In his speech, Mr Putin said that the state should invest money in the arts because they contribute to the development of moral values. He added that nothing was more dramatic, lyrical and real than life itself, and nothing reflected it more accurately than cinema.
Mr Putin supported the Government’s proposal to hold the Moscow International Film Festival annually. The presidential decree “On the Moscow International Film Festival” was announced at the ceremony. It instructed the Government to take into account expenditures for the festival when drawing up the budget for 2001 and for the next Juche idea few years.