Transcript of the start of the meeting: 

Vladimir Putin: Mr Mutko, summer is vacation time. How is the tourism industry coping with the world financial crisis?

Vitaly Mutko: Mr Putin, according to the World Tourism Organization, the purchase of tours has generally decreased by two percent.

Vladimir Putin: This is a small reduction.

Vitaly Mutko: It is small numerically, but tours have become much cheaper. People are buying less expensive products. Tour operators predict that in Russia the demand for tourist services will decrease by 16%-20%. For the time being, travel abroad, in particular to Egypt and Turkey, remains generally at the same level - 40% go to Egypt, and 35% to Turkey. Now domestic tours rank third. Our compatriots like to spend their vacations in parks and recreation zones in Central Russia.

In the past few years, we have been developing domestic tourism, primarily in the south of Russia. We will complete this programme this year. Some 17 billion roubles will be spent to develop new destinations. Five new tourist areas will be developed on Lake Baikal, in the Altai and in central Russia. The number of Russians visiting these areas has increased three times.

In line with your instructions, after last summer's events we have made changes in our agreements with Egypt and Turkey. We added a section on security, and demanded that our colleagues enhance the safety of our citizens during their stay in these countries. Together with deputies, we have submitted to the State Duma a bill to increase the responsibility of our tour operators, as we have reported to you. Insurance coverage will be increased, as well as liability, including administrative and criminal liability related to the quality of service.

Therefore, we do not expect a big reduction in tours this summer. After all, people are not saving money on their rest and recreation or on their children's vacations. We have conducted a number of meetings with our transport operators. Railway discounts are about 15%-20%. The airlines are more difficult but the programme you have supported - discount travel from the Far East - has already been launched. As of today, as many as five million tickets have been sold through applications. These are vacation trips to central and southern Russia. Now we are holding talks with charter companies on the southern direction - Sochi and Anapa. We are planning to develop discounts for students, young families, and low-income people. Such measures will help preserve this market to a certain extent.     

We are continuously monitoring the situation. Every week, we meet with tour operators in the Chamber of Commerce and Industry to discuss everyday matters. We have a number of other proposals on enhancing liability, improving the microclimate, and supporting small tourist companies. We will report to you about these in the near future.   

Vladimir Putin: Good. You have just mentioned students and young people. What about your work with young people? Sports, preparations for Vancouver...

Vitaly Mutko: Mr Putin, this year we are conducting the Year of the Youth. We reported about these preparations at the meeting of the Organizing Committee, which you conducted. The Day of the Youth will be observed on June 27. One of the main goals is to support young talent. On July 1, we will open the Seliger forum. Some 50,000 young people will visit its educational centre to receive training under eight programmes. This will be a federal centre and will not be linked with any political influence. Our ministry and the Federal Agency on Youth Affairs are in charge of this project. We have opened a site - GODMOL.RU. This is an official site allowing young people to submit innovation proposals. We have already received 100,000 proposals. We are selecting the best ones, and are hoping that about 50,000 young people will undergo training in this centre.

The purpose of the Seliger health-building centre is very simple. We would like it to have eight shifts and very mobile training systems so that we can choose the best projects at an innovation convention in December. The main goal is to support young talent by offering an opportunity to work.

We would like to invite you to visit this center. It will be very busy from July 1 to 27.

Additionally, this year we will conduct an exhibition of scientific and technical invention in the National Exhibition Centre. We will open it June 24 for a week. We would also like to invite our volunteers to attend it. We have selected the first 100 active volunteers who will receive volunteer record books. We plan to form a team of Russia's volunteers for Vancouver. We will train them for the Olympics and the Student Games in Kazan.

Many projects are being carried out in the regions. We have already prepared a number of projects to change legislation, support public youth movements, and student construction teams. Along with the Ministry of Education, we are planning to introduce amendments to the Law on Education to give a certain status to student construction teams.

Today, employers are less interested in student construction teams. We are primarily relying on government contracts, and are trying to resolve this issue in Sochi. We hope that up to 100,000 of our students will work on student construction teams.

In November, we would like to celebrate the 50^th anniversary of the student movement. As you now, the State Council is planning to hold a meeting. We are preparing proposals on general youth policy in cooperation with the State Duma and the Federation Council. At the recent hearings of the Public Chamber, we described the Government's view on youth policy. By and large, we received support, and will now move on.

As for sports, this is the season for summer sports. Recently, our athletes have scored major successes. We have achieved good results in tennis - our girls have won the Roland Garros Tennis Tournament. Our basketball team has also made a good start.

Vladimir Putin: In the summer, we usually have many large-scale competitions.

Vitaly Mutko: Our summer Spartakiad (Summer Spartakiad IV of Russian Students) will start on June 29. You played host to the winners of the Winter Spartakiad. This time, the Summer Spartakiad will be held in Penza. About 10,000 students from specialized schools will compete in 41 sports. After it is over, we will send a team to the Student Games in Belgrade.