Transcript of the beginning of the meeting:

Vladimir Putin: Ms Skrynnik, I have discussed the shipping of agricultural produce with you and Russian Railways on many occasions. Senior executives from Russian Railways are reporting that the situation is improving. Do agricultural producers feel the same way?

Yelena Skrynnik: Yes, Mr Putin. Following your instruction, Russian Railway and the ministry have signed an agreement on cooperation in the sphere of shipping agricultural produce, in particular grain – primarily on the domestic market and for exports.

Relations between agricultural producers and Russian Railways have now become structured. The first prompt actions that were taken as part of the newly established working group had to do with shipping agricultural produce and grain from the Krasnoyarsk Territory. Before the end of the agricultural year, 500,000 tonnes of grain will be transported from here using 1,300 train cars.

Next, we will implement the strategic measures that are also part of the signed agreement. First and foremost, this concerns establishing special routes based on projected balance between grain production in each area, consumption and export potential. We have already agreed on the routes to be used in the future, and this will help us avoid the problems with shipping agricultural produce that we are unfortunately facing this year with grain. Therefore, our working group, which was set up with the support of the Ministry of Transport, has invited all our associations and major enterprises engaged in grain production to get involved so as to structure relations between the port, elevators and agricultural producers based on our calculations of crop acreage, availability of operating elevators and, accordingly, laying the routes that will make it possible for us to move grain in a structured manner based on the capabilities of our agricultural producers. That includes both domestic shipping and foreign exports.

Vladimir Putin: Please make sure that you level the playing field for all producers, including large, medium-sized and small ones. So that no one finds himself in the least favourable position.

Yelena Skrynnik: Certainly not.

Vladimir Putin: Small producers find it harder to do business. You are their only support. Transport officials have their own issues to deal with, but you need to support agricultural producers. Please make sure that these things are taken care of.

Yelena Skrynnik: Yes, of course, Mr Putin. Farmers are always our first priority. We do all it takes…

Vladimir Putin: We have already decided on favourable terms for shipping grain from the Far East and Siberia. Is Kurgan also on the list? I think it is.

Yelena Skrynnik: Yes, the Kurgan Region, too. We did it for the first time, since they have lots of produce that they need to sell. We are on top of this as well.

Vladimir Putin: We need not only good terms but the rolling stock as well.

Yelena Skrynnik: We are providing everything necessary, Mr Putin. I have prepared (using the Stavropol Territory as an example, though) how it will look in the future. We will make calculations for crop acreages and main existing grain warehouses and, finally, railway shipping stations. We will build elevators based on this information.

Vladimir Putin: Within the framework defined by the programme?

Yelena Skrynnik: Yes, correct. That way, we will have three overlapping components, and we will have a clear understanding of our future steps to address all existing problems.

Vladimir Putin: You have just mentioned the Stavropol Territory. You have attended several regional functions organised by United Russia. You know that agricultural workers raised issues related to regional programmes during these events. We have an entire programme to support these major regional agricultural programmes. What is the total financing there? Is it 6 billion roubles?

Yelena Skrynnik: Yes, Mr Putin, you have also supported major economic programmes in the regions, and the total financing stands at 6 billion roubles. We have recently begun to implement these programmes. For example, thanks to this programme, we have launched one logistical centre out of ten in the Astrakhan Region. This allows agricultural producers and farmers (which is particularly important) to take their produce to this logistical centre, process it there and make it available to consumers through available networks.

There are 100 programmes in all. These are mostly programmes designed to support beef production. Second, there are dairy programmes. Third, there are programmes that are important for regional economies. In particular, as I mentioned earlier, these are logistical centres for the Astrakhan Region where they grow lots of vegetable produce. For Tatarstan, this is the support of goat breeding, and so on. In particular, we will receive an additional 80,000 tonnes of high-quality beef and an additional 240,000 heads of cattle as a result of the programme …

Vladimir Putin: These are beef cattle?

Yelena Skrynnik: Yes, exactly, beef cattle, which is what we need and which is the focus of our work: beef and milk. We will produce an additional 500,000 tonnes of milk by the end of the year. Tatarstan will account for most of this growth, since it was the largest co-investor to the federal funds. The total amount of co-financing is about 10 billion roubles, of which 6 billion roubles come from the federal budget. Since the regions can see that these programmes are working like a clock in each and every region and helping to solve their current problems, they allocated an additional 10 billion roubles. Therefore, the total is 16 billion roubles now. Certainly, this is a promising area, since it creates new jobs and revenue and helps solve current problems in beef and dairy production.

Vladimir Putin: Good.