#8 - JRL 7254
VLADIMIR PUTIN ON PROTECTING INTERESTS OF RUSSIAN BUSINESSES

STARAYA LADOGA, July 17, 2003. /From RIA Novosti correspondent/--Vladimir Putin thinks that federal departments should pay more attention to protecting the interests of Russian enterprises.

At a conference on the development of small towns, Ivan Fraiman, director of an oil shale factory, described its problems. All its receipts and expenses, with the plant dispatching 95 per cent of its output to Estonia, depend on its foreign partner, the director said.

"This is a poor basis for development. Besides, neither the Foreign Ministry nor the Economic Development and Trade Ministry supports us in our dealings with foreign buyers," Fraiman said.

He suggested that oil shale, which is equivalent to millions of tons of oil, should be included in the country's fuel and energy balance.

This problem, Putin noted, should be considered in tandem with others. He said that he would give appropriate instructions, and pointed out that the Foreign Ministry and the Economic Development and Trade Ministry should give more attention to such problems as exist between an individual enterprise and a state.