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
“We have already introduced special privileged air ticket prices for the local people. They are effective from May 15 to September 15. I believe that we should take the next step and extend the privileged regime until the end of October this year. I have recently signed a resolution to this effect. We have calculated that another 90,000 residents of the Far East will be able to use this privilege.”
“We will also establish new production in the Far East. On July 27, the meeting of VEB's Supervisory Board decided to issue an investment loan worth 5 billion roubles to Sollers. A part of these funds - 1.8 billion roubles - will be used to set up a new car assembly plant in Vladivostok. This will create over 1,000 jobs in the city.”
“We will highlight the development of high-tech sectors such as shipbuilding and aircraft manufacturing. Detailed audits are being conducted at the local enterprises to determine development reserves and solve financing and marketing problems, including export.”
“In April we adopted a new federal programme aimed at creating safe living conditions in the country's quake-prone regions. Within that programme, we have transferred 1.6 billion roubles to the Sakhalin Region alone, and 3.5 billion roubles will be allocated to the Kamchatka Territory.”
“According to experts, some 150 billion cubic metres of gas will be produced in the Far East and Eastern Siberia by 2020. These resources must become the foundation for creating large power generation and gas processing facilities, for developing modern high-tech companies in the Krasnoyarsk Territory, the Irkutsk Region, Kamchatka, Sakhalin, Khabarovsk and the Primorye Territory.”
“The 2009 budget stipulates the allocation of 84.7 billion roubles for this programme, 23.7 billion roubles for energy projects, and 40.4 billion roubles for preparation for the APEC summit. These are huge funds.”
“I have signed a Government resolution that stipulates accelerating the construction of several vital energy projects, such as the Neryungri GRS-Tommot-Maya transmission line for ensuring the operation of the Eastern Siberia - Pacific Ocean oil pipeline (1.5 billion roubles), the construction of the Suntar-Olekminsk transmission line (2 billion roubles in 2009), the use of hydropower and geothermal resources of the Kamchatka Peninsula, and several other projects.”
“This year we must finish clearing up the consequences of the earthquake in Nevelsk. All of its victims must be given new housing and financial assistance, and the city must have a modern engineering infrastructure. I would like to remind you that 9.6 billion roubles has been allocated from the federal budget for the earthquake relief, including 8.8 billion roubles for construction. As much as 7.7 billion roubles was transferred by April 1. As of July 1, the region needed 1,587 flats, and 1,537 flats have been turned over to people. The remaining flats are to be commissioned within the next few days, by August 1, 2009.”
“But I would like to stress that it is first of all the domestic market that will be priority for gas from Eastern Siberia and the Far East. Gas will provide a resource base for the creation of large energy and gas processing facilities, and the development of state of the art and high-tech production operations. This will in turn replenish regional budgets, attract domestic and foreign investments, and boost the development of social services. And, of course, it will create jobs. 100 billion roubles invested in the gas sector will guarantee the creation of 70,000 to 80,000 jobs.”
“Our priority objective in the Far East is to create conditions for a comprehensive integration of the region into Russia's economic space, to enhance its business and investment attractiveness, and to improve the quality of life of the local people. To attain this goal, we adopted and are implementing a programme of economic and social development of the Far East and the Trans-Baikal region. Despite the problems created by the global economic crisis, we have only slightly reduced the allocations to this federal targeted programme in 2009, and have not cut at all the programme's spending on the development of the local energy sector and on preparations for the APEC summit.”
“The work of bringing gas to the Far East is already under way. Yet it can be rightfully said that today we are giving a start to a major and large-scale effort to extend the country's Unified Gas Supply system eastwards. This project (the Sakhalin-Khabarovsk-Vladivostok trunk gas pipeline) will open a new page in the development of Eastern Siberia and the Far East, breathe energy into the growth of these regions and make them more attractive and competitive. And, first and foremost, to improve the quality of life for Far Easterners and Siberians.”
“The construction of the Sakhalin-Khabarovsk-Vladivostok gas pipeline is only part of the state's sweeping Eastern Gas Programme. I am certain that even specialists who are present here today do not know all about the scale of this work. Within this programme, we are to undertake a vast amount of geological exploration in the Krasnoyarsk Territory, the Irkutsk Region, in Sakhalin, Yakutia and Kamchatka, to discover dozens of deposits, provide them with field facilities practically from scratch and put them into operation, and bind them together with a network of roads and gas pipelines.”
"We hope that the local authorities will follow the same logic by creating the most favourable business environment, and removing barriers preventing new companies from getting access to the local markets. In doing so, they will resolve the employment problem and replenish local finances."
"Programmes of the fund on assisting the development of housing and utilities have rendered substantial support for municipalities. The bodies of local government have already received more than 80 billion roubles from this investment fund. All in all, owing to this fund, into which we invested a total of 240 billion roubles, more than 120,000 people have already received new flats or will receive them in the near future. A considerable part of the dwelling stock will be repaired."
"Payment of salaries in the public sector should be made a priority. Incidentally, the Astrakhan Region has introduced new forms of payment in the public sphere, and the average level of salaries paid to those employed in main directions has gone up by 30% to 35%."
"The tax policy is also subject to change. At the recent meeting of the Government Commission on Budget Projections, we agreed to step up the introduction of the local tax on property. It is designed to replace the existing taxes on land and property. I hope very much that this change will substantially increase tax revenues for the local budgets. However, this should be achieved not by increasing tariff rates, but by differentiating them, as I already said at the aforementioned meeting."
"Considering these factors, we have decided to tangibly increase our support for the territories. In the new version of the budget, federal support for the regions is 36% higher than it was last year. All in all, we have earmarked 1,200 billion roubles for this purpose."
“The new wording of the 2009 budget stipulates the allocation of over 2.2 billion roubles to the Ministry of Healthcare and Social Development for co-financing the construction and overhaul of healthcare facilities in the regions and municipal districts. I want to say that this issue concerns additional projects that are not covered in federal target programmes and are financed from local reserves. <…> It should be said that we intend to continue helping the regions and municipal authorities to develop the social infrastructure. But our priority should be the financing of key projects of regional and federal importance.”
"The priorities here, as in regional politics in the regions of the Russian Federation should include: wage payment, the creation of new jobs, and fulfilling the social obligations to Russian citizens."
"The volume of Federal support for the regions in the revised budget has been increased by 36% compared with 2008. This help is accounted for in the new budget. In total we have set aside 1 trillion 200 billion roubles for this."
