Mr Zubkov's opening remarks:

Today we are holding yet another in the series of audio-conferences with the regions to discuss the organisation of domestic and international railway transit of agricultural products.

During our previous session, I instructed the Transport Ministry to ensure daily shipments of agriculture products. According to the ministry's report, this transport segment is gradually stabilising.

Today we will hear from other agencies about their progress under the previous instructions issued by the government on inter-agency and interregional coordination, as well as current relations between agricultural producers and carriers.

According to the latest updates, interregional sugar beet shipments have become much better organised. In November, most of the regions completed their sugar beet loading schedule ahead of time.

At the same time, the available railcar fleet for grain shipment is still insufficient. In many regions, less than 50% of producer's requests for railcars have been fulfilled. The Kurgan Region is facing the biggest problems in shipping grain to other regions. Only 62% of the necessary railcars are available to local grain producers now, down from 76% in October.

Therefore, I am asking the Transport Ministry and the Agriculture Ministry to send officials to oversee this work and ensure coordination between everyone in the market in those regions.

"The most important thing is to ensure the smooth turnover of the railcar fleet in transporting agricultural products. The previously discussed problem of idle covered hopper cars persists.

I am asking the regions to report if they have set up working groups for agricultural product transportation, and how they ensure that shippers and receivers observe the technical regulations for loading and unloading, how precisely they follow their schedules for providing railcars upon shipper request, and what steps they are taking to conclude long-term agricultural product shipping contracts.

Please note: in some regions, railcars remained idle for long periods due to delays in freight wagon handling on weekends. Therefore, I am instructing the Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance, the Federal Service for the Oversight of Consumer Protection and Welfare and the Federal Customs Service to ensure that their regional offices work on weekends and public holidays in the regions that require intensive railway transport of farm products, especially grain.

We will also discuss additional measures that need to be taken to improve this situation today.

Conference participants included the heads of federal ministries and departments, transport companies, banks and 20 regional governors.

After the conference, Mr Zubkov instructed the Transport and Agriculture Ministries to continue their efforts to ensure stable and reliable agricultural product transportation. He especially insisted on observing the technical regulations for product loading and unloading as well as on a higher efficiency in processing railcar requests.