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Putin urges more effective support of small and medium enterprises

According to the president, the most important areas include small "high-tech companies and start-ups, farms and agricultural cooperatives, and social entrepreneurship"

© Alexei Druzhinin/Russian Presidential Press and Information Office/TASS

MOSCOW, October 23. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin has urged improvement of instruments to support small and medium enterprises. In particular it is important for the enterprises operating in socially significant areas, the President said speaking at the plenary meeting of the Opora Russia forum.

Opora Russia is All-Russian non-governmental organization of small and medium businesses.

"It is necessary to improve and expand the range of tools to support small and medium businesses, especially in the most significant areas," Putin said.

"These include small high-tech companies and start-ups, farms and agricultural cooperatives, and social entrepreneurship," he added.

In particular, the head of state also called on the Agency for Strategic Initiatives to improve the mechanism of supporting social entrepreneurship in Russian regions. Putin drew attention to the growing interest of citizens in sports.

"The demand in this sector is very large, and small businesses are ready to work here even more actively," he stressed. "We need to give it real assistance, real support."

The President asked the corporation for the development of small and medium enterprises together with the Ministry of Sports to consider this area as one of priorities.

The Russian leader noted that 2017 saw some progress in this field. He cited the figures showing that the volume of purchases by small and medium businesses in the field of sport education soared eightfold from 0.2 bln rubles ($3 mln) to 1.7 bln rubles ($25 mln).

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