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President Vladimir Putin: Good evening,

The topic of our meeting in Novosibirsk today is well-known. I would like to add a few more words about what we did here today. We all know and have said a great deal that one of the most important tasks in the economic sphere is its diversification. It is clear that we need to move away from the raw-material tendency of our economy. We, I repeat, talked about this a great deal. Unfortunately, not much has been done to solve this task practically.

Today we spoke a great deal about what needs to be done, and of course there are many possibilities and many tools here that we should use to solve this task. Above all, we need to create conditions to speed up the development of processing industries and processing branches of the Russian economy as a whole.

But one of the tools for solving this problem is also the creation of zones with a special regime. Despite the continuing disputes – and they have gone on for several years – we have come to the conclusion that we will create these zones in Russia.

They must be zones with a special and favourable administrative regime, where there are limited possibilities for so-called controlling organisations, so that companies can function stably, resident companies which will be registered in these zones. There should be, and there will be, favourable tax and liberal customs regimes created there. As for favourable tax regimes, of course this means reducing the tax burden.

For companies working in the information technology sphere, one of the key taxes is the common social tax. We reached a preliminary agreement that it would be reduced in these zones to 14%, preserving the regressive scale developed for the current regime. Financing by the state in solving infrastructural problems will be provided for in these zones, and, what is particularly important, conditions for stable work must be and will be create, which will not allow the state to change or worsen the economic and legal situation these zones several years later. All this, we believe, should create the necessary conditions to develop the high technology sphere in the Russian Federation. And I am absolutely convinced that this mains the development of our country today and in the future. I repeat, this is only one of the tools for solving this problem. And on a practical level, evidently, it is also important that the Government has been given the task to submit an appropriate draft law to the parliament before 1 March this year.

There will probably be many other questions that will arise. My colleagues who have gathered here and who are directly involved in developing this draft law and these decisions will be happy to answer any questions you may have. I wish you all the best. Goodbye.