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
"And finally, I want to state that the nuclear industry has always been one of Russia's greatest assets. I am convinced that if we organize our efforts efficiently and set our priorities correctly, the nuclear industry will remain an important source for the country's development, whether it is in energy production, defence, economy, or science. I would like to wish all of you every success."
"As you know, we have already approved the project list for realisation of the Main Government Policy Areas Until 2012. The list consists of about 60 projects. The nuclear energy and nuclear weapons development areas have been included into one of the four "pilot" projects that will be implemented on a priority basis. The project will result in increased energy output at the existing facilities, ensure and strengthen Russia's leadership in nuclear fuel production, and allow us to introduce the most advanced radioactive waste utilization technology and accomplish a series of other environment protection measures."
"As you know, we have highly ambitious, and yet quite realistic, goals in this sphere. By 2030, nuclear power plants should account for 25% to 30% of electricity produced in the country. The current figure is 16%. The relevant figure exceeds 25% and even 30% in many European countries, so we will have to catch up with industrialised states. <...> There are no minor details in this sphere, a sphere that needs a corresponding financial backing. At the same time, we also need to develop a modern grid infrastructure and ensure the solution of many other problems, which have always been important in this sector whatever their scale, even if it is minuscule."
"This year, irrespective of all the difficulties we have experienced, we are not introducing cutbacks; instead, we are increasing the resources allocated to the development of the transport system. We consider this approach to be one of the most important anti-crisis measures, which will allow us not only to create more jobs, but will also lay down the fundamental infrastructure for the post-crisis development of our country. By comparison with 2008, how does the outlook for 2009 appear? The volume of investment has been significantly increased, by 100 billion roubles, which brings it to 550 billion roubles, including 312 billion roubles for the construction and major repair works on roads (up from 294 billion roubles last year). As a whole, the financing for the sector, combined with the anti-crisis measures, has increased by 30%, and if you take highway repair and construction, then this increase stands at 15%."
"We are going to allocate 2.9 billion roubles to one of the largest engine building companies, the Chernyshev Moscow Machine Building concern, which will allow it to retain its workforce of 7,000 people, and ensure the completion of major export orders."
"The electricity shortfall was one of the obstacles to industrial development and the realisation of a series of major projects. The cost of connection to the grid was prohibitively high, and that, in turn precluded the realisation of many long-term investment projects, as I have already said. This issue is particularly sensitive for small and medium sized businesses. In today's crisis conditions, demand for electricity has fallen slightly, and many regions of the Russian Federation are forming reserves. But this is clearly a temporary phenomenon. The restoration of sustainable economic growth is impossible without the development of the energy systems, without deep-rooted modernisation of the aging equipment, without the construction of new power stations and the development of the grid. In 2008 we added two GW of capacity, which is as much as was introduced during the previous two years, 2007 and 2006, together. It is very important that this pace is retained in the coming three years. This requires something in the order of 1.8 trillion roubles of investment."
"We also needed to support banks- and probably above all - because we needed to preserve the people's savings in our banks and prevent the paralysis of settlements between enterprises. We attained both goals."
"Moreover, the banks that received support managed to increase lending to the real sector by more than 15% over the five crisis months, and issued loans worth more than 1 trillion roubles."
"We had to protect the national currency affected by the flight of capital and declining export revenues, to ward off the attacks against the rouble. We managed to prevent uncontrollable devaluation. As we promised, the decline in the rouble exchange rate, which was inevitable in the situation, was smooth; that allowed the economy and people to adjust to the new realities."
"The current exchange rate of the national currency is clearly boosting the competitiveness of Russian producers in the external and, most importantly, domestic markets."
