Point of View

“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.”

"Our main task is to prevent massive growth of unemployment in industrially advanced regions and local economy mainstays. We must preserve qualified personnel, and give people an opportunity to train for a new profession or find a temporary source of income."

"An analysis of the dynamics of the unemployment growth shows that the situation is improving, albeit very slowly. In January and February, the weekly growth stood at nine percent. In March andApril, the growth went down considerably and stabilised at 1.6% per week. However, for the time being, this is still a growth. True, in some regions, unemployment has even declined in some regions - Belgorod, Kaluga, Voronezh, and Transbaikal."

"Conditions will be created next year for the introduction of the local property tax, which will replace the present-day land rent and estate tax. We mean not to increase tax rates but redistribute the tax burden on real estate, and provide protection and privileges for low-income people and holders of low-price property. At the same time, we will create prerequisites for higher, market-based tax rates for the owners of huge flats, posh houses and vast land plots."

"We need to streamline taxation, with special attention to the improvement of fiscal administration. Our fiscal system should increase its transparency and get all the easier for corporate and private taxpayers. We must put an end to redundant declarations, certificates and other cumbersome papers."

"There is another pivotal objective-to implement a rigid programme for budget deficit reduction from present-day 7.4% to 3% of the gross domestic product by 2011."

"However, it should remain a development budget-that is, tied in with long- and medium-term plans. Available priority projects should be entitled to priority funding. Practical social pledges underlie each of those priorities-the development of healthcare and education, laying in technological and infrastructural reserves, security and regional development. All this, in the final analysis, determines higher living standards and economic competitiveness for many years ahead."

"I signed an executive order on setting up a special Government commission to prevent an epidemic of swine flu in Russia. An outbreak of this infection caused by a highly pathogenic virus was registered in Mexico and a number of American states. Russian sanitary services have already taken measures towards this end. They have imposed a ban on the imports of pork and certain other meat products from Central America and a number of American states, established quarantine, and taken other urgent measures. I'd like you to closely follow the situation."

"I agree that the work of the Government and other executive authorities on draft laws should be more transparent and systemic. In particular, we should proceed to medium-term planning of legislative activities. Many of our decisions are not being implemented. This means that these laws are not drafted property or systemically. While we are at the initial stage of preparing key Government draft laws, I propose that we should involve State Duma deputies, members of the Federation Council, representatives of the expert community and public organisations in this work. We have had "zero" hearings before, and should apply this practice more extensively. I hope that this will help us to substantially enhance the effectiveness of lawmaking."

"The establishment of the Customs Union will enable us to stimulate mutual trade, joint investment projects and industrial cooperation, and in this way enhance our anti-crisis efforts, create jobs, and open new markets."

"I am referring to the establishment of the Customs Union of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan. We have recently made substantial progress in developing the legal basis of the Union. Altogether the package comprises 37 documents. We hope that other EurAsEC member states will eventually join the Union. We are open to cooperation and would welcome the growth of the three-party Union into a larger organisation. I am convinced that accelerated integration would effectively boost anti-crisis management and development. This is why we have agreed with our colleagues in Belarus and Kazakhstan to redouble our efforts."

"I would like to return to the first issue on our agenda. We are to consider the draft Climate Doctrine submitted by the Ministry of Natural Resources. Climate change and related risks have been addressed by many global forums. Russia is an active participant in such discussions, and is complying with its international obligations to the dot. Moreover, if not for Russia's active stance, some of the international projects would not have been implemented. For example, the Kyoto Protocol would not have come into force without Russia's contribution."

"We should pursue a balanced and responsible policy on climate and related issues at the national levels. This policy should be designed for a long term and take into account all factors, including environmental, economic, social and political factors. In addition, the provisions of the Climate Doctrine should be used to formulate a concrete action plan regarding the introduction of resource and energy saving technology, and enhancement of energy efficiency of the national economy. We must introduce modern environmental standards and systems of monitoring and researching climate processes. In the final run, we should formulate new, more exacting demands to the technological standards of the Russian economy as a whole and its individual sectors. Most importantly, we should formulate new demands to the living standards and the quality of life of our people."

“The new wording of the 2009 budget stipulates the allocation of over 2.2 billion roubles to the Ministry of Healthcare and Social Development for co-financing the construction and overhaul of healthcare facilities in the regions and municipal districts. I want to say that this issue concerns additional projects that are not covered in federal target programmes and are financed from local reserves. <…> It should be said that we intend to continue helping the regions and municipal authorities to develop the social infrastructure. But our priority should be the financing of key projects of regional and federal importance.”

"You know how difficult and dangerous the miners' work is. These people have a right to expect additional pension guarantees, including from their employers. We issued instructions that these issues should be addressed again. Working together with the Federation Council, we accelerated the drafting of the law On Additional Social Security for Some Categories of Workers in Coal Mining. It stipulates additional payments to the pensions of the sector's workers depending on the length and conditions of their work. Such payments can be made to the miners who did the most difficult and dangerous jobs. Their retirement pensions with additional payments will amount to as much as 40% of their wage."

"For small and medium-sized enterprises, the credit problem is to a great extent connected with the shortage of collateral. In order to find a solution to this problem we need to develop regional guarantee funds more actively. We have already set aside 3.5 billion roubles as part of the Federal Support Programme for entrepreneurship, to top up regional guarantee funds. I can tell you that we have decided to allocate 15 billion roubles in additional resources to these ends. In the final analysis, we need to build up a comprehensive system of financial support for businessmen, ranging from grants to bank loans."

"Another major package of issues concerns SMEs' access to state and municipal orders. It has a special significance in conditions of the crisis and decreasing loans. I think we should speed up the introduction of the procedure for the placement of state orders through electronic auctions. This will allow us to ensure the businesses' fully transparent and public access to trading."

"Yesterday I also signed a resolution on improving the process of connecting to the electricity networks. This sets out the simplified procedure and reduced tariffs for connection. Connections of less than 100 KW will only require the advance payment of 5% of the service cost, and also include the option of extending repayments for up to three years. I also suggest that the connection term should not exceed six months."

"The companies whose annual revenues do not exceed 30 million roubles may use a simplified system of taxation. Many proposals have been made to raise this ceiling. <...> We view this decision as an anti-crisis measure that will allow us to ease the tax burden on a considerable part of small businesses. As the saying goes, proper timing is everything. This is why we believe we can provide this effective assistance now, at this difficult time; at least, this is our standpoint and representatives of your associations agree with us. It is true that without indexation this measure will gradually lose its effectiveness. But we will consider this problem again some time later."

"The general logic of improving the taxation system should be aimed at preventing non-transparent schemes, preferences, and general mayhem, which are breeding corruption."

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