From Mr Zubkov's remarks at the conference:

"We all are well aware that food security has grown into a global economic priority, with the global population growing so rapidly, boosting demand for agricultural products.

"According to estimates, the planet's population will exceed 9 billion people by 2050. Therefore, agricultural output needs to be increased by 70%. The supply-demand imbalance has been causing high volatility in the prices of staples in the past few years.

"It is obvious that the new challenges and threats are prodding the international community to coordinate efforts to develop a set of measures and principles to regulate international trade in agricultural products.

"To ensure sustainable global agricultural development, countries are working at different levels of interstate cooperation to improve policies and principles of regulating the international trade of agricultural products.

"Russia is actively involved in this work. It has put forth a series of international initiatives to hold forums for a broad discussion of agricultural policy. I am glad to inform you that many of those present here have attended the World Grain Forum which was held during the 2009 St Petersburg Economic Forum. The participants agreed that the meeting was highly rewarding. They discussed in detail the grain market problems and possible solutions. The next forum is slated for 2012.

"The only way to ensure international food security is to increase the production volume and diversity of high quality and safe foodstuffs. In this context, Russia has unique potential. We have natural competitive advantages. For example, we have one-tenth of the world's cropland, a quarter of global water resources and over 8% of global mineral fertiliser resources. Russia plans to increase its share of the global food balance in the medium term, mainly grain and grain products, oil crops, sugar, poultry and pork.

"What are we doing to realise this natural potential? We have adopted a law on agriculture which includes a clear definition of an agricultural producer. We have also drafted support policies, later organised as a national project for agriculture development and transformed in 2008 into a five-year state programme. We have also developed and adopted a National Food Security Doctrine.

"These measures have led to a 15% increase in overall agricultural output, an 84% increase in poultry production and a 43% increase in pork production, as well as a 30% cut in food imports.

"Russian agribusinesses are growing successfully. More than 250 animal farms built or modernised in the last two years are making competitive products now.

"At the same time, there is room for growth in domestic and global demand which will ensure high profits to potential investors in Russian agriculture.

"The Russian government is also implementing a series of measures to create a favourable investment climate. We are pursuing a wise macroeconomic policy, reducing administrative barriers and additional costs of doing business, and cutting the number of activities that require state licensing. We have introduced the practice of assessing the regulatory effect of legal acts and built an affective model of interaction between the government and branch associations.

"The new state programme for agriculture development in 2013-2020 includes more options for potential investors in this sector. The new areas include deep processing of agricultural produce using waste-free technology, innovation, agricultural science, logistics infrastructure, and resource-efficient agriculture. It is especially important to develop Russia's export potential, primarily of grain and meat.

"Let me emphasise that Russia is a reliable partner capable of guaranteeing their investment security as well as a reliable supplier of high quality products on the international market.

"After a significant part of Russian crops were destroyed by the drought last year, the government was compelled to temporarily restrict grain exports. Appropriate consultations have been conducted with our longstanding partners. Russia understands its responsibility for global food security and will resume grain exports on July 1 this year.

"I am confident that this forum will become a good platform for discussing food security problems and Russia's potential role in this process."