During the meeting the President instructed Vice Premier Galina Karelova to assume personal control of the effort to bring relief to the victims of the accident at the Ziminka coal mine in Kuzbass.
The Minister of Economic Development German Gref spoke about economic development in the current year. According to the Ministry, the GDP increased by 7.1%, industrial output by 6.7% and people’s incomes by 14.5% in the first five months of 2003. Investments in the Russian economy grew by 11% in the same period. German Gref stressed that the figure for the same period of the previous year was a mere 1.5%.
Sergei Ivanov reported to the President on the military exercises planned by the Defence Ministry in the near future. The exercises of the Baltic and Northern Fleets are to be held at the end of June this year and Russian-French maneuvers will take place in the Norway Sea shortly. The US and Canada have been invited to watch the Far Eastern District exercises in late August-September.