President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree naming Ilya Klebanov as the Presidential Plenipotentiary in the Northwest federal district, according to the president's press service. Kleabnov was Russian Minister for Industry, Science and Technology before taking his latest post.

Ilya Iosifovich Klebanov was born on May 7, 1951 in Leningrad. After completing the Leningrad Polytechnical Institute, he worked in the scientific-production association Electron. Beginning in 1977 he worked at the Leningrad Optical Mechanical Plant (LOMO) where fulfilled the duties of engineer and designer, senior foreman of the optical shop, director of the technical bureau, chief engineer and finally director of the consumer trade complex.

From August 1992 through December 1997, Klebanov was the general director of LOMO. In December 1997 Klebanov was named the general director of the company Russian Electronics. At the same time, he was invited to join the St. Petersburg government and fulfill the duty of deputy director of the economics administration. In January 1998 Klebanov was appointed first deputy governor of St. Petersburg and chairman of the economics and industrial politics committee. In September 1998 he became the director of the council for restructuring St. Petersburg's military industrial complex.

On May 31, 1999 Klebanov was appointed deputy chairman of the Russian government. On August 19, 1999 he was again appointed deputy chairman of the Russian government (this time in Vladimir Putin's government). On September 6, 1999 Klebanov was named first deputy chairman of the president's commission on questions of military and technical cooperation with foreign governments. On May 18, 2000 he was appointed deputy chairman of the Russian government. In February 2002, Klebanov was relieved of his duties as Vice-Premier and appointed Industry, Science and Technology Minister. He has a number of inventions in the area of medical instrument making. He is married and has two children.

The position of presidential plenipotentiary of the northwest federal district was vacated when Valentina Matvienko was elected governor of St. Petersburg. Until Klebanov's appointment, Andrei Chernenko fulfilled the duty of interim presidential plenipotentiary for the northwest federal district.

News source: www.rosbaltnews.com
Print this news