Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who arrived in the Far Eastern Federal District on a working trip, took part in a ceremony of beginning the construction of the Sakhalin-Khabarovsk-Vladivostok trunk gas pipeline and set the process of welding the first joint.

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's speech at the opening ceremony:

Good afternoon,

Today is a milestone event for us - the welding of the first joint of the Sakhalin-Khabarovsk-Vladivostok gas pipeline.

The work of bringing gas to the Far East is already under way. Yet it can be rightfully said that today we are giving a start to a major and large-scale effort to extend the country's Unified Gas Supply system eastwards. This project will open a new page in the development of Eastern Siberia and the Far East, breathe energy into the growth of these regions and make them more attractive and competitive. And, first and foremost, to improve the quality of life for Far Easterners and Siberians.

The Sakhalin-Khabarovsk-Vladivostok gas pipeline will stretch for almost 1,800 kilometres under complex natural and climatic conditions. But I am sure that this task will be successfully accomplished thanks to our highly qualified specialists and their persistent efforts. And very soon - in 2011 - the new gas pipeline will go into operation.

Today's event has shown once more that even in the difficult economic conditions of the global financial and economic crisis, Russia, our big companies - the leading Russian companies - are able and ready to implement highly ambitious, very bold and large-scale plans, and to provide a base of infrastructure, technology and energy for the industrial growth of the country's largest region.

The construction of the Sakhalin-Khabarovsk-Vladivostok gas pipeline is only part of the state's sweeping Eastern Gas Programme. I am certain that even specialists who are present here today do not know all about the scale of this work. Within this programme, we are to undertake a vast amount of geological exploration in the Krasnoyarsk Territory, the Irkutsk Region, in Sakhalin, Yakutia and Kamchatka, to discover dozens of deposits, provide them with field facilities practically from scratch and put them into operation, and bind them together with a network of roads and gas pipelines.

This programme, without exaggeration, ranks among the biggest industrial programmes of our country - one of the largest in its history - comparable only to such feats as the discovery of Volga and Tyumen oil and Yamal gas.

By 2020, the eastern regions will be producing something like 150 billion cubic metres of gas. This figure matches Russia's figure for annual gas exports.

Certainly, the development of gas transport infrastructure in the east of the country will help a great deal to diversify export flows and strengthen our positions on the dynamic Asia-Pacific markets.

But I would like to stress that it is first of all the domestic market that will be priority for gas from Eastern Siberia and the Far East. Gas will provide a resource base for the creation of large energy and gas processing facilities, and the development of state of the art and high-tech production operations.

This will in turn replenish regional budgets, attract domestic and foreign investments, and boost the development of social services. And, of course, it will create jobs. 100 billion roubles invested in the gas sector will guarantee the creation of 70,000 to 80,000 jobs.

And lastly - and this is a matter of principle - we will establish a new centre of the gas industry in the Far East and Eastern Siberia. This work will proceed along with a large-scale effort to bring gas to villages, towns and cities of the Far Eastern region.

We have drawn up a Master Plan for Gas Supplies to the Far Eastern Federal District to address this crucial issue for the people living there.

Its implementation is called upon to provide them with really comfortable and civilised living conditions. Coordination of actions by federal and regional authorities and gas industry plants, taken in a responsible spirit, is highly important here.

We usually say: "A good beginning is half the work done." But I would like to draw your attention to what other nations often say: "The ending crowns the work." The project has got off to a good start. A lot of hard work lies ahead. And I wish participants every success.

My congratulations to you all.