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Prime Minister Vladimir Putin meets with Volgograd Region Governor Anatoly Brovko

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Transcript of the beginning of the meeting:

Vladimir Putin: Mr Brovko, we were just discussing problems, but I know there are things that also deserve praise. There is obvious growth in industry and the overall economy, as well as an increase in the gross regional product, which is very good. What is your assessment of the speed of recovery? And are there anу problem areas that deserve special attention?

Anatoly Brovko: I think most problem areas for the Volgograd Region are in agriculture, of course. I think we need to focus on strengthening the livestock sector and restructuring the agricultural industry. By and large, we grow a lot of crops, but we need to add meat and dairy products to bread and potatoes.

As for the gross regional product, despite considerable growth in the first six months of this year as compared to the previous period, we are still far below the national average per capita. Thus, in 2009 we had a per capita income of 157,000 roubles and the national average is 274,000 roubles. So we have a lot of work to do in this area.

We are still facing some problems in the power industry, although we have just signed an agreement with INTER RAO UES and now our abrasives production facility is paying 15% to 16% less for electricity than before. Our work is based on certain concepts.

The main goal for government is to create mechanisms that are transparent for all market actors. In this context we have decided to draft a strategic programme. This doesn't mean an empty programme the produces nothing but meaningless figures that can be put on a shelf to collect dust and shown only to inspectors. I'm talking about a managerial document with deadlines, so that every manager can be guided by it in their everyday operations. This programme is in the works, and I think we'll finish it by the end of the year.

Vladimir Putin: What has changed on the labour market?

Anatoly Brovko: As for unemployment, we had almost 40,000 unemployed at the beginning of this year - almost 3% of the economically active population.

Since then unemployment has decreased considerably. There are 28,000 jobless now, and almost the same number of job openings: 30,000. There are even more job openings than jobless people. And we'll keep reducing unemployment. Unemployment now stands at about 2.3% among the economically active population, which is below the national average.