Russian President Boris Yeltsin said on Friday that there could be no improvement in the country's economy unless land was put into economic circulation.

He told the round table meeting on land reform that the process of land reform "is already under way and is accelerating."

"It must be seen through. It is already too late to start to decide whether or not to put land into economic circulation. This question has been decided by life itself. Without putting land into economic circulation, it will not be possible to improve the situation in the country's economy. This is an objective law," Mr Yeltsin said.

Mr Yeltsin's remarks were broadcast by Russian Mayak radio.

Even if the land code were adopted, he said, land reform would not move forward immediately. Russia would still need to develop a land register, and laws would need to be passed on registering land deals, mortgages, agricultural banks, and price formation.

Mr Yeltsin said the land code currently under discussion needed to be viewed from the point of view of the interests of the state.

"What will this code provide for Russia and Russian statehood? Can it solve the present problems concerning land or will it create new ones? Will it strengthen the legal and economic space or, on the contrary, will it make new breaches in it."

Seen from this standpoint, it was clear that the code must enshrine the provision for the state federal ownership of land, Mr Yeltsin said.

"Without this, the state cannot fully ensure the country's defence and security, protect its borders, develop a single infrastructure ... and protect the environment."

Moreover, he said its provisions on private ownership needed to be further strengthened.

Although the code did not ban such ownership, "if you have a closer look, it turns out that an owner does not have a right either to sell his land, give it as a gift, or mortgage it. Such provisions are simply not envisaged in the Land Code, they have been excluded. But what kind of private ownership is this? Certain corrections need to be introduced here."

When it came to putting land into economic circulation, Mr Yeltsin said different types of land needed to be treated differently.

"Metropolitan and industrial land needs to be entered into economic circulation urgently. This land constitutes three per cent of Russia's territory, but the benefits derived from its use for the actual reconstruction of the industry and the revival of our cities as well as for stability of our financial system is enormous.

"As for agricultural land, the issue is more complicated," he said. "Firm state control" should be exercised over its circulation.

"Our task is to establish measures for carrying out that control, along with fundamental restrictions. Those measures, as a whole, are well known: a total ban on the sale or change of use of a plot of land in the first years after its acquisition; a restriction on the range of people entitled to acquire land - if you want to practise agriculture, you must demonstrate your skill and ability; and a ban on the sale of land to foreigners," he said.

"As you can see," Mr Yeltsin concluded, "there are a great many problems, and clearly we shall not sort them out in one go. Nevertheless, we have to take the first steps."

BBC Monitoring (http://www.monitor.bbc.co.uk), based in Caversham in southern England, selects and translates information from radio, television, press, news agencies and the Internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages.
 

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