A meeting of Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin with representatives of the business community was held in Ulan Ude on 1 July 2011. It was organized by the Buryat branch of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs and the Republic’s Government within the framework of a visit by Vladimir Putin to the Republic of Buryatia on the occasion of the 350th anniversary of Buryatia’s voluntary accession to the Russian state.
The meeting was attended by Plenipotentiary Representative of the President in the Siberian Federal District Viktor Tolokonskiy, Vice-Premier, Finance Minister Aleksey Kudrin, Transportation Minister Igor Levitin, President, Chairman of the Government of the Republic of Buryatia Vyacheslav Nagovitsyn, as well as businessmen, including Head of METROPOL Group Mikhail Slipenchuk.

The prime minister suggested that the meeting speak out on “pain points” that could be eliminated with the help from central authorities. The attending businessmen shared their thoughts.
In particular, Mikhail Slipenchuk said that he would not ask anything for himself, but would identify a range of issues that couldn’t be solved without the federal government’s assistance. They include:
- Transport infrastructure (connection of the Baikal-Amur Mainline and the Trans-Siberian Railway);

- Gas (construction of a gas pipeline to ensure cheap gas supplies to Buryatia, Chita Region and Mongolia);

- Environment. Today Baikal’s environment is “concern” of 15 separate agencies. According to Slipenchuk, what is required is a single “management center” to exercise strict control of the lake’s environment and to switch from prohibitive measures that currently impede the development of tourism infrastructure in the Baikal region to permitting ones;

- Small-scale aviation. Small-scale aviation needs investment support from the state budget, as air transportation is currently the only means to deliver cargoes, including vital products, to the Republic’s remote areas;

- Closing of Baikalskiy Pulp and Paper Mill and setting up a gambling zone instead.
Vladimir Putin heard the comments of participants attentively and thanked them for their proposals.

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