In his speech Viktor Zubkov said, in part:

"Intensive everyday work and measures of government support have enabled agricultural producers to overcome the consequences of the drought of 2009-2010 and to ensure further agricultural development.

The grain harvest has been excellent —about 93 million tonnes -- as was the harvest for other crops, setting records in some cases, such as the nearly 47 million tonnes of sugar beet and 1.6 million tonnes of soy beans.

Russia has restored its position in the world grain market and has become one of the world's three major grain exporters. We are planning to export 24 million tonnes of grain based on the results of this agricultural year.

We have maintained a positive dynamic in livestock breeding. The increase in the production of poultry has surpassed 300,000 tonnes (a 12% growth) and for pork, more than 100,000 tonnes (a 10% growth).

Small farms have done very well. Today, personal households and farms account for more than 50% of total agricultural production, including about 22% of grain, more than 50% of milk, 42% of meat, almost 90% of potatoes, 83% of vegetables and 85% of fruit and berries.

The government will continue paying special attention to the support and development of small business in the countryside. Vladimir Putin reaffirmed this position at the March conference of your association in Tambov. Practically all major proposals made by farmers at this conference were reflected in his instructions. Most of them have already been reviewed and will be carried out alongside other measures of support for the farmers.

The State Programme for the Development of Agriculture provides for subsidising interest rates on loans to small farms (95% of the refinance rate). The federal budget allocates 5.3 billion roubles for this purpose in 2011 and 6.3 billion roubles in 2012.

As of December 1, there are more than 160,000 relevant loan agreements to the tune of over 52 billion roubles. Loans from Rosselkhozbank (the Russian Agricultural Bank) account for 74% of this sum. The bank has also drafted special programmes for financing farms, agricultural cooperatives and personal households.

Next year we will continue implementing the programme for family livestock breeding farms. I initiated the implementation of this programme three years ago. In 2012, farmers will establish and upgrade an additional 150 farms. In all, they will set up or reconstruct 450 farms by the end of 2014.

There is already an opportunity for farmers to reimburse themselves for half of the expenses involved in registering land property documents. This support measure is already being implemented. We have earmarked 120 million roubles for this purpose in 2011. Next year we will allocate more than 1.4 billion roubles toward this end, which will allow farmers to register ownership of about there million hectares of land. It is necessary to ensure active use of this mechanism in cooperation with your association.

We will begin carrying out a new support programme for farmers in 2012. This program will provide grants for up to 1.5 million roubles for the construction of a farm and a lump-sum start-up grant of 250,000 roubles for budding farmers. The implementation of this programme until 2014 will allow farmers to establish about 7,700 new farms. This is an impressive figure, considering the fact that we have only 300,000 farmers.

Experts are continuing to work on a bill that will allow farmers to build housing on land designed for agricultural use. AKKOR Head Vladimir Plotnikov is one of the authors of this bill. It is essential that we ensure that only farmers are entitled to take advantage of this right.

I'd like to say a few words about your association's cooperation with Rosagroleasing. Mr Putin supported our initiative on Rosagroleasing's sale of almost 6,000 units of equipment with a 50% discount. The federal budget has allocated 3.7 billion roubles to this company for this purpose. The government has emphasised the need to provide small farms and households with this equipment in the first place. This is why your association has taken an active part in this work.

Starting next year AKKOR will play a direct role in the programme for upgrading agricultural equipment. Rosagroleasing will again act as an operator. The total funding will be about 8.5 billion roubles, including 3.5 billion roubles from the federal budget and five billion roubles from the company's funds.

Another key area of the government's work is to create comfortable living and working conditions in the countryside. The 2012 federal budget earmarks about eight billion roubles for the funding of the targeted programme on the social development of the countryside. Next year we are planning to commission 858 thousand square meters of housing, including 478,000 metres for young families and specialists; to build general education schools for more than 3,000 students; open 164 medical and obstetric centres; lay over 2,500 km of gas distribution networks and supply gas to more than 22,000 houses and flats. Next year the budget will allocate about six billion roubles for the construction of rural roads. Your participation and close cooperation with regional and municipal authorities is essential in order to reach these goals, especially as regards road construction.

Let's discuss these issues today, see how far we have come in these key areas, and plan our goals for the next year together."

* * *

At the conclusion of the meeting Viktor Zubkov said, "I'd like to wish all people in the countryside a happy New Year and Christmas. I'd also like to thank you once again for your hard work each and every day. The prosperity of the Russian people directly depends on it. The government appreciates your work and will continue to support it in the future. I wish good luck, happiness and prosperity to you and your families