VLADIMIR PUTIN
ARCHIVE OF THE OFFICIAL SITE
OF THE 2008-2012 PRIME MINISTER
OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION
VLADIMIR PUTIN
ARCHIVE OF THE OFFICIAL SITE
OF THE 2008-2012 PRIME MINISTER
OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION
VLADIMIR PUTIN
Vladimir Putin's opening address:
Good afternoon, colleagues,
As you know, the Council for the Implementation of Priority National Projects is to meet in session on December 24. The agenda includes our plans for priority national projects in 2009-2012, and summing up the results of the first year of the State Programme for Agriculture Development.
Today we are going to consider all these issues for their subsequent submission to the Council. I would like to emphasise that the previous activity regarding priority national projects laid a solid groundwork for serious, urgent and necessary changes in public healthcare, education, housing construction and agriculture. And it is logical that, having gathered momentum, we should press on.
At the October meeting we outlined our future actions, adopted new objectives for the national projects, and considered proposals for target landmarks. A number of positions - and these were rather serious positions - required additional effort. Namely, financing volumes and mechanisms for implementing the projects needed to be specified. However, the analysis of submitted materials shows that such work, unfortunately, has not been finished yet.
Many positions of the sectoral departments have not been coordinated with the Finance Ministry and the Economic Development Ministry. There is no clear justification of certain expenditure items.
It is obvious that this work is extremely complicated in the present conditions, but I want all tasks, in particular those concerning the forthcoming budget expenses, to be prioritised in a more precise manner. We reiterated on several occasions that we are not going to save on priority national projects - they remain one of the key areas of our activity in the social sphere and in some branches of the economy. But that does not make redundant the need to justify expenditure.
We have discussed on a number of occasions the need to optimise and increase the efficiency of budgetary expenses. We have allocated huge funds for priority national projects, and they should work with maximum efficiency - to both address social problems, and, which is of vital importance under the current circumstances, to stimulate demand in the economy.
I would like to touch on the Affordable and Comfortable Housing project. We have recently adopted a number of decisions to maintain the demand for housing and to complete the construction of blocks of flats. But we should also keep long-term tasks in mind.
We must continue to create new construction sites, certainly including complex construction sites, and provide them with engineering and transport infrastructure. Such groundwork will allow us to boost construction volumes considerably, offsetting today's temporary recession and reduction.
The importance of priority national projects for this country and society is exceptionally great. All liabilities for them should be fulfilled in a due manner, with all deadlines met. To achieve this aim, we do not simply need to provide the continuity of projects. We are planning to hand over a part of work to the local and municipal authorities at a certain point. Here ensuring prompt and sufficient financing is especially important, and there must be absolutely no delays.
The participation of the federal Government was supposed to create a solid basis for the development of key social areas. It would be no exaggeration to say that we have accumulated great potential, and regional governments' task is to make effective use of this potential in the future, with our active support, of course.
