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Mr Putin noted that agriculture was in a difficult situation and set the goal of reducing the country's dependence on imported food products by restoring agricultural production to the level of the early 1990s.

He said one of the key reasons for the agricultural crises was that legislative mechanisms for conducting reforms were imperfect. The country has adopted 42 laws, many presidential decrees have been signed, but many of the documents do not work because they were declarative and were not supported by financial resources.

Mr Putin warned against the temptation to resolve the problem of insufficient funds by an additional money emission. Inflation last year was 36%; if an additional 30–40 billion roubles is printed for agriculture, the inflation rate this year may be 50% against of the planned 18%, he said.

The Acting President said the Government was working on a bill on financial recovery of agriculture, which would eliminate one of the main obstacles for its development, the disparity of prices on industrial and agricultural products.

Touching upon the issue of debt repayment by agricultural producers, he emphasised that both the state and agricultural producers should exercise financial discipline.

Speaking about land, Mr Putin said that the problem was overpoliticised and that the way for efficient use of land was almost totally blocked. The state should have a decisive role in a successful land policy, he said, but it should act cautiously in the sphere. On the one hand, it should not break up successful companies, but on the other, these large businesses should be managed by efficient owners.

The meeting was attended by 40 regional governors, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Civil Defence, Emergencies and Disaster Relief Sergei Shoigu, Deputy Prime Minister for Agricultural Policy Vladimir Shcherbak, Fuel and Energy Minister Viktor Kalyuzhny, Economic Minister Andrei Shapovalyants, other ministers, heads of different agencies, Gazprom chairman of the board Rem Vyakhirev and LUKoil president Vagit Alekperov.

Before the meeting, Mr Putin laid flowers to the Great Patriotic War Memorial and to the monument to servicemen who died during the counter-terrorist operation in the Chechen Republic.

During his working trip to the Krasnodar Region, he also visited the region's agricultural infrastructure facilities, met local farmers and visited a children's hospital.