Transcript of the beginning of the meeting:

Vladimir Putin: Mr Men, I have some standards questions for you: how do you assess the social and economic situation in your region as we approaching the end of the year? We have already discussed that before, in fact. In general, the situation is slightly better. Let’s go into details.

Mikhail Men: Mr Putin, this year has been significantly better than 2009.

As you know our industry and GDP are based on two main sectors – textile industry and mechanical engineering. Of course, in terms of mechanical engineering, which is focused on construction machinery including truck cranes, excavators and tower cranes, we encountered serious problems in the second half of 2008 and in 2009 because we manufactured goods for the whole of central Russia.

Here is an example. In 2007, some 3,800 of the famous Ivanovets cranes were sold, and in 2009 the figure dropped to 600. As a result, our economy suffered a serious blow. But now it is experiencing a gradual revival. We have received strong support from the Defence Ministry, and the purchases made by the ministry have allowed the truck cranes’ sales rates to reach half of the pre-crisis level.

As for the textile industry, I would like to express my gratitude to the government of the Russian Federation, which made the decision to subsidize the interest rate on loans for our textile workers and increase it from one-half to two-thirds. As a result, they managed to get through these hard times. In addition, the currency rate grew at the beginning of the downturn, and this made them a little bit more competitive. However, some problems connected with the high prices for cotton have arisen recently, but this is a global trend.

Speaking about housing construction, we have managed to keep up momentum due to two federal programmes: the Defence Ministry programme, which requires us to build a lot for the ministry, and that of the Housing and Utilities Reform Fund for moving people out of dilapidated and hazardous housing. Thanks to this we managed to make a small profit in 2009 and in 2010, with the latter being no smaller than that of 2009.

Vladimir Putin: What have you done for rehousing people from dilapidated and hazardous buildings this year?

Mikhail Men: We used about one billion roubles from the Fund this year. Apart from conducting large-scale repairs, we rehoused about 300 families. So, the issue is actually being resolved. And we will receive another 184 million roubles before the end of this year and will go on with our efforts. We will also file an application for next year.

Vladimir Putin: What’s the situation with unemployment?

Mikhail Men: We experienced serious problems with unemployment in 2008 and 2009, but now we are approaching a level close to the pre-crisis one. Many employees came back to Avtokran because previously they had been forced to work three days a week. And now, almost the entire staff has returned. But we also need additional production facilities. We are currently involved in diversifying the regional economy, and a number of new enterprises are being built. The electrometallurgical plant, which will produce fittings out of scrap metal, will be able to provide 130 jobs. Important negotiations with Continental, a company manufacturing tires, were held yesterday, and if we manage to persuade our German partners, this will bring 2,000 jobs in the future. In a time of crisis, an industry with only one leading sector is a bad joke for the regional economy. 

Vladimir Putin: Good.