First Deputy Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov believes that effective and rational use of the additional allocations out of the 2008 federal budget to support the agro-industrial complex will soon result in an upsurge of that sector. He was speaking at a meeting in Cheboksary on Tuesday about the development of the dairy industry. 

"I am sure that the money disbursed must be used effectively, which will soon have a positive impact on the development of the domestic agro-industrial complex," said Mr Zubkov. He noted that the Government has approved amendments to the 2008 federal budget whereby an additional 49.5 billion roubles will be made available to agriculture this year. "This is the first time the state has allocated such a huge amount to the agro-industrial complex," Mr Zubkov stressed.

Mr Zubkov said it was necessary to make the Russian market less dependent on food imports. "The soaring food prices in the world markets have impacted the Russian market because we import more than 40% of our food," he said.

Mr Zubkov also announced that the Government intended to implement a special five-year programme for the development of the dairy industry in Russia. The key elements of the programme, he said, must be the production and primary processing of milk on the basis of rural cooperation. "The aim of the programme should be to create competitive advantages for real production," he stressed. "It is the Government's task to render every support to the implementation of the programme," Mr Zubkov said.

The First Deputy Prime Minister noted that the federal executive bodies were analysing pricing in the milk and dairy market and preparing measures to make dairy production more profitable and competitive.