good afternoon, dear friends. Congratulations on your professional holiday, Agricultural Workers' Day!

I managed to visit the agricultural exhibit here in Moscow. It is a truly great display of achievements made in agriculture.

I saw what other visitors would see there. I am not exaggerating to say that it was impressive. It was a pleasure to see. You know what's particularly interesting, what is especially nice? In previous decades, in previous times, people attended all kinds of exhibitions. And there, too, there was enough of everything, it was very nice and impressive, but there was nothing much in the shops. And now, the stores have as much as the exhibitions do.

But it's not so easy to leave a village, so your colleagues, producers from the CIS, loaded me up with bread and gave me some milk for the road. Mr Medvedev and I tried it all and came to a simple conclusion -the healthiest and most delicious food comes from the simplest products.

And I want to take this opportunity to convey the formal and official congratulations of Mr Medvedev. He asked me to do so - to once again congratulate you on the holiday and wish you - those of you who are in this auditorium and all workers in rural areas - all the best.

Thank you for your hard work, and the perseverance and courage - this can be said without exaggeration - which you displayed in this complex, extremely difficult year.

Despite the unusual weather and the extreme drought, you did everything possible to continue providing bread to the country.

In recent years, the Russian agricultural industry... See, it even brings to mind the defence industry because the agricultural industry's purpose is no less important than the defence industry; it is of paramount importance.

In recent years, the agricultural industry has become a very important resource, and in any situation, it is able to ensure the food independence of Russia.

The harvest and the accumulated reserves fully cover the domestic demand for grain. I am sure that in the foreseeable future Russia will be back on the world grain market, and as one of its leaders.

And our manufacturers have the necessary capacity to do this, the competitive advantages, and the desire to reach ambitious goals. State support will be provided to you because here we have both reserves and a large margin.

We have already allocated some 40 billion roubles to counter the effects of drought and we have resolved the issue of the extension of the earlier loans. The government will continue to closely monitor the situation so that specific agricultural producers receive timely, effective and meaningful help.

Our task is to do everything possible to ensure the long-term plans of people who work on the soil in order for the massive resources invested in the future of our agriculture to be used efficiently.

Over the last four years, around 900 billion roubles have been invested in the industry. Next year, we plan to invest 125 billion roubles in federal funds in the agricultural industry. This year, I'll remind you, it was 107.6 billion roubles. This is not counting subsidized loans and regional programmes.

The main thing is we are already seeing the result of our efforts. For example, while the national project and the state programme for the development of the agricultural industry have been in place, production of livestock and poultry has increased by more than 33%.

You know, the numbers are impressive. It is a matter of pride for any country. In four years, poultry production has increased by 76%, and pig production is up 39%! I congratulate you on this!

In terms of key items, we are gradually becoming masters of our own food market. And in the long term, we plan to export our quality and competitive livestock products to other countries.

I want to stress that support to agriculture has been and will be our undisputed priority, regardless of the global situation. As I mentioned during the dialogue with our foreign partners, we will be tough, rational and will consistently uphold the interests of our local farmers.

Together, we will continue to systematically introduce advanced technology and innovation in order for agriculture to be a modern and dynamic sector of Russian economy that is attractive for investment, as well as to provide employment to our young people.

We will continue to develop the social infrastructure of rural communities, building modern and comfortable homes. In the next three years alone, about 2.5 million square meters of housing will be established in rural areas.

And, of course, as promised, we will soon finish rebuilding the rural communities burned in the wildfires.

Dear friends,

We have a saying, "Where there's a will, there's a way."

No tribulation can weaken the sturdy peasant character. At the heart of this character is love for the land, diligence, patience and mutual support. And these qualities are still passed down from generation to generation.

And so I'm sure that we will overcome any difficulties together.

Let me once again congratulate you on the holiday, with all my heart.