Putin says Russia has to keep car plants running, jobs kept

MOSCOW, Apr 24 (PRIME) -- The car plants should continue their operations and retain all jobs meeting sanitary requirements, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday at a meeting with the car industry representatives.

"It is crucial that all sanitary and preventive measures are strictly met, stable operations of the car industry are ensured, that we lend the producers a shoulder, support demand first of all, keep jobs and income of the people, keep qualified experts," Putin said.

He added that the Russian car industry has experience of crisis management of 2008–2009, but the current support measures are yet to be defined.

"Of course, the current situation is its specific features, and the businesses understand them well looking at the facilities and the regions where they work," the president said.

He added that support proposals had been made earlier and would be announced on Friday.

 The strategic goals of the industry must not be neglected, Putin said. "I am convinced that like the construction industry, the car industry is able to become one of the basic sectors for recovery of the entire economy," Putin said.

Putin said that many companies found themselves in a crisis at the same time.

"Demand plummeted, including for complex, highly-technological products. The cooperation chains, links have been disrupted. The domestic car industry feels the consequences of the epidemic, and its indicators largely reflect the state of the consumer market and the entire economy," Putin said.

He separately said that the government allocated 5.2 billion rubles to the purchase of 1,200 mobile intensive care units for the regional hospitals and that the vehicles must be commissioned as soon as possible.

(75.1290 rubles – U.S. $1)

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