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.”
"I think it is a fact of fundamental importance that in spite of the problems caused by the crisis we have not renounced our strategic line of investing in man, in the quality of life or the well-being of Russian families. About 70% of budget spending in 2010 will have a pronounced social character."
"We have already embarked on a systematic effort to modernise science, including at higher education institutions. In this we will support and strengthen all that is the best and most advanced. The Government recently approved five-year programmes that would create 14 research universities. They will be financed with approximately 50 billion roubles, with at least half of the money to be disbursed from the Federal Budget. After assessing the available resources we came to the conclusion, very recently, just two or three days ago, that some additional steps need to be taken. Therefore I propose to direct over the next three years a further 90 billion roubles to support the country's leading universities (30 billion roubles every year). That money will be spent to renovate the research and laboratory base, the programme of scientific exchange, to bring the best scientists from abroad, including our fellow countrymen who are currently working elsewhere."
"The Housing Construction Fund must work more effectively. This year alone it has prepared 1,500 hectares of federal land for development on which 6 million square metres of housing will be built."
"We must fulfil our commitments to individual categories of citizens to make housing more accessible and promote buying with mortgages, the most universal instrument used throughout the world. Every effort will be made to maintain the current pace of housing construction. Modern housing standards should be introduced. The outdated prefabricated "boxes" should be replaced with comfortable, energy-efficient and environment-friendly homes, including low-rise houses. Unfortunately, we have not been paying enough attention to that topic. What we need is essentially a programme of large-scale construction of inexpensive housing. Its share in the total housing stock is now about 5%. It should be brought to 25%, let me stress, not less than 25%."
"Traditionally the defence industry complex has been one of the drivers of technological progress in Russia. That role should be greatly strengthened and Russia should be guaranteed independent access to critically important defence technology. The Government has identified support of the defence industry complex as a key element among anti-crisis measures. The steps that have been taken have proven effective. I mentioned the overall slump in the economy, which is regrettable, but the defence industry has registered a growth of about 4% during the year. This is the result of Government support more than anything else. In 2010 the state defence order will be increased by another 8.4% to 1.175 trillion roubles."
"Construction norms and standards need to be updated very soon. We cannot afford to carry out multibillion rouble infrastructure projects based on 1970s standards which are unreasonably costly. That amounts to squandering resources."
"To save money and do away with corruption it is necessary to introduce electronic tenders in concluding state contracts for infrastructure development. Objectively, we are prepared for it; there is nothing that stands in the way. All we need to do is to do it. Some regions are already doing it: in Tatarstan Sberbank is doing it and Moscow is doing it. We should move forward more vigorously."
"It is time for business to start working in a different way. Unfortunately, many are used to following a simple rule of thumb: squeeze everything out of outdated equipment and incur debt in the hope that the government will come to the rescue and eventually pull them out of this pit. This mentality - the mentality of time-servers - is not one that can build a modern economy. At the legislative level it is necessary to formulate requirements that would induce business to seek to improve its effectiveness day in and day out."
"We should come to terms with the premise that the key factors of development in the coming years will be internal resources: the optimisation and retrofitting of industry, increasing labour productivity and an effective employment structure. Infrastructure monopolies and major companies with government participation must adopt internal programmes aimed at achieving an international level of efficiency and standards of transparency that shed the risk of corruption."
