Russia has a good chance to become a leading food exporter in the world after 2012, First Deputy Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov said during a conference call with the regions today on comprehensive development of dairy cattle breeding, agricultural cooperation and cooperative trade.

"The key task of the government bodies is to create the necessary conditions for the development of the domestic agriculture that can compete with imported goods in terms of price and quality," Mr Zubkov said. "We must tackle these problems so that Russia could become - and it will become - a real food exporter after 2012."

Mr Zubkov revealed that the Government would work out a five-year comprehensive programme for the development of the dairy industry in Russia. Production and primary processing of milk would be the key items of the problem.

Mr Zubkov explained that the Government should review the whole chain of participants in the dairy market from the producer to the consumer and set down the rules of the game, that is, create a competitive environment that would ensure the redistribution of the profit margins from the trader to the real producer. "That is the only way to protect consumers from unmotivated price leaps," Mr Zubkov said.

Mr Zubkov recalled that in May the country's authorities decided to direct an extra 49.5 billion roubles to agriculture. "I think the money will reach the agro-industrial complex in July," he said.