“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.”
“After the drought of the past year and a serious decline in agriculture, we have not only restored the performance of the agro-industrial complex but have even improved the figures from the pre-drought year of 2009. Our tentative estimate is that the industry has grown by 17.8% in 2011 but some experts believe that the final average for this industry will be about 20% when all additional figures are considered. The grain harvest is 93 mln tonnes after processing. And the export grain potential has been restored in full.”
“The level of general unemployment has decreased as compared with the beginning of the year. It was at 7.8% early this year, and now it is a bit over 6% (6.3%). The number of people who are officially registered as unemployed has decreased by 400,000.”
“The most important achievement of this past year is the consolidation of the trend towards steady growth. The Russian economy has overcome the effects of the crisis and has reached its pre-crisis figures in key parameters.”
“Our tasks are modest: we want 25% of our total energy to come from nuclear power, but even that is a challenge. It means that in the coming years we must build as many nuclear reactors as were built during the whole history of the nuclear industry in the Soviet Union. That will be sufficient and necessary to ensure a balanced structure for the Russian power industry.”
“I firmly believe that our tax system should ensure the interests of the state. <…>The interests of the state consist not only of collecting taxes but also ensuring comfortable working conditions for taxpayers. Our fiscal instruments should stimulate economic activity, not suppress it. And we certainly need to (I believe some things are just obvious) move toward reducing the number of required reporting documents.”
“With regard to rural health posts, certainly, there are universally accepted standards. <…> We should strive to ensure that people have access to the same standard of medical care regardless of where they live in the Russian Federation, in the countryside or in big cities. Clearly, we have a long way to go, but we should strive to get there and we need a body to oversee this work.”
“We need to make sure that young people are able to see the promise of a vocational training and of the new economy. They should be able to see that the meaning of occupations is changing. <…>Our project to create 25 million modern jobs is designed to create an entirely new level of employment, raise the demand for skilled labour and, at the same time, raise its social prestige.”
“Now, given the growing national economy and the forthcoming modernisation of all spheres of our life, especially production, it has become abundantly clear that our lack of highly-qualified workers presents the same obstacle to development as restrictions related to infrastructure, such as a lack of roads, electricity and communications.”
“That by using federal support and funds provided by businesses, we will be able to promote primary and secondary education. I have mentioned this already, but I want to emphasise that Russian regions should intensify their focus on this issue, and they should do so not only because it falls under the issues overseen by the regions. Above all, they should do so because a good vocational training system serves the interests of the regions themselves and is a prerequisite for their socio-economic prosperity.”