Vladimir Putin’s opening remarks:

Good afternoon, Mr Katyrin (Sergei Katyrin, president of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry), ladies and gentlemen. I’m very glad to welcome you here.

Several days ago our Chamber of Commerce and Industry celebrated its 20^th anniversary. This jubilee is largely conditional, because the chamber was established in Russia in the 18^th century. In February 1727, Catherine the Great signed a decree that bound “a certain number of factory owners… to come to Moscow at least once every winter for a month to take counsel," – St Petersburg was the capital then, but the factory owners were called to Moscow, so this tradition continues – "and if some urgent matters needed to be discussed in order to issue a special decree, to bind them to inform the Commerce Collegium about that.” The principle of public partnership – cooperation of business and the state – was already laid out way back then.

Regardless of political and socio-economic conditions, this has always been an effective principle. The chamber’s modern institutional and legal model took shape in 1991 (this is why we are celebrating its 20^th anniversary now). Your joint independent regional agencies date back to that year. During all these years, you have been actively promoting the development of private initiatives, helped develop civilised relations between all players on the market, protected their lawful interests, largely shaped the image of Russia, its regions and its business community abroad, and most importantly, you have ensured an effective interaction of the business community with the state, together with other business associations, you have taken part in forming the socio-economic agenda for the development and strengthening of this country.

It is very important that we have the same understanding of the tasks facing the country and its national economy, and that we have a common vision for their future. This means through our united efforts will we achieve positive results. Within the next few years we will have to fundamentally change our economy. These are not our ambitions, nor a slogan, but the requirements of the day. This is a challenge that faces the entire world in general and Russia in particular. Only an efficient, competitive economy with a powerful industrial and technological base will allow us to feel confident in the constantly developing world, to reduce our dependence on complicated and turbulent processes in the world economy and guarantee our protection against global risks.

Needless to say, only a new, dynamic economy will help us create effective, well-paid jobs and eventually raise the living standards of our people.

We must create additional growth points in the regions, as well as new industries and production lines. We must enter the world markets with science-intensive goods and services, as well as other products with high added value. The previously mentioned public-private partnership will play a major role in our efforts to achieve our development goals. We must make it as effective as we can.

The chamber’s human resources and expert potential, along with your research and your practical achievements, must be strongly sought-after in other areas. I’m referring to both general, systemic issues and concrete questions, all the more so as they are closely intertwined.

The Chamber’s 34 public committees employ more than 2,500 top managers, Doctors of Science and Ph.Ds. This represents a top-notch, powerful potential that must be tapped by all means.

As an example, take state purchases, a sensitive issue. The transition to a federal contractual system will require the large-scale involvement of independent expert organisations for the timely, professional monitoring of the quality of documents, commodities and services. The Chamber has already amassed solid experience in this area. Suffice it to mention effective cooperation with the Defence Ministry or successful monitoring of major strategic construction projects, such as the verification of compliance with the contracts on the supply of equipment to the Sayno-Shushenskaya hydroelectric power station following the accident.

It goes without saying that we must continue to work on the regulatory framework that supports business activities, and to improve the business and investment climate. The Chamber has made tangible process down this path. Over the last year and a half, it has introduced constructive amendments to 144 draft laws. This is a major amount of expert work. I’d like to recall at this point that we are going to make such public assessment, with the participation of the business community and institutes of civil society, a mandatory requirement of the legislative process. Requirements to national legislation and the quality of the business environment are steadily growing, in large part owing to the development of integration. Recently, integration has become highly dynamic, and this is a very positive fact.

The Customs Union of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan was launched this year. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, everyone has been talking about integration. The CIS was functional and it carried out its role more or less, but true integration – I mean practical economic integration – has only just started now. I’m sure you have read – and for those who haven't, please do so – the articles written by the presidents of Belarus and Kazakhstan in the newspaper Izvestia, in which they define their priorities. Integration processes are not imposed from the outside – they lie at the heart of the interests of our partners. We are led towards cooperation based on internal necessities. I must say that the leaders of both Kazakhstan and Belarus have done a great deal in helping us reach our current level of integration. Other countries have already voiced their readiness and desire to join in.

The Common Economic Space will become operational in 2012, after which we will move towards the formation of the Eurasian Economic Union. This represents a higher, more advanced level of integration. This means that the contacts that have already been developed by the business people of our countries will become increasingly more intensive. Now we are talking not only about barrier-free interstate trade, but also fully-fledged industrial cooperation, the establishment of joint ventures in production, the free movement of manpower and capital, unified technical regulations and the development of common rules for all companies in the common space. These companies must be able to freely choose in what country to register and conduct their business.

It's clear that the new scopes of integration mean new opportunities and new tasks both for our business community and for our producers. I’d like to emphasise that our goal is not only to enhance sound competition in business, but also to promote competition in official procedures and forms of business management – I’m referring to the creation of a more competitive environment for the states. Incidentally, our government views this as a certain challenge, even a threat, and the current government and its successors will need to take this into account and create the most favourable conditions possible for the development of business and the economy.

