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
“Support from Russian citizens has always helped us, and I’m confident that the government’s future line-up will rely on the people. We must never forget about the needs of ordinary people. We must always remember how government-level decisions influence the lives of all ordinary Russian citizens.”
Today we discussed our ambitious joint projects-in particular, the South Stream gas pipeline and the Samsun-Ceyhan oil pipeline. The fact that these two projects are crucial to Russia, Turkey and the whose of Europe both in terms of finding a solution to environmental problems, and in terms of ensuring reliable energy supplies to Europe is, I think, indisputable.
"Today, Turkish companies have $6 billion invested in Russia, and Russian companies have $4 billion invested in Turkey. Lucrative investment opportunities span a wide range of sectors: steel, construction and light industry, telecommunications, transport and many other fields. Russian companies are also ready to take part in privatization programmes carried out by Turkish government".
Russia has been, and remains Turkey's largest, and highly reliable, energy supplier. We provide approximately 70% of Turkey's demand in natural gas. We believe we can take this further, moving beyond simply trading, to asset exchanges and cross- capitalisation.
The global financial and economic crisis undoubtedly caused a slight decline in our bilateral trade. But that is why we have come together today, to see how we can overcome these hardships together, how we can increase investment and return to steady growth in trade and in our economic partnership. As Mr Erdogan said today, our trade can hit the $100 billion mark within five years. I think this goal is attainable.
"Turkey remains one of Russia's biggest trade and economic partners, leaving behind both the United States and Britain. We have major joint projects in energy, telecommunications and other industries. Now our goal is to diversify our economic relations".
"A schedule for introducing electronic options of key state services has also been approved. According to this schedule, this year, Russians will be given an opportunity of filing applications for dozens of important state services online. It means they will no longer have to go to offices and wait in queues".
"In addition, the Housing and Utilities Reform Fund is ready to finance, in 2010, capital repairs of residential blocks and help people still living in dilapidated and dangerous buildings to move to new housing. The Fund will provide up to 80 billion roubles for this purpose. The most important issue here is that regional governments prepare appropriate applications for financing in time. They should keep in mind that every such application means better quality of life for thousands of people".
"Rap, even urban and street rap, already has social content and addresses the problems of youth. Graffiti is becoming refined and polished, like a real art form. Breakdancing is something completely unique. Breakdancing truly promotes a healthy lifestyle, because it is difficult to imagine how it could related to drug use. It would be impossible to perform so-called low-risk breakdancing, and still less high-risk breakdancing, (while on drugs), especially when you see the acrobatics some of these kids do. This really does command respect."
"Furthermore, it goes without saying that new centres should take an active part in international research cooperation. I know this is part of the plan. Any cooperation must be equitable and involve befitting partners. We must determine for Russian scientists the optimal format of participation in major international projects and ensure the effective use of the results for Russia's technological development".
