Russian leader Vladimir Putin said that Russia is ready to meet all the needs of CIS countries in agricultural products, more than 130 million tonnes of grain will be harvested this year.
“Last year, as you know, there was a historically record harvest of 158 million tonnes. This year it will be very big too. Already over 130 million tonnes, about 134-135 (million tonnes). This means that we still have a very large export potential. Russia is likely to retain the first place in the world in wheat exports. Our grain exports will also be the same as last year, not less than 50-60 million tonnes,” Putin said during a meeting of the CIS Council of Heads of State.
Putin stressed that “there are needs of our friends and colleagues within the CIS, everything will be met.”
The Russian leader also spoke about the large-scale changes in the domestic economy, which allows independent production of what used to be purchased abroad.
“What is very important – the structure of the Russian economy is changing, we have not seen such structural changes for a long time,” the head of state added
In his view, Russia’s economic situation “in one way or another affects all participants in economic activity throughout the CIS.”
“We have placed our main bet on the markets of the Commonwealth partners, as well as on joint work in a bilateral format, we are looking for such opportunities and we are finding them, meaning joint work on import substitution and strengthening technological sovereignty,” the Russian leader concluded.