Viktor Zubkov conveyed the greetings from President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to the National Cooperative Forum participants.

Viktor Zubkov's address at the forum:

"I am familiar with how the consumer cooperative works. I recognize many faces in this room as I have worked in the agriculture sector for many years.

Despite today's challenges, you continue to work with confidence while your system continues to consolidate. You have energetic managers and industrious employees.

As for the Russian government, we will increase our support for consumer cooperatives through Rosselkhozbank and Rosagroleasing.

Our efforts are yielding good results. We subsidize partly the loan interest for the purchase of agricultural products. We promoted agreements between consumer cooperatives and Rosselkhozbank and Rosagroleasing. A section on developing consumer cooperatives is included in the Concept on the Development of Agricultural Cooperative Businesses. Measures for the support of the Central Union of Consumer Society organisations will be included in the government programme for the development of agriculture through 2020.

The interests of consumer cooperatives were taken into account during the adoption of the law on trade regulation. The distribution of the cooperatives' products will face no restrictions in terms of market share.

The Russian government has made a decision on partial interest reimbursement on investment loans to cooperative organisations. This support measure is currently being prepared by the concerned ministries.

I am sure that during the National Cooperative Forum you will come up with additional proposals to increase the efficiency of the cooperative system, and new forms of interaction with the state in resolving our common goals for the sustainable development of rural areas.

I would like to congratulate all the shareholders and employees of consumer cooperatives once again on this remarkable event, the 180th anniversary of the establishment of the organisation, and wish you health and progress in this work for the benefit of Russia."