Transcript:

Dmitry Medvedev: Dear colleagues, let's start the meeting with agricultural issues. Firstly, we are in the middle of a special period. Secondly, there is a problem that concerns interests of both agricultural producers and animal breeders and consumers of farming produce.

As of mid-July, 55 cases of the African swine fever virus have been registered in our country. It is a serious disease. The situation remains difficult, including in regions that are mainly involved in agriculture, and requires very complicated animal breeding procedures.

Let me remind you that over the past few years, there have been several accomplishments, which include the development of swine breeding and securing supplies for the domestic market. We are considering exporting pork, which has not happened before, because we’ve always been a country dependent on imports, in both the Soviet and the post-Soviet periods. Of course, the key to keeping our position in the market is the trust of our consumers.

However, this situation is not an easy one. I know that Mr Dvorkovich held a meeting on the African swine fever virus and some other diseases. I suggest we discuss what measures are being taken to identify hotbeds of disease in order to prevent its further spreading. The fever could in fact lead to a total elimination of the stock and its derivatives. Do we need to impose stricter veterinary requirements? (This has been discussed a lot and I have seen publications.) Do we need to centralise authority in implementing Government veterinary oversight? Let’s begin with this. Please.

Dmitry Medvedev: "As of mid-July, 55 cases of the African swine fever virus have been registered in our country. It is a serious disease. The situation remains difficult, including in regions that are mainly involved in agriculture, and requires very complicated animal breeding procedures".

Arkady Dvorkovich: Mr Medvedev, we have held to teleconferences with the regions this year on the spread of dangerous animal diseases, above all African swine fever. Secondly, a large number of hotbeds of foot-and-mouth disease have been discovered this year – mainly, in Siberia, the Far East and the North Caucasus Federal District.

There is a permanent commission within the Ministry of Agriculture that deals with this issue. However, experience has shown that the measures by regional, local authorities have proven to be inefficient and insufficiently coordinated. The farming communities and local governments – often, individual public officials – have reasons to conceal the fact of disease at the initial stages.

Dmitry Medvedev: What are the reasons?

Arkady Dvorkovich: The reason is to sell their produce and to postpone the moment when it has to be destroyed.

Dmitry Medvedev: These are not reasons, these are motives.

Arkady Dvorkovich: " We propose instituting a ban on pig breeding and handling for all organisations regardless of the type of ownership, if they fail to comply with biological control requirements".

Arkady Dvorkovich: Yes, motives. This may lead to serious consequences – that is, to the spread of the disease to larger population areas and to the need for even more complicated measures to reverse the effects of such diseases. Accordingly, during the spring session a law was adopted to toughen penalties for such violations, above all administrative offences. With regard to criminal responsibility, the concept does exist, but is rarely imposed. Frankly speaking, it is practically never imposed, since the regions and regional courts are seemingly under pressure to free the concerned officials from responsibility. Such officials are not held liable for their actions.

Dmitry Medvedev: Do you mean company managers or Government officials?

Arkady Dvorkovich: I mean both, and this situation leads to a lack of accountability at all levels. We propose enacting the following measures. First, to centralise management of the relevant initiatives during quarantines.

Dmitry Medvedev: What do you mean?

Arkady Dvorkovich: To provide for operations, enforce the quarantine and eliminate its consequences on the federal level. What this actually means is preventing the regions from delaying the quarantine, taking steps on the federal level to directly influence the situation from the outset.

The second point is to bring biological waste disposal sites in compliance with the requirements of veterinary laws and environmental safety provisions. Certain funds have been budgeted to this effect in the programme, and we will re-allocate funds to this purpose from other sectors, if necessary. Otherwise, support measures for the cattle breeding industry become irrelevant, since we will be spending money just to slaughter cattle. It would be better to use funds initially assigned to specific projects to support pig farming, and to ensure that all the necessary measures are implemented, including cattle vaccination in the regions that lack funds. This issue has been raised by regions of Russia’s Far East, where such projects are chronically underfinanced.

Third, we propose instituting a ban on pig breeding and handling for all organisations regardless of the type of ownership, if they fail to comply with biological control requirements (this measure actually targets personal small-holdings and small farms). This  will require replacing relevant jobs with new ones, and supporting other activities carried out by such organisations, which means breeding other types of livestock or crop farming. Such measures are already being implemented in the regions, but very slowly, and they are failing to match the infection attack rate. It is generally agreed that this should be done as soon as possible.

Finally, we need to implement a system for tracking the movement of livestock and livestock products within the country and for export purposes.

Dmitry Medvedev: By the way, this issue needs special attention. When I talked to my colleagues on my trip to Chelyabinsk, they had the feeling that the African swine fever would not reach them. I told them: “There’s a problem,” and they replied “We are too far away.” I’m afraid that this is an illusion, the virus could spread to any region through livestock or otherwise.

Arkady Dvorkovich: The virus is easily capable of this. For instance, systems involving other Government bodies are at risk, the military have their own control systems…

Dmitry Medvedev: And separate deliveries.

Arkady Dvorkovich: That’s right, separate deliveries. Such things happen within these systems. So far, they haven’t resulted in the disease spreading to other regions, however, through this system…

Dmitry Medvedev: There are also wild animals with a flexible habitat, which could lead to the propagation of the virus from one animal to another.

