President Putin hopes new Petersburg Governor will be equal to electors' expectations

President Vladimir Putin has held a meeting, at Petersburg's Pulkovo airport, with St. Petersburg Governor-Elect Valentina Matvienko. Vice-Premier Vladimir Yakovlev attended the meeting.

The president congratulated the new governor on the victory. "I think you will spare no effort to be equal to the electors' expectations," he said.

The president advised Ms Matvienko to form a team of efficient, modern managers.

"You have a proper expertise. What you need is a team of professional managers to tackle development problems of the city with the population of 5 million people. This is a difficult, and yet challenging, task," said the president.

President Putin wished Ms Matvienko successes and promised every assistance and support from the federal government.

The head of state presented a bouquet of roses to Ms Matvienko and best regards from her former colleagues-members of the Cabinet of Ministers.

The president said he had held a meeting with Cabinet ministers on Monday. By winning the gubernatorial elections in Petersburg, Ms Matviyenko was a sort of deputed to the Northern Capital by the Cabinet, said President Putin. "They promised to help the new governor develop good relations with the Cabinet," he said.

"The city would only benefit from this," he noted. "You will face an avalanche of problems, I know. There are lots of plans to be implemented," said the Russian president.