RUSSIAN FEDERATION - FEDERATION DE RUSSIE - FEDERACION DE RUSIA

Mr. A. Kh. Zaverjukha, Deputy Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation

Allow me on behalf of the Russian Delegation to welcome you and to wish you every success in this meeting of ours. We consider this Summit a new important phase in joint efforts made recently by the international community to find agreed solutions to ensure food security and the sustainable social and economic development of countries.

Realizing our common responsibility for the solution of the food problem as an essential human right to a decent life, Russia took an active part in the elaboration of the Rome Declaration and the Plan of Action for food security.

We are confident that these documents will be very relevant to the decisions taken in recent years by the United Nations world conferences and we are ready to make every effort to implement them.

In our view, the solution to the food problem, including food security, lies primarily in building up the agricultural production potential, making investments in food production, active assistance to food producers and in creating the necessary social and economic conditions at the global, regional and national levels.

Russia is going through a difficult period in its history associated with profound structural and socio-economic reforms and is moving toward a market economy. The reforms undertaken over the past five years, though difficult, have made it possible to change radically the social and economic structure of the national agricultural sector.

The majority of state collective farms have been transformed into joint-stock and other private agricultural enterprises. A farming sector is being created presently numbering about 280 000 farmer homesteads involved in commodity production, and the specific weight of products in this area is growing steadily. The agricultural reform strategy in Russia calls for a diversity of forms of ownership of land and the means of production, as well as the necessary state regulation. Through privatization, major changes have been made in the processing and marketing of agricultural products.

We intend to more actively pursue cooperation within our country, integrating into international organizations for the purpose of technological modernization of the sector. Foreign trade, too, has seen fundamental changes. The present-day Russia has one of the most liberal foreign trade regimes among the developed countries. However, the overall unfavourable economic situation and serious financial difficulties could not but affect the situation in agriculture. This manifested itself, in particular, in the fall in government appropriations, the emergence of disparity of prices for the means of production and agricultural products, and a considerable decline in equipment deliveries to producers.

The openness of the external market creates major competition to domestic commodities. While meat and dairy products are imported, agricultural producers in Russia are experiencing difficulties in selling their products, particularly, meat products.

At the same time, we should note that Russia does not basically import grains, potatoes, vegetables and other staple foods. To overcome the difficult situation in the agricultural sector and in the domestic food market, the Russian government is pursuing a consistent macroeconomic agrarian and foreign trade policy with a view to continuing reforms in rural areas and to developing domestic production. The land reform and radical changes in land relations are of great importance in dealing with this problem.

We are aware that this is a most complicated problem. The world has not yet seen similar reforms of that scope, which have been undertaken in a period when the state monopoly right to land dominated in Russia for a long time. In accordance with the Constitution of the Russian Federation there is now the right to own land as private property and domestic producers can buy or sell land.

We are aware that our land relationships are as yet far from being perfect, but our federal legislative and executive bodies are working hard in this area. The Programme for Stabilization and Development of Agro-industrial Production in Russia, which has been adopted, focuses primarily on the creation of economic prerequisites and on the development of economic infrastructure to achieve the stronger involvement of agricultural producers in terms of production and marketing.

There is provision for a state regulation system and for support to the agro-industrial complex. In this respect, we rely on world experience and national traditions as well as on the actual economic and financial potential of the state.

The Programme seeks to ensure the country's food security and improve food provision to the population on the basis of the potential mobilized for the growth of domestic agricultural production as well as to replenish world food resources and supplies.

Speaking from this rostrum, I would like to put particular emphasis on the fact that Russia, with its enormous agricultural potential and long-standing traditions in agriculture, is ready to take part in the accomplishment of this noble objective of providing the people of our planet with food.

On the part of the international community, including FAO and other international organizations, we expect a better understanding of Russia's problems in the area of food and agriculture, given its current situation as an economy in transition. We are confident that the full integration of transition economy countries into the world economy will contribute to establishing a more effective global food security system.

The very fact that this Summit is taking place demonstrates the importance attached by all countries to achieving the goal of providing food to the population of the world.

We would like to assure you once again that Russia will have a worthy role to play in resolving this global problem.