Transcript of the beginning of the meeting:

Vladimir Putin: Mr Bochkaryov, I looked at the Penza Region's statistics before our meeting. The growth of industrial production in your region is more than three times higher than the national average.

Vasily Bochkaryov: We are doing our best.

Vladimir Putin: Yes, it’s not a bad performance. And, accordingly, the wages have gone up a little.

Vasily Bochkaryov: In the construction industry, yes.

Vladimir Putin: Growth in the construction industry has been impressive – it has gone up by 36% compared to the same period last year. Mr. Bochkaryov, are there any questions you would like to ask? What are the most urgent problems that you are facing right now?

Vasily Bochkaryov: May I boast for a moment?

Vladimir Putin: Go right ahead.

Vasily Bochkaryov: Do you recall your visit to the MedInzh plant, the manufacturer of hi-tech heart valve replacement devices? Here is a new item (shows) that has just been certified. It’s an endoprosthesis for the spine, the first of its kind to be developed and produced. This is the intervertebral disk that we presented at Silicon Valley last year. It was awarded the Silver Medal, and now we have received the certificate.

Vladimir Putin: That's excellent. How are things in the social sphere? In the economic sector, as I see it, the situation is quite good.

Vasily Bochkaryov: We will be approaching the end of the year with fairly good rates in industry and construction. But we lost last year’s winter crops as a result of the drought. This happened again, as it did in the neighboring Ryazan Region. But the spring crops managed to pull us through the situation – we harvested one million tonnes of grain. 

We are currently harvesting sugar beets. Its quality is quite good this year but the rains hinder field work. We cannot take in millet that is still in the fields. Nor can we harvest our good sunflower yield. Food prices – those of potatoes and other vegetables – have taken a dip. The price of buckwheat has plummeted as well, and buckwheat was a problem last year.

Another problem exists in the area of healthcare modernisation. We turned out to be unprepared to absorb much of the overhaul allocations. But we’ll maintain control in the areas that demand high standards. I'm visiting the health centres in person, including regional hospitals, and I'm also holding staff meetings. But the situation is not simple. The building firms that won the tenders proved unprepared to meet the quality requirements that we are demanding of them. We make them redo what they would like us to accept. We’ve established a special acceptance commission for the purpose.

Vladimir Putin: Yes, this is very important. Medical infrastructure needs to be high quality. State-of-the-art medical equipment requires the same standard of construction work.

Vasily Bochkaryov: In the area of education, we plan to bring teacher salaries up to the level of 14,200 roubles in the fourth quarter, possibly raising them to 15,600 roubles. We estimate that at the end of the year 15,600 roubles will be the average pay for this year’s economic performance. In the first eight months of this year, teacher salaries rose to 11,606 roubles. This is more than a 30% increase compared with last year's figures. We believe that this year’s increase in pay in the area of education will amount to nearly 80%. In effect, we will fulfill your order to match the regional average wage level in 2011, rather than in 2012.

Vladimir Putin: Excellent. But don’t forget about preschool establishments.

Vasily Bochkaryov: We are building kindergartens, but we need to build more of them. There are wage problems in that area as well.

Vladimir Putin: But in any case the pay should be increased.

Vasily Bochkaryov: We will try proceeding from our 2012 budget figures.

Vladimir Putin: Good.