Alexander Tkachev will leave the Ministry of agriculture

Dmitry Medvedev, earlier proposed by President Vladimir Putin as Prime Minister, announced the appointment of Deputy Prime Minister for agriculture presidential envoy to the Central Federal district, former Governor of the Voronezh region Alexey Gordeev. This was reported to RBC by two parliamentarians who participated in the meeting with the candidate for Prime Minister.

Alexey Gordeev was born on February 28, 1955 in the DDR (Frankfurt an der Oder). In 1978 he graduated from the Moscow Institute of railway engineers, in 1992 — the Academy of national economy under the government of the Russian Federation. In the early 1980s he worked in the Ministry of fruits and vegetables of the RSFSR. In 1997, he became Head of the Department of Economics of the Ministry of agriculture, and in 1998 - the first Deputy Minister of agriculture and food, in early 1999 was elected Deputy Chairman of the Agrarian party of Russia. From 2000 to 2004 Gordeev was Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of agriculture in the Cabinet of Mikhail Kasyanov. He held this position until February 2009.

As for the possible departure of Tkachev, earlier analysts highly appreciated the possibility of the Head of the Ministry of agriculture to maintain the post. According to media sources, Alexander Tkachev is not on the list of candidates for the new Government, the composition of which should be announced after the inauguration of Vladimir Putin.

According to the press, Tkachev may take the post of presidential envoy to the Southern Federal district.

Earlier, the dairy market participants in the comments to The DairyNews expressed an opinion about the work of the Ministry of agriculture and a possible candidate for the post of its head.

- I do not think about who will become the new Minister of agriculture, but assessing the work of Tkachev, I can say that his policy in the dairy industry is not effective enough. I want to believe that with the arrival of the new government, the situation will improve. There are opportunities for this, it is important to want to change for the better, - the representative of one of the dairy enterprises of the regions commented.

Dmitry Eryomin, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of JSC "Group of companies "Rossiyskoe moloko" (GC "RosMol") noted that the appointment of members of the government is the priority of the President, and candidacies of the Ministers are the responsibility of the Government. He also named a number of primary tasks for the updated Cabinet of Ministers.

- Firstly, the increase of milk production in Russia – in particular, with the help of the farmers support program. This will help reduce milk prices due to increasing production and modernization of agricultural enterprises. Secondly, the allocation of state subsidies should be as transparent as possible: it should be strictly regulated by certain parameters and controlled at the Federal level. It is important to avoid excesses in granting subsidies and to avoid corruption in all levels. In addition, protective measures are needed to prevent the importation of cheap imported products into Russia, including milk powder, in large quantities. It is necessary to minimize the import of palm oil, to strengthen control over surrogate, toughen penalties for dishonest manufacturers – to increase fines and remove their goods from the shelves; to ensure fair competition – including through the control of retail chains by DFAS. Solving these problems will help to improve the industry, - said Eryomin. 

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