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Prime Minister Vladimir Putin chaired a Government meeting

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Vladimir Putin's opening remarks:

Good afternoon, colleagues.

As you know, this week we had a comprehensive discussion in the State Duma of our work over the past year. We talked about our new initiatives in the economy and the social sphere.

The issues we discussed included increasing pensions, and in addition to simply increasing them we talked about how we could start working actively to modernise the pensions system, so that it acquires its own sources of funding, which would stabilise the Russian pension system, and enable people to receive the income they deserve after retirement.

We also spoke about the payments made in 2009 to families that have two or more children, and the simultaneous additional benefits which amount to something in the order of 12,000 roubles from the maternity capital fund, the additional capitalisation of the Home Mortgage Credit Agency, the provision of additional resources to support the housing market, and many other matters.

In connection with this I now ask the Ministry of Healthcare and Social Development, the Ministry of Regional Development and the Finance Ministry to take steps to implement these initiatives.

Moving on, during the discussion of the report, a series of questions were posed by the deputies regarding the 2009 budget. All of their constructive comments must, of course, be taken into account in continuing work on the budget. I ask the Ministry of Finance and other Federal Government bodies to ensure they coordinate their consideration of any amendments with the State Duma and the Federation Council.

I know that this work is already essentially underway. Now the deputies are discussing it among themselves. I ask that this work be continual and constructive.

And finally I would like to inform you that I have signed several Government Acts to resolve the pressing problems of developing healthcare, social services and support for industry.

First, as we agreed, we will direct 4.2 billion roubles to the development of blood donor systems across the Russian Federation. Modern equipment will be purchased, which will help blood transfers be as effective and safe as possible, and will also help to deal with its storage.

Second, I have introduced changes into the Federal Targeted Programme Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases. We are going to allocate 5 billion roubles, most of which will go towards the fight against tuberculosis. It is a serious problem, and we need to act constantly, in a focussed way. Incidentally in these crisis conditions this has become even more urgent.

Third, you know that we have seen an increase in unemployment, albeit not as fast as several months ago, but an increase nonetheless. Already 2.2 million people have registered as unemployed. In order to make sure we can fulfil our social duties towards those citizens who have lost their jobs, the Government has decreed that 34 billion roubles will be allocated for this. Up to now we have financed these measures with the money that was earmarked for this earlier, but we are adding an extra 34 billion.

Fourth, the maximum in export guarantees offered by the Finance Ministry was expected to be $50 million. We have tripled it - it will now be 150 million dollars. And that means that state support for the export sector will be available to a broader range of our businesses.

Fifth, we are going to allocate 2.9 billion roubles to one of the largest engine building companies, the Chernyshev Moscow Machine Building concern, which will allow it to retain its workforce of 7,000 people, and ensure the completion of major export orders.

Colleagues,

Today we will also discuss the Programme of anti-crisis measures, taking it as a foundation. It is not a new document but a programme which we have developed and discussed with the deputies in the State Duma and with the public. During these discussions many suggestions were made, and we need to take them into account in the final version.

Serious and constructive ideas were mentioned, as I have already said, by the deputies representing the parliamentary parties. As a result additional measures have been introduced to the programme, including social support for citizens such as ensuring that vital medicines remain affordable, but sadly, this situation has not been helped by imported components becoming more expensive. I know that the Ministry of Trade and Industry and the Ministry of Healthcare and Social Development have made relevant proposals here, and we need to implement them more quickly.

We will also talk about how to solve the problem of students and to help with the recruitment of people with disabilities. The section dealing with the modernisation of Russian industry has been significantly reworked.

As I have said, the Government is ready to implement the demand "Help in Exchange for Increased Efficiency". Only those companies which are able to increase their financial efficiency and their adherence to labour laws will be eligible for state aid through these anti-crisis measures. We will also demand responsible behaviour from company leadership, and here I am thinking in particular of the bonuses they receive. Above all I am now talking of course about state companies. The Government has prepared the relevant proposals, and we need to take these to the companies' leadership and implement them.

The finalised programme of anti crisis measures must, in the coming days, be officially submitted to the State Duma, and the implementation of the measures it contains must be monitored continually.

Incidentally, today we will hear a routine report on this, and in future the Government will return regularly to the discussion of these issues.

I would like to deal separately with one additional point on our agenda: The consideration of investment programmes for utilities industries in the period 2009-2011.

We are all aware that the electricity shortfall was one of the obstacles to industrial development and the realisation of a series of major projects. The cost of connection to the grid was prohibitively high, and that, in turn precluded the realisation of many long-term investment projects, as I have already said. This issue is particularly sensitive for small and medium sized businesses.

In today's crisis conditions, demand for electricity has fallen slightly, and many regions of the Russian Federation are forming reserves. But this is clearly a temporary phenomenon. The restoration of sustainable economic growth is impossible without the development of the energy systems, without deep-rooted modernisation of the aging equipment, without the construction of new power stations and the development of the grid.

In 2008 we added two GW of capacity, which is as much as was introduced during the previous two years, 2007 and 2006, together. It is very important that this pace is retained in the coming three years. This requires something in the order of 1.8 trillion roubles of investment.

We will also discuss the suggestion by the Russian Energy Ministry regarding the origins of these resources, the timescale and process of realising concrete projects.

So, let us now turn to the discussion of items on the agenda.