President Putin summarised the results of his visit to Malaysia at the meeting and said the contract for the sale of Sukhoi Su-30 Flanker fighters to Malaysia would enable Russia to gain a foothold in the Asian-Pacific market. Mr Putin said the Russian defence industry would receive money for providing the Russian Army with up-to-date weaponry.
Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov said there were plans to buy the Russian-Italian Yakovlev Yak-130 combat trainers. President Putin stressed that he and the Italian Prime Minister had agreed to complete the project in the near future.
Production of several Yak-130s featuring Italian avionics had commenced at the Nizhny Novgorod aircraft plant.
Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin discussed the efforts to draft the 2004 federal budget, Russian grain supplies to Ukraine and the agenda of a regular meeting of the Russian-Belarusian working group to introduce a common currency.
Mr Putin said the results of the meeting would help to schedule the date of his upcoming talks with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.