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President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Colleagues, good evening.

We meet regularly before the New Year, and I am very pleased to see you.

I would like to congratulate you on the results, which is very important not just for your teams, your companies, but also the entire country and the entire economy, as well as the employees of your enterprises, who, in fact, represent the entire country. Without a doubt, Russia has a stake in you being successful. Ultimately, your success means success of the national economy.

With regard to the near future, which is 2025, I recently spoke at an event hosted by German Gref. After that, VTB held a major international event, and the speakers also mentioned what awaits us in 2025 and what we would push for in 2025.

That includes balanced economic growth, expansion of the supply economy, which would provide us across a broad front with work and allow us to achieve the required parameters, including macroeconomic parameters, because the economy is more that the interest rate, and also, even primarily, includes the supply of goods on the market. That also includes continuing and implementing new national projects to ensure technological growth and development of various kinds of infrastructure, such as logistics, insurance infrastructure, payment infrastructure, and so on.

But, of course, we have been talking about this constantly in recent years, if not decades, it is also about human resources that are critically important in today’s circumstances. It is crucial that we have enough of them and that their quality is high. These should be well-trained and forward-looking people.

We should not forget about another aspect of our joint work which is addressing environmental problems. I understand – I meet with many of those present here on a regular basis – there are always many issues to deal with, and now, perhaps, even more so than usual. But please do not to forget about environmental issues. A number of our colleagues approached me saying it would be difficult to do this or that. I understand. Things can be discussed. However, we must not forget about addressing environmental issues under the pretext of having to deal with existing and even partly mounting difficulties. The health and lives of millions of our citizens depend on this.

This is what I wanted like to say at the beginning. As we usually do during New Year’s Eve meetings, we can freely exchange views which we will try to take into account. I know that the Government engages with business on a regular basis, but if you formulate your ideas and proposals, the outcomes of this meeting will be put to good use as well. The Government and the Presidential Executive Office will keep them in mind and try to take everything we can under advisement in our practical work.

Thank you very much. Please, go ahead.

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