Arkady Dvorkovich: Wild boars are the last component. We have agreed that measures aimed at slaughtering such animals will cover natural reserves and wildlife sanctuaries located in the relevant regions and adjacent territories.

Dmitry Medvedev: Very well. The last thing I wanted to ask concerns centralising the state veterinary oversight framework: do we need to introduce any other amendments apart from the direct federal management of quarantine-related initiatives?

Arkady Dvorkovich: We are confident about the first part, i.e. the direct management of the quarantine. With regard to the centralisation of the veterinary service, there are different views on this issue. A draft law on veterinary issues was submitted today by the Ministry of Agriculture to the Government with approval from the majority of government agencies. The Government now has an opportunity to either adopt or dismiss this decision as it prepares to review this draft law at its meeting.

Dmitry Medvedev: This issue should be discussed, but urgent measures should be taken and enacted through non-legislatives acts, so that we don’t have to wait for the new session, until the law is adopted, etc. The Government should do all that is necessary within the scope of its authority.

Arkady Dvorkovich:  We will do it.

Dmitry Medvedev: One last remark concerning small private farms. This has always been a very sensitive issue. We know that unfortunately it is often from there that the infection originates. Clearly, it provides employment to a large number of people. Even if we decide to go ahead and do something in this area, we should, as you said, replace one type of business with another. That is, replace it with another type of animal or crop production for people to understand what kind of business they will be involved in in the future. For the sake of objectivity, things such as the production of pork are done by major enterprises, precisely because there are dangerous diseases that may cause problems for the entire industry of livestock breeding. All right. Keep an eye on it and report back to me regularly.

With regard to government administration in general, we disclose various data and information. That includes not just access to information, but also an opportunity for people to use custom-made applications and services. This area holds great promise and is popular with people. By the way, this gives a boost to our IT industry, which is good. Also we have discussed the roadmap to develop the corresponding industry recently. Thus, I believe it’s important to spread public oversight to such sensitive areas as education, health care, and housing and utilities, especially since the Government must ensure the availability of online information about government authorities. This work is being done by the Government and the Government Executive Office.

I’d like to touch upon another issue. Today, civil servants annually report information about their income, spending and property. I believe that we were right when we made this decision. This policy must continue. This applies to civil servants, their close relatives, and family members. Citizens and public organisations can monitor and compare earnings with expenses. Nevertheless, I believe that such standards should also be applied to other agencies that deal with priority state tasks. I have signed a Government resolution which identifies 29 public companies and corporations, as well as public institutions, unitary enterprises and foundations that are also subject to the requirements that apply to public servants, because, in fact, they work in similar conditions.

Mr Prikhodko (Sergei Prikhodko, Chief of the Government Staff) please update us on these two subjects.

Sergei Prikhodko: First, with regard to the openness, I would like to start with the most important thing: until recently, there was no legal framework as such for the Government and local authorities to openly post information about their activities on the Internet. The Government, in conjunction with the State Duma, has developed the necessary amendments to two federal laws – On Information, Information Technologies and Protection of Information, and On Ensuring Access to Information about the Activities of the Federal Government and Local Government. These amendments came into effect on July 1. For these amendments to become fully operational, we have put together, quickly developed and presented for your approval two draft resolutions and directives of the Prime Minister which approve corresponding rules for posting open information by public authorities, the frequency of posting and updates, and other requirements.

The Ministry of Communications and Mass Media approved the technical requirements for posting open information, and the Ministry of Economic Development must maintain a consolidated online register of open data posted by all other federal executive bodies.

As of mid-July, 45 federal bodies of executive power had created a Public Information section on their official websites. Federal and local government bodies have posted over 800 sets of open data online. This, Mr Medvedev, is about 30% more than we planned.

It is very important that we organised special training seminars for all public employees who are responsible for the work in question. It’s also important that we created proper conditions for the ongoing publication of open data contained in the information systems of the federal and local governments. All this work is designed to give government authorities more ways to communicate with each other. We expect that the corresponding budget expenses involved in developing community servers will be reduced and the information base for analysis will be broadened and used not only by businesses, but also research organisations, educational institutions and individuals for their own benefit. This, we expect, will also support business, the knowledge management industry and, of course, will increase the transparency and accountability of government authorities and strengthen people’s confidence.

On the second issue that you’ve touched upon, it’s true that the directive you signed contains a list of 29 organisations, including, for example, state-owned corporation for the construction of Olympic facilities and developing Sochi as a mountain resort, the Housing Reform Fund, Russian Railways, the Strategic Initiatives Agency, the Higher School of Economics, Rosatom, ITAR-TASS and many others. Now, in accordance with this order, heads of all these organisations, their deputies, and chief accountants are required to provide annual reports about their incomes, expenses, assets and material liabilities for themselves, their spouses and minor children.

We are carrying out this work pursuant to Presidential Executive Order No. 309. Of course, we will check the accuracy and completeness of this information. We will be performing this work on a regular basis.

Dmitry Medvedev: All right. Once again, I would like to say that this is important, because the work of these joint-stock companies and non-profit organisations is very similar to what civil servants do, and should thus be assessed from the same standpoint . This is why they are subject to anti-corruption and public accountability laws. So, this information will be made ​​public and certainly will be of interest to all concerned citizens.

Sergei Prikhodko: We will plan our work accordingly.

Dmitry Medvedev: Good, thank you.

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