Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Orenburg region governor Alexei Chernyshev have discussed the social and economic situation in the region and cooperation with Kazakhstan's border regions, Itar-Tass reported.
"If to speak about the situation as of September 1, the industrial production tumbled by over 10 percent as against the same period of 2008. The fuel and energy complex reports similar production volumes, while the region's machine-building complex registers the highest decline," Chernyshev said on Friday.
He stressed that the region's unemployment reached its record high in early May - the number of those jobless exceeded 18,000 (1.8 percent) of the economically active population.
"Since then we managed to reduce the number of unemployed by 2,000 by means of creating extra jobs and improving the situation at some enterprises," the Orenburg region governor said.
"There are no debts in the budget sphere," Chernyshev said. "As for industrial enterprises, debts exceeded 70 million in May. At present, we reduced this indebtedness by 20.8 million roubles."
Medvedev asked the governor whether cooperation with Kazakhstan's border regions helps to improve the social and economic situation in the region.
"Yes, without any doubt. We have 34 joint enterprises with Kazakhstan," Chernyshev said adding that Kazakhstan's three regions border the Orenburg region.
"We have good relations with them. We export steel, metal, cement and import gas, processing 8 billion cubic meters," the governor said.
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