We must work together on our common integration project. We intend to conduct close cooperation with the business community on this issue, in order to seek solutions to problems together and construct mechanisms of cooperation. We are counting on the active participation of the Chamber in these efforts, the more so since you have durable, long-standing ties with your colleagues in Belarus, Kazakhstan and other CIS countries.

Promotion of foreign trade has always been the Chamber’s strong point. The ramified network of its foreign offices has been working effectively to this end. They are assisting our enterprises, along with whole regions, to develop cooperation with their foreign partners, deal with cross-border trade, promote commercial, scientific and technical contacts and facilitate the expansion and diversification of domestic exports. At times their advice and practical assistance are indispensable, especially for those who are just planning to enter foreign markets or develop joint business with foreign partners on our territory. The number of these companies is steadily growing, and part of the credit for this goes to your Chamber.

Registration of the certificates of origin is one of the elements of real support for domestic exporters. During the past year the Chamber has issued more than half a million of these certificates. In effect, this is an implementation of government authorities in this sphere and at the highest professional level.

I met with Mr Katyrin last June. We discussed general issues pertaining to the Chamber’s activities and a potential transfer of additional government functions to the Chamber. For example, we spoke about fairs and exhibitions. Mr Katyrin promised to formulate proposals, coordinate them with the regions and consult with his colleagues. I hope to discuss this topic today.

I’d also like to invite you to express what you feel impedes the dynamic development of different spheres of our economic activities, including small and medium-sized companies. The Chamber is paying a great deal of attention to this area.

I’m happy to see such a representative assembly here in an expanded format. I’m sure this will benefit our entire business community. I’d like to thank you for the invitation to take part in your work. Thank you very much!

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Vladimir Putin’s comments on the speeches of meeting participants:

Russia has almost finished coordinating the terms of the industrial assembly of cars as part of its talks on WTO accession, the prime minister said. “We have almost reached an agreement with our partners on levels of localisation and how fast they should be achieved if a company starts working in Russia, as well as what amounts should be produced, including engines, transmissions and paintwork,” he said. “We are negotiating how long we will uphold these fairly tough terms for our partners; as for those companies with whom we agreed even better terms before, we have decided that we will subsidise their losses, should there be any, in order not to inconvenience them or force them to change their contracts with Russian partners.”

Commenting on the proposal to launch the “project of the century” to build a high-speed highway between St Petersburg and Vladivostok, Vladimir Putin said, “We need to do more than simply announce the project of the century, which is actually not difficult to do, but to look at its potential results, how much it will cost and what will be the returns on each invested rouble.”

“In order to build a road between Moscow and St Petersburg, we had to calculate the number of cars that will drive along it per hour in order to understand whether the project would pay off,” he said, referring to the project of a high-speed toll road between Moscow and St Petersburg. “I am not opposed to ambitious construction projects,” he added. “I support them, but I support only projects that will be efficient and will help to develop our economy and the economy of individual regions.”

Speaking about the problem of protecting the Russian light industry against dumped imports, Vladimir Putin said, “[The light industry] operates in a very competitive environment, we are flooded with consumer goods, and we need to think of ways to protect it against dumping and to think of government measures that would provide real support.”

It is difficult to protect the domestic market from counterfeit clothes, usually produced in China, even within the WTO, the prime minister pointed out. “However, WTO member states have developed a lot of tools that formally do not contradict the organisation’s rules, but in reality, create preferences for domestic producers with the help of different technical regulations,” he said. “We can and should think about this.”

“I would like to respond to something a colleague rightly noted: we need to make sure that our big industrial companies lean upon the small and medium-sized businesses that are naturally growing around them instead of setting up small (and often inefficient) structures to produce what they need. We should think about how we can create the necessary environment and legal framework so that it would be convenient and profitable for everyone.”

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Vladimir Putin's closing remarks:

We have accomplished a great deal recently, but of course there is much more to be done. And I'm sure we will be able to do it. Despite a large number of unresolved and complicated issues in past years, those years have proven that in general, we have been advancing quite energetically and have achieved truly positive and serious results in all sectors that are represented here.

The economic growth figures confirm this. Before the crisis, we had an annual growth rate of 6-7%, and now, as I said earlier, we have calculated this year’s budget revenues and they are quite impressive. But especially gratifying is that two thirds of these revenues came not from commodities sector, but from the manufacturing sector. This means that our efforts towards economic diversification have proven effective. Of course, that is foremost thanks to the talent of our engineers, our workers, and business managers, such as yourselves. We have known each other with many people here for decades, and I am aware of how intensively you work in your positions.

I would like to thank you for this, and of course, for your support of the Popular Front. What was the Popular Front created for? It came into being in order to create conditions for stable development in our political life. Without this stability, we will not be able to build effectively functioning economy. You understand this better than anyone else. And we need a State Duma that also functions effectively – not one that obediently puts its stamp of approval on any proposal, as in Soviet times, but a thinking body (the Duma is created in order to think). We need a thinking body that analyses, and analyses critically, and that ultimately works out effective solutions for economic and political development. The fact that you have supported these initiatives means that you understand this and want us to advance down this road successfully. Thank you very much, and all the best.