OREANDA-NEWS. Vladimir Putin chaired a meeting on socioeconomic development in Rostov Region.

The meeting was attended by federal ministers, regional leadership and CEOs of major enterprises.

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PRESIDENT OF RUSSIA VLADIMIR PUTIN: Good afternoon, colleagues,

Today we will talk about the development prospects of Rostov Region. Each Russian region has its own competitive position, its positive points, as well as its problems. We were just talking with [Rostov Region Governor] Mr Golubev; today the weather is fantastic, and yet for a couple of years in a row there was a drought. Certain agricultural problems that need our attention have arisen. Well, we will talk about them too.

Incidentally, many of my colleagues from the Government, and heads of ministries and departments are here today. I would nevertheless like to say something about a different region, one that is also currently experiencing great difficulties, namely the Far East. Many heads of ministries and departments have been working there, and the Prime Minister [Dmitry Medvedev] has the situation under control. Now we will create yet another group (he and I agreed on this today), and we will meet in one of the affected regions.

All the participants of this meeting will then disperse into affected areas, and then meet again to share our findings. Why? Until now our main objective was to minimise the effects of severe weather, minimise the damages that people incurred, and avoid casualties. But now, despite the fact that the situation in some regions remains difficult, large areas are seeing positive developments, and we need to move to the next phase of our work. We will need to assess the extent of the damage and plan specific actions by the federal government and the regions, in order to rebuild damaged infrastructure and help people restore their households. This is what we are going to work on next week, right in the region itself.

As for Rostov, I believe that it is extremely important for us to talk not only about the region itself, but also to continue having such meetings on the development of individual Russian regions. As I already said, Rostov Region has obvious competitive strengths, and it also has difficulties. Naturally, the strengths include its diversified economy, as well as strong industrial, agricultural and transport sectors.

Suffice to say that the region produces more than half of all Russian electric locomotives and combine harvesters, and that the food industry is developing rapidly here. I would also note that the entire region has access to gas supplies and sufficient energy. Electricity production is growing from year to year, and once the third and fourth units of Rostov’s nuclear power plant are put into operation, energy supplies in the region will become even larger. The region holds a steady position as one of [Russia’s] top three grain producers. Despite climatic difficulties – this year weather conditions are no better, and maybe even a little worse than last year – predictions suggest that even more grain will be harvested than last year. Naturally, this is the result of effective work by Rostov region’s leadership and, first and foremost, the people who work in agriculture.