Putin Hails Record Economic Growth in First Year of His PresidencyRussian President Vladimir Putin said Saturday that the record 7.6 percent economic growth and political solidarity in 2000 are the main achievements in the first year of his four-year presidency.Russia's economic growth hit 7.6 percent last year, an unprecedented rate in the last 20 years. The government has paid off nearly all long-owed wages and the population's pensions and real incomes have gone up considerably, though not all citizens are enjoying results of economic growth, Putin said in an interview with the Ukrainian mass media ahead of his working visit to Ukraine on February 11-12. "Above all," said Putin, "We managed to ensure an adequate growth rate that is necessary for sustained economic and social developments." "Meanwhile, we have ensured or created conditions for political consolidation in society, which enabled us to take constructive decisions and helped to create conditions for developing the economy and implementing social programs," said Putin. Nevertheless, "we cannot boast so far as the overwhelming majority of Russians cannot enjoy results of this economic growth and live in difficulties," he stressed. On Russian-Ukrainian ties, Putin said there was a change for the better "in the quality of relations" as a key achievement of Russian diplomacy last year. Describing Ukraine as "Russia's biggest partner," Putin stressed that the high-level trust in each other has been established, as the volume of bilateral trade turnover hit nearly nine billion U.S. dollars in 2000, or 1.3 billion dollars more than in the previous year. |
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