The President answered, in particular, questions on the first BRIC Group summit in Yekaterinburg on June 16, and the UN conference on climate change in Copenhagen in December, which will look at how to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Mr Medvedev also discussed with Kirill Kleimenov, anchor of Channel One’s current affairs analysis programme, agricultural production and life in rural areas.
Russia has the biggest percentage of its population engaged in agriculture of any of the industrially developed countries, the President said. The agriculture sector employs a third of the country’s working population. The Agriculture National Project and implementation of a number of programmes have made the sector better prepared to meet the crisis than the industrial sector. Unlike industrial production, agricultural production is growing rather than falling, the President said.
Mr Medvedev spoke in detail about different aspects of the economic transformations underway in the agricultural sector, which aim to ensure national food security in accordance with specific parameters.
The President also discussed the situation regarding relations with Belarus in the context of support for Russian producers and manufacturers.
The full text of the interview will be published on June 21, 2009.