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President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Colleagues, good afternoon.

Welcome everyone, I am delighted to see you all. I have had discussions with some of those present in the morning, we have just finished. I can already see them in the hall.

The international economic forum in St Petersburg kicked off yesterday. Today, its business meetings are in full swing, and a number of important agreements are being signed on the forum’s sidelines. One of Russia’s leading development institutions, VEB.RF, VTB Group and Russian Platinum company are planning to finance the development of the Chernogorsk platinum deposit in the Krasnoyarsk Territory. This huge 570 billion ruble project is going to use something called the project finance factory mechanism, which will allow reducing market risks. I would like to note that 16 projects are already being implemented under such terms with a total investment of about 1.3 trillion rubles.

Successful development of Russia’s regions and the entire country largely depends on up-to-date transport infrastructure. In this regard, I would like to note the agreement to build a bypass around Togliatti with a new bridge crossing over the Volga River. DSK Avtoban and the Eurasian Development Bank are investing about 120 billion rubles in this project to modernise an important section of the Europe-Western China international transit corridor.

Another major agreement is to be signed between the government of the Tula Region and Cherkizovo company. The meat producer is going to develop a meat-processing cluster in the Yefremov priority socioeconomic development area. Total investment will amount to 50 billion rubles.

And of course, we are vigorously developing tourism and recreation infrastructure in Russia, including in such an extremely popular region as Crimea. A number of agreements are to be signed on the sidelines of this forum concerning projects on the Crimean Peninsula. I will mention just two of them.

One agreement between the government of the Republic of Crimea and the Family Resorts company involves building a new resort complex. The planned investment is 14 billion rubles. The other one, between the government of the Republic of Crimea and Nikolai Tkachev Agrocomplex, is aimed at developing a theme park and a resort and hotel complex. The total investment here is about 16 billion rubles.

The implementation of these projects will bring substantial financial dividends to the companies and regions involved, incentivise the manufacturing of in-demand goods and services, create modern jobs and seriously strengthen, modernise the regions’ industrial, transport, tourism and other relevant infrastructure. For its part, the state is ready to give all the necessary assistance to these projects, in particular, by creating a comfortable regulatory environment.

I hope that the implementation of the agreements we have signed today will provide an example of effective joint work by the authorities and state-run and private companies.

Colleagues, friends,

I sincerely wish you every success. Let us sign the documents.

Please.

(Ceremony for signing investment agreements.)

Vladimir Putin: Friends, colleagues,

Of course, the St Petersburg International Economic Forum has only just opened, and these are only the first steps taken within the framework of this major event. But I am confident that there will be many more business contacts and talks that will lead to the signing of documents, just as happened today.

I would like to point out that the current work is continuing despite any problems, including the coronavirus pandemic. The best proof of this is Russia’s economic achievements as a whole. I will speak about this at the forum tomorrow, but you know this better than anyone else, you can see this in your daily activities. I would like to say that it has been largely thanks to you and your colleagues that Russia has managed to overcome the problems the world faced last year and that the Russian economy is emerging from the difficult situation all of us were in.

I will speak about this tomorrow, but I would like to use the signing ceremony to thank you for these efforts and to express the hope that we will not only confidently overcome the difficult situation which the world and the Russian economy are facing. Considering the headstart we have had today – and you are directly involved in this process, there is no doubt whatsoever that we will progress to a new stage. I do not doubt this for a second. The Government of the Russia Federation has been doing and will continue to do everything it can to support you.

I wish you every success.

Thank you. See you tomorrow!