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Medvedev announces expansion of Russian agricultural products exports

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev says he is proud of the achievements of the domestic agro-industrial complex

MOSCOW, April 11. /TASS/. Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev is proud of the achievements of the domestic agro-industrial complex and announced expansion of agricultural exports, he said on Wednesday.

"The Russian agribusiness sector is our pride. In 2017, the increase in agricultural production compared to 2012 amounted to more than 20% for all types of farms," he said in the State Duma.

According to Medvedev, dependence of the domestic market on imports has been successfully reduced. In addition, in 2017 the harvest of grains reached more than 135 mln tonnes. In his opinion, "such rapid growth is the result of an unprecedented state support for the agro-industrial complex", because "over six years, more than 1.2 trillion rubles ($18.62 bln) has been allocated from the federal budget."

He also spoke about another measure of state support - flexible tariff policy. "In the fall, we collected a very large grain crop, which was difficult to take away by rail, so we introduced a preferential tariff for the transportation of grain. We are also building new terminals in ports, creating a network of wholesale distribution centers," Medvedev said.