OREANDA-NEWS. December 21, 2009. Vladimir Putin's opening address: Good afternoon, colleagues.

We are here today for the regular meeting of the Government Commission on Foreign Investment to consider several applications for transactions involving strategic assets.

Our goal is to determine if the proposals are substantiated in accordance with law and whether they meet national security requirements.

I would like to start with the application of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development to invest 4.6 billion roubles (approximately USD 150 million) in a private Russian commercial bank.

This is a good example of interaction between private Russian businesses and a leading international financial institution.

Investments in banking are especially important during the ongoing global financial crisis. I am pleased that the value of our banks is increased not only through long-term state allocations but also through private investment and with funds provided by international financial institutions.

I can tell you that USD 35 billion in foreign direct investment has been channelled into the Russian economy from January through September 2009. This is a good result given the global financial and economic crisis.

I am confident that those who are currently bringing investment and technology to Russia will have competitive advantages both on the Russian and global markets. For our part, we will do everything necessary to create the most favourable conditions for incoming capital.

I would like to tell you in this connection that today I have signed a government resolution on the procedure for connecting oil refineries to oil and petrochemicals pipelines, and also for monitoring oil refineries operating in Russia.

We did not have such regulations before. The adopted procedure will streamline the operation of natural monopolies and also regulate the operation of these monopolies' units and the owners of oil refineries in Russia.

The procedure for monitoring oil refineries will allow us to more strictly regulate the design and construction of refineries and also the operation of existing oil refineries in order to ensure the required quality.