Transcript of the beginning of the meeting:

Dmitry Medvedev: Mr Sechin, you’ve been involved with energy issues in recent years and have accumulated a substantial amount of administrative experience, so I think we should put this asset to good use. I’ve just signed a directive for the Rosneft Board of Directors to appoint you as the corporation’s chief executive. This is a major company, a heavyweight, and it has made a stride forward in recent years, thanks in part to your efforts. At the moment, it is an important supplier of energy resources and petroleum products and is one of the biggest contributors of budget revenue; it has good potential, including in investment cooperation. I’d like you to take charge of the company and help it to realise this potential, with the help of your proactive approach to business. I wish you the best of luck along the way.

Igor Sechin: Thank you, Mr Medvedev. Rosneft, indeed, has serious potential, and we’ll try to focus its energies on maintaining and stepping up output. Last year, the company produced some 122 million tonnes of oil, and we’ll be working to surpass that level this year so that the positive dynamics continue into the years to come. As you rightly pointed out, the company is a major taxpayer, with some 1.5 trillion rubles in taxes and customs duties paid into the Treasury's coffers last year. We’ll be working in that direction to boost budget revenues further.

Other priorities include preventing price hikes on the domestic market of petroleum products and upgrading oil refineries. And of course, there are large recovery projects to implement, including shelf projects in the Kara, the Barents and the Black Seas. We’ll keep you updated on this.

Dmitry Medvedev: Good. In the past few years, there have been a whole number of breakthrough projects with foreign investment. During a G8 visit, incidentally, my counterparts and I discussed the three most recent ambitious products involving Rosneft, so I hope there will be good progress in that area. Another important issue you mentioned has to do with the prices of gasoline and other fuel produced by Rosneft. I expect you and the Cabinet to take coordinated and consolidated efforts in this area.

Igor Sechin: All right.

Dmitry Medvedev: With due account taken of the market realities, of course. Thank you.