During his visit, First Deputy Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov spoke at the opening of the Interregional Agricultural Exhibition, reviewed the exhibits of the Urals regions and attended a meeting of the Council of the Presidential Plenipotentiary Envoy to the Urals Federal District, which focused on the implementation of priority national projects.

At the opening ceremony Mr Zubkov said:

"Today we are opening an exhibition in Kurgan which will present the results achieved by the Russian agricultural industry this year, which was a difficult one for the majority of Russian agricultural producers. An abnormally hot summer caused substantial changes not only to their work, but also to the plans of the entire industry. However, despite this extreme weather, people worked hard for the harvest and managed to fully provide the country with agricultural produce. Cattle breeders are worthy of special note because despite of all these difficulties they improved last year's indexes by more than 7%.

"The drought has become a serious challenge for the agricultural sector. And we will not leave the agricultural producers to face the aftermath of this natural disaster alone. We have already allocated 20 billion roubles from the federal budget for the regions affected by the drought. In November we will provide another 15 billion roubles for the regions. And we will see to it that state aid reaches the producers. Special attention will be given to small businesses.

"In addition, subsidies to cover interest on short-term and investment loans will continue, and there will be new opportunities for the improvement of machinery and equipment. Rural social infrastructure will be developed too. Our plans include the construction of hospitals, schools, cultural establishments, modern houses and apartments. In the near future we are planning to commission 2.5 million square metres of housing.

"Meanwhile, successes in agriculture depend not only on the federal authorities; regions should make their contribution too. Rural areas need entrepreneurship, investments and support for the most promising projects. And I would like to point out again the necessity of setting up wholesale and retail markets for agricultural produce and promoting consumers' cooperatives.

"I believe that by working together we will be able to confront the challenges facing the agricultural sector, provide for the country's food security and make Russia one of the world's leaders in agricultural production. Now we have ample opportunities for this. This exhibition is direct confirmation of that."