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Vitaly Khotsenko reminded the President that he was appointed Acting Governor of the Omsk Region five months ago. Since then, he had got to know the region well, including its potential, overall plans and the needs of the people.

According to the Governor, there has been growth in both industrial production and processing. The Omsk Region is among Russia’s top 5 industrial regions. In the defence sector – the key sector – increase in revenues is 50 billion rubles, twice as much as the previous year. More professionals are being hired, with a total of 10,000 employed over the past two years. The sector currently has 30,000 employees.

As for agricultural production, despite the difficult weather conditions – floods and drought – the grain harvest is expected at three million tonnes. The production of meat, crop supplies, milk and other products is being maintained at the same level. A new area has emerged over the past five months: plant cultivation in greenhouses and in protected ground, because the region ranks among top ten in terms of the number of sunny days, which makes it possible to save energy. A major company, ECO-Kultura, Russia’s largest company in terms of protected-ground vegetable production, showed interest in this area: 60 hectares of land, 30 billion rubles in investment and 1,000 people to be employed. The project has received support from the Ministry of Agriculture.

The discussion also touched on the development of logistics potential as the Trans-Siberian Railway, roads and air routes cross the region. There are also logistics routes along the Irtysh River to Kazakhstan and China. Investors were invited. There are plans to create 200,000 square metres of logistics space in the next three years. This will create 3,000 jobs and require 17 billion rubles in investment. Logistics parks will be created to make use of the region’s geographical position and create a hub to organise logistics to Kazakhstan, the Far East and China.

The Acting Governor also told the President about housing construction and the region’s participation in the national projects on education, construction and road repairs.

As for the special military operation, Vitaly Khotsenko said that more than 10,000 of the region’s residents were taking part in it – volunteers, those who were mobilised and contract servicemen. The region is providing the necessary assistance to their families. The Defenders of the Fatherland Foundation has already processed 2,000 requests.

Vitaly Khotsenko told the President about one more initiative – the establishment of an inter-faith and inter-ethnic humanitarian centre, representing all the region’s ethnic groups – Tatars, Kazakhs, Ukrainians, Belarusians and Russians. Every week, the centre also collects supplies of everything the fighters need and sends them to the special military operation zone. In addition, the region is helping the new regions.

As for the elections, Vitaly Khotsenko reported that he had already travelled to most of the municipalities. He has visited 22 out of 32 districts and will have visited all of them before the elections. During these visits, he meets with local residents and discusses their problems. A regional personnel contest modelled after the Leaders of Russia competition is launched for recruitment purposes.

The President noted that although Mr Khotsenko had not been working in the region for a long time, overall he had made a very good start. The President advised him not to neglect long-term or complicated issues. One of the main goals was to improve the environmental situation. It was necessary to work with environmental polluters. Relevant federal programmes and laws had been adopted on this issue. The President said it is necessary to compel production workers to fulfil all the requirements set by the law.

Overall, a good start had been made, the President repeated. He advised the Acting Governor to work directly with the people because it provided a good opportunity to feel what people expected and hoped for. The President noted that these grassroots contacts would also substantially increase the Acting Governor’s chances of winning people’s trust and being charged with work in such an important area as the Omsk Region.