The meeting reviewed the implementation of the federal targeted programme for the social development of rural areas until 2013 in 2010 and the first half of 2011 and predicted its progress by 2020.

Opening the meeting, First Deputy Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov commented: "The programme's lavish co-financing from regional budgets and extra-budgetary sources allowed us to exceed major targets in 2010, including the commissioning of housing (by 27%) and the provision of buildings with gas and drinking water."

"In 2011, we'll spend 26.4 billion roubles on the programme. The funding has already enabled us to build or buy 422,300 square metres of housing, construct 548 km of gas distribution networks, supply more than 3,000 homes with gas, and commission 160 km of local gas pipelines," he said.

The deputy prime minister focused on the importance of extra-budgetary funding: "The regions must continue to pay special attention to the programme's co-financing, primarily for improving living conditions in rural areas. Extra-budgetary funds play a major role in this respect. This year saw a decline in these funds. The Ministry of Agriculture must analyse the reasons for this decline and take measures to overcome it."

The meeting also touched on the Ministry of Agriculture's approach to drafting the federal targeted programme for the sustainable development of rural areas in 2014-2020.

During the discussion, commission members emphasised the need to tailor the programme's targets to the scope of its tentative funding.

The commission agreed that the seven-fold increase in the programme's funding (from 40.7 billion to 294.6 billion roubles) requested by the Ministry of Agriculture requires serious justification and must be backed by the adequate growth of planned targets and correspond to the general approach to the financing of the state programme for the development of agriculture and the regulation of agricultural, raw materials, and food markets for 2013-2020 within the federal budget limits.

"The Ministry of Agriculture must consider the proposals and remarks voiced by the commission and submit to the government the coordinated draft federal targeted programme for the sustainable development of rural areas for 2014-2020 no later than November 1. Then we will conduct a public discussion of the draft programme with the Russian Agrarian Movement," Zubkov said.

When the meeting turned to the state regulation of grain quality and safety, the deputy prime minister noted that such control measures have recently become much less effective.

"This is due to the absence of an efficient federal system for monitoring the current reserves of grain and their quality. There are no administrative measures against violations in this sphere either. This does nothing to build Russia's prestige in the world grain market," he said.

"This issue was discussed at a conference conducted by President Dmitry Medvedev in the Tambov Region on July 25. One of the proposals suggested there was restoring the government's State Grain Inspectorate. The world's leading grain producers – the United States, Canada, and Australia – have similar agencies," Zubkov said. "In this context, I'd like the relevant departments to draft comprehensive legal and other proposals on the effective regulation of the size and quality of the grain market."