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Vladimir Putin: Good afternoon dear colleagues!

Let us begin our meeting today by talking about economic issues.

Yesterday and today I signed decrees concerning the liberalization of Gazprom's shares. This marks the completion of quite a lot of work done by the Government of the Russian Federation and Gazprom. I shall ask Dmitry Anatolevich Medvedev to comment on this event and the expected outcomes.

Dmitry Medvedev: The changes signed by the President provide for the removal of all restrictions on Gazprom's share trading. They have really been prepared over a long time. Now we no longer have shares on the stock market which are traded according to special or unique rules.

This is a significant event for the Russian stock market as a whole. We have been waiting for this for a long time. For Gazprom this undoubtedly signifies opportunities to attract new investments, including from high-quality foreign investors. It suggests the opportunity to receive additional sources of financing on various financial markets. And as a whole this means that the company's capitalization will be able to grow in the foreseeable future. Moreover, we hope that the growth of the company's capitalization will progressively increase and that in the near future Gazprom will be able to enter the exclusive club of the largest corporations measured by their market capitalization.

This is undoubtedly a significant event for the stock market as a whole since Gazprom's shares are an indicator of the development of the whole Russian stock market.