Vladimir Putin's opening speech: 

Good afternoon,

I am very happy to see you again. I am sure this is a good opportunity to discuss problems which concern people with disabilities, all of us here, and the public organisations representing their interests.

Last September, Russia joined the UN Disability Convention. I would like to thank you, and many of my colleagues who worked together on securing Russia's accession to this important international convention.

In the next few months, the Government should draft proposals on ratifying this fundamental document. I hope that the deputies of the State Duma - I am addressing you, Mr Lomakin-Rumyantsev - will support this document.

In essence, we must be ready to comply with the Convention's key requirement, that is, create conditions for the integration of handicapped people into public life. At this point, this issue is somewhat of a paradox in Russia.

On one hand, Russian legislation conforms in principle to the Convention's provisions. On the other hand, real life continues to offer challenges to those with disabilities including dealing with the authorities. Municipal, transport, and social facilities are all badly adapted for handicapped people.

I am referring not only to technical problems but also to the procedures and rules governing the operation of the relevant services. And simply on a personal basis, people with disabilities regularly meet with misunderstanding, and sometimes, reluctance to consider their special needs, which is regrettable.

Therefore, we are planning to draft a special Government programme: Accessible Environment for Disabled People in 2010, to be initiated in 2011.

Allow me to emphasize that providing an accessible environment is more than building access ramps, special lifts, adapted roads and municipal transport, which are important tasks. It is no less important to adjust the rules governing the operation of our social, information and other services to the needs of physically challenged people. It is necessary to create additional opportunities for providing jobs to those who are able and willing to work.

It goes without saying that such a major task cannot be accomplished in a short span of time. It will require persistent and purposeful work on behalf of the authorities, civil society organizations, and businessmen, who, I hope will display befitting social responsibility.

I must admit that the government does not always have precise and sufficient information on the real state of affairs in this sphere. Therefore, it is essential to evaluate this as accurately as possible, and to determine priorities and a sequence of steps and the required resources at each stage of this work.

Obviously, such an evaluation can only be made with the participation of the organisations that represent the interests of handicapped people.

We would like public organisations to give us integrated proposals, requirement specifications, if you will, for the drafting of the Accessible Environment Programme.

I suggest that we discuss this and think about this together.

Dear friends,

I think today we can discuss not only strategic tasks but also the current implementation of the rights and social guarantees of our citizens with disabilities.

I would like to note that despite a big Federal budget deficit - and you know that our budget this year has a substantial deficit - we will fully carry out measures of social support for handicapped people, and will continue this in the future. Subsidies to the relevant public organisations will be preserved at the agreed-upon level.

I would like to recall that in 2008 2.2 million people were provided with the technical means for rehabilitation worth 9 billion roubles. Although economic conditions are worse this year, we have increased the amount of funds allocated for this purpose to 9.4 billion roubles. Federal support for public organisations for handicapped people was also raised to 1.4 billion roubles.

This year, a car or a lump sum compensation of 100,000 roubles will be given to handicapped people in the following categories: general disease, disabled since childhood, victims of political reprisals, and Chernobyl cleanup veterans registered as such before January 1, 2005.

Currently, the Ministry of Education and Science is working to resolve an urgent problem - the provision of conditions for the adequate education of disabled children in ordinary schools. I hope this effort will help integrate handicapped children into our society, and improve the moral standards of their age mates. In the future, this will help avoid problems which are encountered by people with disabilities in everyday life.

A new initiative -- development of remote education for handicapped children has been launched as part of the education priority project. Next year, one billion roubles will be allocated for it.

Technical regulations on the safety of buildings and structures have been drafted. We hope they will help us convert to the construction of a new generation of housing, that is, better housing at affordable prices. These regulations take into account the special needs of handicapped and elderly people, as well as families with small children.

You have repeatedly spoken about the need to improve medical and social services, in particular relevant expertise. About a year ago, the Government introduced some amendments to the rules that qualify people as handicapped. I am sure you know about this.

I have heard often about the red tape in this area. People have to undergo medical examinations too often, waste their time in queues, and so on. Now that the law has been amended, more than a third of all handicapped people are qualified as such for the rest of their lives.

Let us see whether these amendments are sufficient. You must know better since you deal with these people on a daily basis. Today, we and our colleagues are ready to discuss this subject again if necessary. If you think more should be done, let us discuss it.

The Ministry of Healthcare and Social Development and other authorities are monitoring the pharmaceutical market to guarantee the required inventory in pharmacies and compliance with pricing schedules. This is one of the most pressing problems. Let us talk about this subject today, too.

It goes without saying that commitments under the programme of additional provision of medicines for federal beneficiaries will be carried out in full. About 80 billion roubles from the federal budget have been allocated for this purpose. One programme costs 40.5 billion roubles, and the other 37.5 billion roubles.

This takes care of what I wanted to say in the beginning. If you think that there are other questions of interest for handicapped people, and you obviously know more about this than anyone else, you are welcome to raise them. We are ready to discuss any issues you consider expedient.