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.”
“It is essential now that we consolidate the positive trends that have emerged in our agriculture and related industries in the last few years. Weather anomalies must not eradicate these trends and throw our agriculture progress back. This point mainly concerns such key sectors as livestock farming. I am convinced that we can make a breakthrough in increasing milk yields and in the cattle population similar to the progress in poultry and pork production. I want to remind you that poultry meat production increased 77-78% and pork 39% during the previous years. Any industry would take pride in such achievements, just as any country's agricultural sector would.”
“We will prolong the tariff reduction to July 1, 2011 and spread it from grain to soy and soybean meal from the (Russian) Far East. First, we will thus support the regions that must buy grain, including drought-hit areas. Second, reduced transport costs will, I hope, have a positive impact on food prices or at least help curb an increase. This is certainly essential.”
“The harvest fully satisfies the country's demand in grain considering carryover stocks and intervention inventory reserves. We have enough food and fodder grain. Still, we need to suspend grain exports for the time being because the stability of our domestic food market and livestock fodder should be our top priority.”
“As you know, the GDP will be 50.4 trillion roubles and the level of inflation is expected to be 6.5%. We think the budget deficit will be about 3.6% next year. Budget revenues will amount to 8.8 trillion roubles and expenses to 10.7 trillion roubles. We would really like to stay within these parameters and avoid increasing the budget deficit. It is a very important indicator that points to the stability of our economy. In this respect, we stand out from many of the so-called developed market economies of the world. There is no doubt that this is a self-made competitive advantage for us.”
“As things really are, Europe does not consume many genetically modified products or commodities that violate sanitary standards. That was why imports from certain countries were suspended - particularly chicken from the United States. I would like to remind you that we imported close on 1.5 million tonnes of chicken from the United States recently, against roughly 300,000 tonnes this year. I think we will do without these imports next year and later, especially because our sanitary inspectors often disapprove of the production techniques, transportation and storage of these foodstuffs. I also want to remind you that the production of chicken in Russia has increased by more than 70% these last years, by 79% if I am not mistaken, and the production of pork by 39%. This is sizeable progress for any economy and any agriculture. This is why the budgets for next year, 2011, and for the years to follow give prominence to the development of agriculture.”
“As for education, here I would like to emphasise that we will allocate for the first time (as we did not do in many previous years) significant funding to the Russian Academy of Science for attracting young scientists. We will allocate wage-rates and some money especially for this purpose. We allocated another two billion roubles for the purchase of new laboratory equipment. And we'll discuss other costs in more detail now.”
“We hope that economic growth will help to balance the country's budget. Extra budget revenues should come from qualitative economic development and not from oil fees or the demand for natural resources. So we have made a conservative forecast for oil prices. The current cost for oil is $75 per barrel, according to the draft budget for 2011. Of course, the decisions we made in the tax sector should increase budget revenues as well. I mean the increase of mineral extraction taxes, indexing excise taxes, and changing payment rates in the Pension Fund, Social Fund and the Mandatory Medical Insurance Fund.”
“I have always supported the programmes aimed at reducing the negative influence of human activity on climate and the environment. I will continue to support, together with the Russian government and other authorities, every effort to protect the environment. But still, our work should be based on a realistic view of the situation, and we should rely on expert opinion. We have been paying so much attention to supporting the experts who are working in this sphere precisely so we can determine Russia's practical policy that will be based on facts and objective research data, rather than on newspaper articles, however much we may respect them.”
“The Russian car market is potentially the largest in Europe. In addition, it has good prospects for exporting products to neighbouring countries. This is why we need large production facilities, not just mid-sized. This is what we need to create an efficient network of supplier plants and to pursue our own engineering solutions. Obviously, one of these manufacturers is our traditional manufacturer, AvtoVAZ, which is capable of producing up to 700,000 cars a year and is planning to form an alliance with the Renault-Nissan corporation, which is already a shareholder in AvtoVAZ.”
“The main issue today is the development of our economy. It is in our common interest to make progress by modernising production, creating efficient and higher-paying jobs as well as enhancing labour productivity. Incidentally, this year we have seen a growth in labour productivity, not a record one but still a stable one. And we must maintain such quality of industrial development by all means. Otherwise, Russian businesses will not be able to remain competitive, and new jobs will be created abroad rather than in Russia - similar things are happening in Western Europe.”
“Russia has been working toward the formation of a civilised labour market, which includes attracting workers from abroad. We are well aware that this is especially important for Russia. I mean our relations with CIS countries, with which we have no visa regime and practically no borders. This is a difficult social and political issue, a labour issue, an issue of international relations, and an issue of striking the balance between different areas of our national interests. We are extremely interested in labour migration being absolutely legal, so that there are no gray areas that give rise to crime and corruption.”
“Our approach is to avoid a general tax increase. For example, the corporate profit tax rate remains low (20%). On the other hand, social security premiums will grow in 2011. We have no other choice but to raise premiums because we need to pay good pensions to our senior citizens and we need the funds to modernise the healthcare system. But even in these circumstances we found a way to keep social security payments lower for IT companies, residents of innovation zones, media companies and small innovative enterprises established at universities.”
“The government has approved a programme to develop competition. Similar programmes are being adopted in the regions. They are aimed at consistently removing all the factors that lead to unjustified price growth, which includes expanding the space for free competition, nationwide as well as on local markets, and preventing the emergence of new monopolies that corrupt the economy and hinder modernisation.”
“Only large private investments will allow us to attain the strategic goals of modernising the country, and not only in those sectors where business has long been actively progressing but also in the sectors that the government dominated until recently, in particular in the social sphere, in infrastructure and in strategic industries. No government action, budget resources or administrative decisions can replace the painstaking daily work of private businesses. It is the work of businesses that is changing the nature of our economy day by day, giving it a new, innovative face. Hundreds and even thousands of projects are implemented every year, and investments have reached tens of billions of dollars.”
“We will continue supporting our grain producers and their investment projects; we will use every option at the government's disposal to help them restore their position on the global market. I also hope that our foreign partners will be understanding of our policies in light of what happened in Russia this summer. Most importantly, we will make a concerted effort to create additional stable domestic demand for grain: common sense tells us we should be in charge of our own house and have a reliable base. To do this, we will promote the expansion of livestock production and poultry farming, because these segments are major consumers of grain.”
“Social and government efforts, social and government forces must be consolidated in order to move forward along this difficult but absolutely necessary path toward development. We need a fusion of will, political power and financing, which follows the fusion of will and political power. And in this respect United Russia has been playing a very important consolidating and positive role for several years now. I hope very much that the party's organisations will try and closely monitor what is happening in their ranks, get rid of people who don't belong there and look at the people's needs. Not simply look, but react to them.”
“We have drawn up a big programme to support the Russian automobile industry. It envisages not only car scrappage but also subsidised interest on private loans for car purchases. It also includes customs tariff regulation to protect the market from imports, in a way, after we encountered competition that was unfair to our manufacturers as surplus stock flooded our market at dumping prices.”
“We are encouraging Russians to respect their health and to give up bad habits. The government approved a concept for state policy on reducing alcohol consumption last year and a similar concept to reduce smoking recently. Russia ratified the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, and this was really a significant event. We will take into account all the requirements of that convention when drafting legislation.”
“The infant mortality rate has plummeted by almost one-third compared to 2005, even as the birth rate has grown and life expectancy has increased by 3 years in the past five years, which is a lot. The average life expectancy in Russia is nearly 69 years. This might be a modest achievement for Europe, but a growth of three years in a matter of five years is a major achievement. It points to a clear trend, to positive dynamics. I am confident that this development will continue to progress.”
