Dmitry Medvedev: "I signed a Government directive, approving a roadmap that defines measures to assist import substitution in agriculture. The aim of our efforts is to increase the output of our own agricultural produce and to reduce Russia’s dependence on food imports."
Golden Autumn - 2014 is held as part of the Russian Agro-Industrial Week at the National Exhibition of Economic Achievements (VDNKh) from 8 to 11 October.
The event will be attended by over 2,500 businesses from 54 regions of the Russian Federation and 24 foreign countries.
Held since 1999, the Golden Autumn Russian Agro-Industrial Exhibition is a venue for discussing the principal issues of the development of Russia’s agriculture and related industries and national food security.
Dmitry Medvedev’s remarks at the opening ceremony:
Address at the opening ceremony of the 16th Golden Autumn Russian Agro-Industrial Exhibition
Agriculture is a key area of Russia’s economy. Today, Russian producers have a chance to expand their presence on the food market. Though forced, the restrictive measures that have been introduced have provided preferences for our agricultural companies. Our food import substitution policy is not a passing impulse but a clear-cut and strategic position of the state.
I signed a Government directive the other day, approving a roadmap that defines measures to assist import substitution in agriculture. The aim of our efforts is to increase the output of our own agricultural produce and to reduce Russia’s dependence on food imports. We intend to create a unified food security information system.
We are planning to introduce amendments to the State Programme on Agricultural Development, which will not only define new priority areas in the development of the agro-industrial sector in the context of efforts to phase out imports, but will also increase financing.
Despite a difficult and quite stringent budget, we have managed to find some extra funds to be used for the further development of agriculture and related industries. We will continue to increase the efficiency of agricultural land use and to improve veterinary and phytosanitary control. We will also work to deal with the debt load, one of the main problems of the agricultural sector. It is also necessary to introduce advanced technologies and increase the investment attractiveness of agriculture. We will also continue to improve our customs and tariff regulation.
We have plans for expanding trade cooperation with our traditional CIS partners. This year’s Golden Autumn is attended, for the first time, by companies from Armenia, Belarus, Turkmenistan and a number of other countries.
Dmitry Medvedev: "We have plans for expanding trade cooperation with our traditional CIS partners. This year’s Golden Autumn is attended, for the first time, by companies from Armenia, Belarus, Turkmenistan and a number of other countries."
At its meeting tomorrow, the Government is planning to sum up the preliminary results of this year’s harvesting campaign. The Ministry of Agriculture reports that almost 100.5 million tonnes of grain has been threshed. This is an interim result so far, but it almost constitutes a record. We expect more significant results by the year’s end, which will allow us to meet all domestic needs and create a fairly good export potential. We have very good potato harvest indicators: As of 6 October, twice as much was harvested as last year. There are also achievements in animal husbandry.
We will continue to further develop the countryside
and our agricultural sector, because Russia has always been and will be one of
the world’s leading agricultural countries.
