Medvedev promises support to farmers in 2017 will remain at 220 bln rubles
GORKI. Dec 5 (Interfax) - Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has said that support to agriculture producers in 2017 will remain at the same level as 2016, totaling over 220 billion rubles.
"I want to immediately say that we reached an agreement on this with colleagues-deputies from the State Duma and naturally discussed this in the government. Support toward farmers next year will remain, at the very least, at the same level as this year. In other words, it will remain at existing levels. That's over 220 billion rubles," Medvedev said at a meeting discussing measures of state support for agriculture producers in 2017 and supporting investments in the sector.
He said: "This is the government's principled position."
According to Medvedev, this should be known to those who work in rural areas as well as enterprises implementing new projects and planing to invest in agriculture.
"It also affects those who already committed investments. We need to return to issues regarding calculations on those investment obligations which are already in place. Both the Agriculture Ministry and the Finance Ministry are paying attention to this," Medvedev said.
Medvedev said that the cabinet expects next year's allocated funds to work just as effectively as in 2016.
"Much has already repeatedly been said about about our successes in agriculture. The sector is indeed demonstrating solid growth. I hope that we succeed in maintaining that in the future, both a very high grain harvest and hence export potential as well as increasing rates of meat production, notably different kinds," Medvedev said.
He said that on the whole the task regarding food security had been solved on principle positions.
