The meeting focused on issues related to the domestic grain market and agricultural production. In his opening address, Mr Putin pointed out the deplorable condition of the agriculture machinery and the need for a sustainable mechanism to finance the agro-industrial complex.
The President instructed the Government to introduce without delay proposals for restructuring the enterprises’ debts.
Mr Putin said the agro-industrial complex was one of the country’s largest economic sectors, and people’s social welfare directly depended on it. Therefore, the state should pay special attention to the development of agriculture.
The meeting with regional leaders and heads of agro-industrial enterprises of the Orenburg Region held earlier also discussed agricultural development, in particular, the expansion of cheap foreign goods into the Russian market, which forces Russian producers to offer their products at low prices.
After the meeting of the State Council’s presidium, the President talked to journalists. He answered questions on the situation in the agro-industrial complex, the Tu-154 plane crash and the investigation into the Kursk disaster.