Transcript of the beginning of the meeting:

Vladimir Putin: Mr Shoigu, I asked you to consider ways to expand the Emergencies Ministry's operations in Russia’s eastern regions. It is a vast – if not colossal – area. We need detailed information in various spheres in the region to deal with the threats that sometimes arise across the country – namely in East Siberia and the Far East. We must have sufficient facilities and resources there to be able to promptly respond to any emergency. What can you suggest?

Sergei Shoigu: Mr Putin, acting in compliance with your instructions and a decision of the Security Council, we will start creating an Arctic rescue centre this year, jointly with colleagues from the Federal Service for Hydrometeorology and Environmental Monitoring and the Federal Border Service. I hope that we will complete it next year. Allocations for the project have been approved and we have started the design stage. The second stage concerns… All of us remember the forest fires that spread to vast areas. This is why it was decided to establish a Be-200 squadron in the Krasnoyarsk Territory. We have reinforced it with the Mi-8 and Mi-26 helicopters. I hope the squadron's formation will be finished in 2012.

Next, there are many people who took part in the relief operations in Chernobyl living across the country, including Siberia. Seeking to help them and promote research and development in this area of Siberia, we will start building a radiation emergency medicine clinic this year, where Chernobyl survivors, rescue workers and firemen will go for diagnosis and treatment. We hope to complete it next year.

Vladimir Putin: How many patients will it accept?

Sergei Shoigu: It will be designed for 200 beds, which is enough because its main task will be to provide modern diagnostic services. This year, we have completed a similar clinic in St Petersburg, which will offer surgical services. It has 300 beds.

Vladimir Putin: Local residents are also using its services. Am I right to assume that the same will happen in Krasnoyarsk?

Sergei Shoigu: Yes, certainly, local residents will be able to use it, too.

We are completing the construction of a large rescue training and rehabilitation centre in the Ergaki Natural Park in the Sayan Mountains. It will be also used for rescue operations. It already has over 200 local residents on its staff, mostly working with rescue dogs and horses. As you know, working in the mountains without horses is next to impossible. However, given the large distances, there are many problems in the region.

Vladimir Putin: Mr Shoigu, you know that region very well. You were born there. It’s your native land. This is why I am now addressing you not as the emergencies minister, but as a member of the government. You visit the region often and know its problems. Let’s consider additional tools for developing the region – East Siberia and the Far East.

We have few regional programmes, including one for the North Caucasus and another for the Far East. But practice shows that this is not enough. We have dispatched considerable resources to various regions. Now, we should consider a method of operation for this region [east Siberia], so as to allocate additional resources, if necessary, and to encourage the use of available resources more rationally and effectively. We are preparing for the APEC summit in the Far East, developing the region’s infrastructure, modernising a port and building a large university there. We should also consider programmes that would change the face of East Siberia.

Sergei Shoigu:  Thank you, Mr Putin.

Vladimir Putin: I suggest that you discuss the issue with your colleagues and local authorities, and then submit your proposals.

Sergei Shoigu: We will attract professionals and experts from the Siberian branch of the Academy of Sciences, as well as business people and industrialists, not to mention those who have helped to develop and revive Siberia in the past. I think that it will be an honorary, interesting task for them.

Vladimir Putin: When did you say you worked at a construction project there?

Sergei Shoigu: I spent nearly 15 years there – from 1977 to 1990.

Vladimir Putin: What were you building?

Sergei Shoigu: The Achinsk oil refinery, the Sayanogorsk aluminium plant, the Abakanvagonmash, an aluminium fluoride plant, the Sorsk molybdenum plant and many other projects.

Vladimir Putin:  What were you doing then?

Sergei Shoigu: I started as a team master and a foreman and ended up as the head of a large construction association.

Vladimir Putin: Well, now that you have long been working as a minister, I am asking you to consider what I have said here and to formulate your proposals for developing the region.

Sergei Shoigu:  Thank you, Mr Putin.