OREANDA-NEWS. September 13, 2011. “A competitive environment sets the tone for the country’s economy, shapes the investment climate and serves as an internal stimulus for developing multiple industries. Therefore, supporting healthy competition between businesses is a strategic priority of the government and the entire country.”
Vladimir Putin: Good afternoon, colleagues,

Let's share some updates and then turn to our agenda.

Mr Shmatko, would you tell us about the power plant that began operating in Bushehr in Iran. How did it go? It will operate at 50% capacity at the initial stage, correct? What are the immediate plans? How do Russian nuclear power engineers who were building the plant assess their own results? What is your assessment of their work? What is our partners' assessment?

Sergei Shmatko: Mr Putin, the first generating unit went on stream in Bushehr yesterday in a high-profile ceremony. It was first connected to the Iranian power grid on Sept. 2 and accelerated to 60 MW, while its installed capacity is 1,000 MW. This is a truly unique project. Let me remind you that Germany broke ground with its nuclear power plant in the Gulf 37 years ago. The project was suspended for various reasons, including revolutions and the Iran-Iraq war. When Russia took over 13 years ago, 12,000 tonnes of the original German equipment was examined and integrated into the Russian project.

Both Russian and Iranian engineers estimate that the Bushehr project fully meets high safety standards. The plant's construction was constantly supervised by the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency), which never issued a single criticism.

We estimate that experimental and start-up works will take up the next three or four months. Judging from practical experience, the unit will be ready to reach its full capacity in about a year. We also assume that our cooperation will continue and Russia will participate in operating the plant. We signed the respective protocols yesterday.

I would like to add that the day before the start-up, I co-chaired the ninth meeting of the Iran-Russia joint economic commission. The meeting went on in an enthusiastic and constructive atmosphere. The Iranian members mentioned a new window of opportunity to develop Russian-Iranian cooperation based on the trust that they felt had just emerged. The commission has put forth several interesting initiatives and proposals for cooperation in transport, power generation, oil and gas. We will present these proposals to you as soon as possible.

Vladimir Putin: Good. I expect the plant to run at 70% of its generating capacity by next spring, correct?

Sergei Shmatko: Mr Putin, we believe that… but this will depend on how the unit will behave. We have always told our Iranian counterparts that nuclear safety comes first and therefore there should be no strict deadlines imposed on startup operations.

Vladimir Putin: Will our engineers remain there to oversee the process?

Sergei Shmatko: Yes, Mr Putin. We have set up a joint venture to operate the unit and signed all the documents yesterday. We believe this would be a responsible step on our part.

Vladimir Putin: How many Russian engineers are working there now?

Sergei Shmatko: Around 1,500 people, most of whom are involved in various startup tasks. Several hundred people – depending on our agreement with Iran – will be engaged in operating  the plant.

Vladimir Putin: Good. Thank you. Please give my congratulations to everyone who worked on this project. This is truly a good result, considering that the plant was essentially built from scratch. It was also a challenge, as Mr Shmatko has mentioned, to adjust and integrate the existing components under the new conditions of the project and with new technology, because we started out with technology that had been designed over thirty years ago. What had been considered advanced technology at that time naturally became obsolete, and it is always harder to rebuild something than to start fresh. Now the work has been completed, and at a very high level, too. Congratulations!

Sergei Shmatko: In this case, please allow me to nominate certain Iranian nuclear engineers for state awards, as we talked about, and perhaps some Russian engineers as well.

Vladimir Putin: All right. Mr Artemyev, you have a separate topic on today’s agenda, but before you begin, let me ask you an unrelated question. The Federal Anti-monopoly Service (FAS) that you head has approved a merger between two major Russian stock markets, the MICEX and RTS. The upside of this deal is that it will create a large and powerful European trading platform. But there is a downside as well: will this situation not create a monopoly that dictates the prices for stock trading services?

Igor Artemyev: Exactly so, Mr Putin. Ladies and gentlemen, on September 9, the FAS indeed approved a request by the Moscow Interbank Currency Exchange to take over RTS. In fact the main problem was that, despite the numerous positive effects, there was the danger of rising prices of servicing stock market transactions, as well as depository services. To avoid this, after consulting the MICEX and other market operators, the FAS issued a requirement that any price hikes would be possible only with the approval of the so-called users’ committees. In other words, the key operators on the securities market that account for the bulk of the transactions will set up these committees at the united exchange. As a result, the management of that exchange will not be able to raise depository fees or other services without the approval of a relevant committee, which means the approval of the market operators. The committee needs to pass the decision by at least a two-thirds vote.

In other words, if a price increase is truly justified then the market operators, most of which are private businesses, will agree to it, will agree that it is justified, and only then will an increase be possible. This approach became possible upon completing an analysis of international stock markets and comparing the corresponding fees at exchanges in Germany, the United States and Britain. We came to the conclusion that the current fees charged by Russian exchanges are enough to sustain the operation of a merged exchange. Therefore, there will be no price increases.

Vladimir Putin: Good. But you need to keep a close eye on this process.

Ms Nabiullina, we have allocated a substantial amount in this year’s federal budget, 880 million roubles, to support non-profit social enterprises. With regional financing, these enterprises will receive even greater support -- over 9 billion roubles. How are things going with this work?

Elvira Nabiullina: In fact, this year was the first time that the federal government allocated money to support non-profit social enterprises. Just a few days ago, I signed an order to implement the government resolution you signed in late August, which stated the main policies of support for non-profit social enterprises. The bulk of the approved federal financing, 600 million out of 880 million roubles, will be transferred to the region to be used as co-financing for their programmes that support social non-profits, which are selected through a competition. It is important that the order we issued reflects the same priorities contained in the government resolution, which are especially relevant this year. That is, support will primarily be given to social enterprises that focus on problems with orphans, motherhood and childhood, supporting the elderly and social adaptation of people with disabilities.