Transcript of the beginning of the meeting:

Dmitry Medvedev: Let’s begin with one of the priority issues on the Government’s agenda – the development of the North Caucasus Federal District. I’d like to remind you that I held a meeting of the Government commission at which a difficult issue of major importance was raised. It concerns mine clearing, primarily the clearing of mines from agricultural land.

Nearly half of the people in the district live in the countryside. Farms are the main source of income for the majority of them, and the agrarian sector is one of the most promising and important sectors in the North Caucasus Federal District. The Chechen leader has once again raised the issue of mine clearing. We must continue with this task, as has been said on more than one occasion. We promised to continue doing this, but unfortunately we have been unable to fulfil our obligation as quickly as necessary.

The Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Defence and the Ministry of Regional Development must work jointly with the Chechen Government to draft proposals on finding sources for this work and on a plan for its implementation. Mr Khloponin (Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Khloponin, the President’s plenipotentiary representative in the North Caucasus Federal District), how are things proceeding? Have you progressed in fulfilling this task?

Alexander Khloponin: Mr Medvedev, we have elaborated a plan of action jointly with the Chechen Government, following your instructions at the last, concluding meeting of the Government Commission on the 22^nd  with the participation of all interested parties – the Ministry of  Defence, the Ministry of Finance, the Emergencies Ministry and the Ministry of Regional Development.

Today, we are talking about blanket mining.

Dmitry Medvedev: Are these agricultural lands or not?

Alexander Khloponin: Of these lands, 5,500 hectares are agricultural lands or urban settlements, and another 8,000 hectares are occupied by forests. These are blanket mining lands.

In future we will have to deal with scattered mining lands, but this will be a separate operational assignment. 

The following are decisions that have been made to date. The Ministry of Defence has compiled an activity network to 2015 that has been signed by everyone concerned, including Mr Gerasimov (Valery Gerasimov, Chief of General Staff). Under this document the Defence Ministry will clear all agricultural lands of mines before 2015. No additional resources will be required for this task.

 The Ministry of  Defence will also defuse mines on the remaining 8,000 hectares (occupied by forests). No extra resources will be required.

This activity network has been coordinated with all ministries concerned and the Chechen Republic.

Dmitry Medvedev: It is good that the activity network has been coordinated, but it is necessary to speed up this work. We all understand that this is not just about the harvest and using the lands according to their designation, but about the security of local people. Yes, the situation has been anything but simple. This has been a very difficult time for the Chechen Republic and, let’s be straight about it, for our entire country.

To sum up, we must complete this work more quickly. Please convey this message to your colleagues at the Ministry of Defence and I will also tell them that they should follow the activity network, but should try to speed up their efforts, because this is a matter of security for the local residents.

Now let’s switch to strictly economic issues. Today I signed a resolution to ease customs regulations and administrative procedures on transporting the catch of water biological resources, or in simple terms fish and some other sea resources and products made of them on the spot, to sea ports and other delivery points. Let me recall that I received this request from entrepreneurs when I visited the Kurile Islands, and at one of the meetings at which we endorsed one of the road maps on customs. In particular, it will be possible to transport fish not only to ports but also to catch delivery points that are located near fishing grounds. All papers may be processed very quickly – in a few hours. Is that right, Mr Dvorkovich (addressing Arkady Dvorkovich)?

Arkady Dvorkovich: Exactly. It took several months to draft this resolution and now it has been fully coordinated with all the authorities – the customs, border guards and other controlling agencies. In the event of a catch in domestic or territorial waters, all papers must be ready in three hours at the most. This is a very  short and normal timeframe for this work. Now it is established by a normative act, and any delay will be tantamount to violation of an administrative procedure, with all the ensuing consequences and responsibility of officials.

As for the shelf and the exclusive zone, continuous control will be exercised on vessels, so there will be no need to visit…

Dmitry Medvedev: A port.

Arkady Dvorkovich: … to cast an anchor in a port. Moreover, the customs and border guards will exercise control not only in ports but also at special delivery points in the direct vicinity of the fishing grounds. A list of these points will be endorsed by the Ministry of Agriculture and the Federal Agency for Fishery. The new procedures will greatly reduce the delivery and control time. We believe these new rules will make our fishing companies more competitive and allow them to considerably increase their catch and fish processing, both on vessels and in domestic ports.

Dmitry Medvedev: This is helpful. Our fishing companies and entrepreneurs have complained that it used to take a lot of time to process papers, and fish simply became rotten as a result. I hope this resolution will change things for the better and that our shops both in the Far East and Central Russia will sell fish caught and processed by Russian companies rather than foreign fish, as is the case in many regions, which is a disgrace.

And one more issue. I’d simply like to mention it to give you something to think about. This is a high-profile issue and a concern of almost all ministries that you are in charge of. I’m referring to the quality of theses, which is much talked about now.  Last year I instructed the Ministry of Education to draft proposals on forming a common theses research base to combat plagiarism. The ministry is working on this and I’m keeping an eye on these efforts. Not long ago I approved the new head of the State Commission for Academic Degrees and Titles. We must scrutinise the very system of training scientific personnel and assessing their qualifications so as to achieve a realistic picture of our research potential. I’ve spoken about this on more than one occasion.

Regrettably, a number of specialised councils endorse theses of very poor quality. These papers are simply horrible. We must shut down unqualified councils and consider invalid theses that are copied. As far as I remember, the Ministry of Education did this recently regarding about 10 theses or so. That said, we understand that there are many more than 10 theses based on plagiarism, and the quality of thesis defence has changed much for the worse in the last few years. Regrettably, this is a hard fact. We must change this.

I will meet with representatives of universities and the scientific community so that we  discuss this issue openly.

That’s all. Thank you.

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