Transcription of the beginning of the meeting:

Vladimir Putin: Mr Osipov, you wanted to talk about the Siberian division first, I know. YesIs that correct?

Yury Osipov: Yes.

Vladimir Putin: If you please.

Yury Osipov: Two and a half years ago, you supported the concept of the Siberian branch of the Academy of Sciences. Not just abstractly, in terms of scientific development, but in terms of the prospective development of this vast territory. And, in particular, of course, the development concept of Akademgorodok specifically.

Mr Putin, you know very well that Novosibirsk's Akademgorodok is a one-of-a-kind area. There are 34 institutes concentrated there. Many of them have the highest international rankings. There's a great university there – which is now a research university – with good prospects. Incidentally, the gGovernment has given the university money. There is also an industrial park. This industrial park now has more than 100 tenants. There is already more than 10 billion roubles worth of high-tech products produced by the institutes and companies and there areis 20 billion roubles worth of investment in products that are manufactured on the basis of the academy's inventions – in other words, these are good figures.

Akademgorodok is developing, but we would like to give it newprovide fresh impetus forto development because thisit fully corresponds the contemporary current policy of modernisation and innovation of the country that you yourself initiated.

Of course, this is a unique area of science, education and innovation. It's one-of-a-kind! And I believe it will need some small support in the development of infrastructure and general state support.

Vladimir Putin: This is supplemental in addition to those programmes that we are already implementing, yes?

Yury Osipov: Yes, of course. This is a very good platform, an outstanding platform for science, education and innovation.

Vladimir Putin: Alright, we'll see.

Yury Osipov: This is the request I have for you. If you deem it possible, instruct the Finance Ministry and the Economic Development Ministry to review our proposals in detail.

Vladimir Putin: Alright. I am generally familiar with whatith is happening there, with what is being done.

Yury Osipov: Yes, you were there.

Vladimir Putin: And the staff there is fabulous...

Yury Osipov: Wonderful. They've preserved time-honoured traditions.

Vladimir Putin: They are able to commercialise the fruits of their endeavours, which is particularly gratifying. There is both the fundamental element and the applied one.

Yury Osipov: At one government meeting, you instructed us to draft a vision for innovation at the Academy of Sciences, a specific list of work that could be commercialised. Not only at Akademgorodok, but we also have other sites. But again, , I reiterate, this is a unique place and it would be a crime not to use it.

Vladimir Putin: Agreed. We often simply do not even notice the results of what is happening in these institutions. Only when someone is directly concerned, then we see. Just recently we opened – it's true, it's another field of activity, another science, the medical field – we opened a children's medical centre.

Yury Osipov: A haematological one.

Vladimir Putin: Yes, oncohaematology. Back in the mid -to late 1980's, only 7% of leukaemia patients could be cured. Now this figure is 80%, and with the introduction of this centre, it will be more than 90%.

Yury Osipov: Wonderful.

Vladimir Putin: This is the result of scientific achievements – in this case, in the medical field. Well, the technical field also has its achievements. Unfortunately, we know so little about them; that is to say, a narrow circle of people knows.

Yury Osipov: But you do know.

Vladimir Putin: But we need for it to be presented in the media in a more appropriate manner. Of course, we're faced with the task of implementation.

Yury Osipov: By the way, Mr Putin, you've raised the important topic of medicine. The medical industry makes excellent devices, which other countries also purchase. The same Budker Institute (Budker Institute of Nuclear Physics) makes accelerator devices that are used in medical practice. Other institutes, including ones in Moscow, are doing the same thing. Now it is no longer a matter of dozens of devices, but hundreds, and these are are widely used.

Vladimir Putin: I hope very much, Mr Osipov, that research centres of this kind most actively join in the implementation of the re-started federal target programme for the development of the pharmaceutical and medical industries.

Yury Osipov: We're ready. We have dozens of teams working in this area. And there are specific results, specific drugs that are already in circulation and have even been clinically tested. By the way, the medical field is the most important field, of course – just as it is worldwide. In October, I was in the United States. Their main medical institution, the National Institutes of Health, made us, the Academy of Sciences, an unusual proposal – an agreement between our academy and the National Institutes of Health to develop such things. Of course, we signed the agreement, recently in Moscow.

Vladimir Putin: Outstanding. The next issue is astronomy.

Yury Osipov: The next issue is a difficult one. I've already told you – for the first time, we were invited to be a full-fledged member of a scientific consortium associated with astronomy, astrophysics and radio astronomy. European countries have organised a such a consortium – the European Southern Observatory. The Chilean government has provided great sites in the mountains. Incidentally, this is the best location for astronomical observations. They have built one-of-a-kind astronomical instruments there, and now Russia has been offered to participate on equal terms. This is an unprecedented proposal.

Of course, we need to pay some money – contributions – but then we can participate on equal terms. Japan, Brazil and the U.S. have also joined. There is continuous improvement of instruments. But the main thing is that if the government and the country's leadership decide that Russia can still join, then the lion's share of contributions that we will pay will return to Russia through the orders that our plants will be able to fill.

For example, the Lytkarino plant is absolutely unique – it's one-of-a-kind. Such a plant was built in the Soviet era. The diameter of the mirror is 42 metres, and it consists of individual segments. We have the technology and know-how in Russia to manufacture these segments. We hope that about 70% of contributions will return to Rostekhnologii (Russian Technologies), specifically to the Lytkarino plant. But if you tmake a final decision – I mean, maybe not now, but there is no more time for delay – then I ask you to instruct the Science Ministry and the Academy of Sciences to enter into informal talks with the leadership of the consortium, in order to clarify transition conditions and entry into this business.

Vladimir Putin: Alright. Let's do just that.