Vladimir Putin opened the meeting by saying that the new Cabinet was almost complete. The head of state expressed hope that the newly-established Government would work fruitfully and for a long time.
The President thanked former Deputy Prime Minister Viktor Shcherbak for his work and expressed confidence that his experience would prove useful to the upcoming agricultural reform.
Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov, Deputy Prime Ministers Alexei Kudrin, Ilya Klebanov, Alexei Gordeyev, Valentina Matviyenko and Viktor Khristenko, as well as Security Council Secretary Sergei Ivanov, Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov, Interior Minister Vladimir Rushailo, Federal Security Service Director Nikolai Patrushev, Economic Development and Trade Minister German Gref and Chief of the Government Staff Igor Shuvalov attended the meeting.