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.”
"Obviously, both sides are committed to intensifying Russian-Libyan relations, in the first place in the trade and economic sphere. The prerequisites for our work are very good. I am referring to the long tradition of mutually-beneficial cooperation. The political dialogue between our countries has become stable lately".
"Nuclear power plants (NPP) work most efficiently under full-load conditions. That's why the country's unified energy system must be ready to accept new facilities. It means that the priority development of the network infrastructure is essential".
"In the mid-term we shall have to switch over to a new technology level. I mean a closed fuel cycle and commercial fast neutron reactor development. The Targeted Programme Atomic Energy Technologies of the New Generation must meet this challenge. The development of the Programme should be accomplished by November. One of the main demands facing the industry is the observance of safety measures. The safety system must be on the highest modern level and correspond to the highest world standards. And, of course, we can't spare money on this. This is not something to economize on".
"We have several items to discuss. One of the key items is the production of strategic materials for weapons, military and specialised hardware. We are talking about the production of composite materials, alloy additives, lubricants and special materials. They are indispensable in creating new-generation equipment, in making it competitive, effective and reliable. That key sector of the defence industry was at one time lagging behind. Some technologies were lost and production capacity was reduced. Unfortunately, we also lost some of the qualified personnel. As a result, we became dependent on foreign suppliers to some extent. And that in such an important and sensitive sphere as the defence industry. So it is necessary to attend seriously to the retrofitting of our enterprises and to research and development".
"Naturally, one of the main areas of our cooperation is energy. This is understandable since, firstly, Russia is a country that contributes considerably to the world's energy system, and secondly, energy resources are in the highest demand today. Lately, we have been strengthening the legislative base for our cooperation, searching for new ways to diversify our relations, to find new areas for collaboration, such as transportation, aerospace, science-intensive production, and of course, military-technical cooperation. You know that Russia is a reliable partner in this respect. We hope to develop cooperation in all these areas, including humanitarian aspect".
"We propose to make a list of priorities and use it to extend larger subsidies to regional budgets. The regions will have more freedom to choose how to use that funding so that Moscow officials do not tell the Governors the heads of regions how they should spend the money. The Governors, together with the regional legislatures, will be able to determine the priorities. Naturally, this system will function on condition that the targeted indicators are achieved".
"We intend to work seriously to further improve the mechanisms of federal aid to the regions. I will speak about it in more detail in a moment.<…> Today the Ministry of Regional Development is preparing amendments to the rules of subsidizing the regions to address socially sensitive problems".
"We are facing a unique situation when building and engineering work in Russia costs several times more than the same work in neighbouring European countries. And yet on many counts this work is cheaper in Russia. I am not just talking about the cost of labour, but energy, land, even water and other resources are also much cheaper here. But on balance it turns out to be more expensive. Why is that? Legally, everything is in order. The reason is outdated regulations going back to the 1950s and 1960s applied to what appear to be natural and simple instruments. But at the end of the day it is a mess. We have to put an end to it".
"The ideology of government control must be changed fundamentally. Routine checks must not be held more frequently than once a year. And for the most part these should be documentary checks without on-site inspections. Unscheduled inspections should be made only if there are grounds to suspect a potential threat or real health hazards and environmental hazards".
"We should also learn to be flexible in adjusting the plans and programmes that we have already adopted. Unfortunately, such a need arises when external conditions change. The Agriculture Programme is an example in point. When it was developed the prices of oil, fertiliser and other resources were at a certain level. Today the situation is entirely different. The programme needs to be adapted to the new realities".
"Let me stress that we are not against imports as such. In the WTO negotiating process and in the dialogue with our partners we always come out for equal and fair access to each other's markets".
"The investment potential of Vneshekonombank and other newly-created development institutions must be used more fully".
"The adoption of technical regulations is an important instrument in enhancing the competitiveness of the domestic industry. Early steps in that direction are being taken. Let us face it, they are still very timid, but we must go down that road".
"We must create conditions to enable our producers to use their competitive advantages fully, to secure a worthy place in the world division of labour and protect our citizens against the negative phenomena that excessive dependence on foreign markets may engender".
"At the same time, the development of children's and youth fitness and sports is our main duty for today. We have determined to fully reinstate and modernise children's and youth sport schools. This is one of the essential fields of work".
"Upsetting the balance of nature may create a situation you cannot get out of for love or money. So I consider it necessary to shift these facilities to other sites to be agreed with the International Olympic Committee".
"In choosing between priorities – funding or the environment – we have opted for the environment. Our reasoning was this: a new project may be costlier, but the possible bill from nature might be so enormous as to be beyond any financial compensation. We should preserve the uniqueness of Sochi for this and future generations".
"The starting idea was not only to make the 2014 Olympic Games in Sochi a sports pageant for the country and the world, but also to give southern Russia a facelift, in particular the Greater Sochi area, where hundreds of thousands of Russians holiday every year. This implied the improvement of all types of infrastructure - transport and energy - and the improvement of the environment, because all that we are making here must serve our people. To do otherwise would be to make the entire project pointless".
"All projects and all work on Olympic facilities will be conducted completely openly. All disputes will be spotted and resolved in dialogue with the environmentally minded public and international non-governmental organizations".
