TOMSK, West Siberia, April 26 (RIA Novosti) - President Vladimir Putin Wednesday slammed Western countries for what he said were unfair practices on global energy markets - and then rounded on the economic state of Siberia.
Speaking at a meeting with Siberian regional governors, Putin said Russia should look to the East for partnerships in the energy sphere, as elsewhere Russian companies are being shut out of markets on specious grounds.
"Unfortunately, we very often run into unfair competitive practices on global markets. Despite huge demand for energy, we are being limited under all kinds of pretexts in the north, south and the west," Putin said.
His comments came ahead of talks later Wednesday with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in the West Siberian oil city of Tomsk.
"We should look for sellers' markets and integrate into global development processes, considering that Asia-Pacific region countries are developing extremely rapidly, and they need cooperation with us," Putin said.
But Putin also had harsh words for the current economic situation in the vast Siberian Federal District, and called for more progress to be made in all sectors of the region's economy.
"A strategy for Siberia's economic development was adopted in 2002, but I have to admit it had not resulted in the serious regional development we were counting on," Putin said.
He said the development of resource-rich Siberia should focus on integration with the rest of the country as well as global markets, and added that natural resources should be exploited more effectively.
A mooted $11.5-billion pipeline to pump oil from Siberian rich deposits should be made a priority, Putin said, as Russia looks to supply energy-hungry countries in the Asia-Pacific region, and particularly China.
Putin said the competitive advantage that export-oriented industries have due to easy accessibility and low production costs was being eroded by a lack of infrastructure for new projects.
In particular, he singled out a lack of infrastructure for new natural-resources deposits, and urged road reconstruction and new equipment for border-guard checkpoints.
He also said processing industries, particularly in the forestry sector, should be a priority, since Siberia is home to over 40% of the country's forests.
Putin also said Russia was facing an "awful" demographic situation, but that "apocalyptic" scenarios could be avoided. He said Siberia had been seeing a population drain due to low standards of living in the region, despite its "huge potential."
"This demographic problem ... is one of the most serious problems Russia has faced in the last 15 years," Putin said, adding that the country's economic productivity and even state sovereignty could be threatened if the situation did not improve.
