On Thursday Putin meets businessmen

Russian President Vladimir Putin is going to meet with Russian business representatives on Thursday, President of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RUIE) Arkady Volsky said on Wednesday at a RUIE Board meeting.

"The next meeting of representatives of the business community with the President is due tomorrow. Such meetings as a rule bring about progress on many issues," he said.

He recalled that after previous meetings the President had issued 16 orders, 14 of which have already been fulfilled.

"The most important thing is that each side is fully aware of the fact that should either business or bureaucracy win the battle, this will be a defeat for the whole nation. Therefore we consistently seek to make relations between the state and the business community predictable and lawful," Volsky said.

He also said he did not see any antagonistic disputes between the business and the state.

"Sometimes as the state fails to promptly respond to a move of the business quarters, this is interpreted as evidence of a conflict between them. I personally cannot see it as an antagonistic dispute," he insisted.

Volsky urged the state to legalize lobbying of business interests. "We have been urging for such a law for 10 years now but the State Duma (the lower house of the Russian parliament) would block it all the time," he complained.

According to him, currently the public, businessmen, and the state have a shared goal - to improve living standards in this country. Volsky said that companies were spending up to 18% of profit on social programs. This makes 90 billion rubles (3.09 billion U.S. dollars) each year, which is commensurable with public social spending.

"Thus, after the president's appeal to the business community [to help the state cope with social programs] the funds allocated for that have nearly doubled," Volsky said.