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.”
“We can’t forget about social issues, such as teacher pay, particularly per capita financing, which we’ve been talking about a lot in recent years. Whenever and wherever this system is introduced, it results in higher pay for teachers. <…> In Omsk, Pskov and Kaliningrad we are seeing salaries go up by about 25%, and in some cases by 40%.”
“Steps have been taken lately to develop the education system as part of the national project Education. I think that a great deal has been done.However, whenever there is a large-scale project, there are typically more problems that we haven’t solved than ones that we have. This is to be expected. It is a natural part of the process. In higher education, we are counting on the strong, and I believe that it is the proper approach. We are setting up a network of national federal universities and research universities, and will earmark additional funding for them.”
“Five years ago we launched the priority national project Health, which has proved to be very effective, showing that good results can be achieved if we concentrate financial and administrative resources on high-priority issues. We mentioned several figures today that support this. This national project has paved the way for the next step in this critical area of government activity, the modernisation of the Russian healthcare system.”
“It is necessary to remove excessive paperwork in relations between the doctor and patient and to have the doctor focused on the treatment of the patient, instead of on filling out numerous forms and certificates. Modern information technology has to be applied for this purpose. What I mean is clear to everybody: telemedicine, electronic paperwork and electronic medical records. It is necessary to give people the opportunity to make a doctor’s appointment online, without having to leave the house.”
"Since 2000, Russia’s arms exports have grown by almost 150%. They have also expanded geographically. Today we are cooperating with 85 countries of the world. I would like to emphasize that Rosoboronexport’s activity, like Russia’s military-technological cooperation in general, is proceeding in strict conformity with Russian legislation and international law as well as with the non-proliferation regimes now in effect. We fully consider all potential risks for security in the regions where we are exporting arms and are very careful to the established balance of forces there. We never take action that could upset such a balance."
"We have a programme of incentives for creating jobs for people with disabilities. This year the government is paying 30,000 roubles to employers for each new job. We will continue this programme and further increase the bonus. Employers will receive 50,000 roubles for each new job next year. While we were implementing our anti-crisis measures, I noted that when decisions were being made to reduce production costs, jobs for disabled people were the first to be cut. But this is only one example. I'd like to send the message to executives at all levels that such practices are inadmissible."
"In general, Russia’s foreign trade has been growing at a satisfactory pace this year. Russia’s trade with key partners, actually with all of our trading partners, currently totals $400 billion, up 40% from last year. Obviously, trade within the CIS remains our priority; however, our trade with Eurozone countries, as is well known, is also growing. EU partners currently account for over 50% of Russia’s foreign trade. We are also actively cooperating with the BRIC countries – China, India and Brazil. We are building relations with Latin American countries, and trade with countries of the Asia-Pacific region is on the rise."
"The Russian government has invested a decent amount of money into AvtoVAZ: 75 billion roubles. In addition, we have continued the programme for exchanging used cars, and AvtoVAZ is also receiving a substantial amount of money under this programme. We have allocated several billion roubles to decrease the burden the company bears in dealing with social issues: four billion roubles. And all of this has yielded results."
“We have already implemented serious measures: we have allocated about 40 billion roubles from the federal budget to agro-industrial companies, rescheduled loans and leases and extended the terms of interest subsidies to three years, as you know. <…> I would like to remind you that we subsidise agro-industrial businesses from the federal budget to purchase fertilisers. I propose to earmark no less than a billion roubles for that purpose next year to make total subsidies for fertiliser purchases approach 5.5 billion roubles.”
"A natural area's status as a nature reserve or sanctuary does not always reliably protect it from poaching, illegal logging or industrial pollution. I am convinced that punishment for such violations should be increased. On the other hand, I am sure you will agree that we should avoid taking it to the other extreme and closing the national parks to the public. One cannot be taught to love and value the natural world if it is only experienced in books and pictures."
“It should modernise the existing system, remove the bottlenecks, fulfil the requests of oil companies to be connected to new facilities - deposits or oil refineries - and reduce the costs of transporting oil by using new technology <…>. All this is very important because we must build the necessary infrastructure in order to have a flexible and competitive market of oil and oil products”.
“Added together, an increase in known reserves, the development of new oilfields and enhanced yields at old deposits will allow Russia to maintain current production levels, roughly 500 million tonnes a year, for several decades to come. This will be enough to meet the needs of the domestic economy and to sustain exports”.
“Among the large infrastructure projects we are currently working, perhaps the most important is the completion of the Eastern Siberia-Pacific Ocean oil pipeline. It is already in operation - part of the pipe is ready. We are transporting it to the Pacific by rail, and a good port has been built. The leg from Skovorodino must be extended to the coast. The second extension of the Baltic pipeline system is also very important for us”.
“The new draft of Russia's energy strategy was approved in November of last year. Later on we revised the plan for the construction of electricity generating facilities and approved the draft plan for the general development of the gas industry, as well as the national energy conservation programme. The common goal of all of these documents is to create the necessary conditions for the most effective possible use of the country's energy resources.”
“Ukraine is one of Russia's most important partners, not only in the CIS but in the entire world. Russian businesses are increasing investment. Russia comes second after Germany in terms of investments in the Ukrainian economy. We must keep up the pace of the progress we've made recently and maintain our competitive advantages in order to develop our own economies, solve social problems and operate effectively in the markets of other countries. We are determined to follow this road”.
“The main issue on the agenda is not even about the volume of our trade but a change in its quality. We must modernise our economies to create new high-paying jobs and we are fully capable of doing so.”
“Huge funds will be invested in the modernisation of Norilsk Nickel, in the city's housing and utilities sector and in the construction of new childcare and sports facilities. Additional allocations have been approved for moving pensioners into regions with a more favourable climate, including in southern Siberia.”
“The government drafted and approved a development strategy for Siberia through 2020. We also agreed to monitor its progress. I'd like to remind you that the document was approved after serious consultations with the regions and with the regional branches of the United Russia party. We worked together to determine the priorities and to choose the key investment projects for the Siberian district.”
“We certainly support the efforts of Russian petroleum companies to improve their situation on foreign markets, whether their plans concern the development of new oilfields or oil refining.Such projects bring our companies closer to consumers abroad, while the exchange of assets and investments enhance confidence in the global energy industry, make it more predictable and sustainable, and level out supply and demand”.
“It goes without saying that we should back the efforts to create favourable conditions for the qualitative growth of rural entrepreneurship, for more successful projects to appear in the sector. We will therefore selectively abolish superfluous administrative barriers and slash costs for food and raw materials producers.”
“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.”
“Our strategic goal is well-known - we must create a strong and competitive nanotech industry, whose products will be in demand domestically and on global markets. Russia has the necessary academic potential, specialists and technology to meet this goal. The government has provided substantial support to the nanotech industry. To mention just one example, it contributed 130 billion roubles to the corporation's authorised capital when it was established.”
“Preserving nature remains, of course, a top priority. We must complete the job of amending existing legislation with the environmental agencies. That goes without saying. At the same time, it is clear that we need these changes as much as we need additional funding. We are currently in the midst of a budget planning process. So let us adjust our plans with this in mind. <…>Let us make the first step: let us allocate the necessary funds for 2011 and complete the job of amending the law at the autumn meeting of parliament. Any commercial business in our nature reserves is forbidden, and only partly allowed in the national parks. As I understand it, we will not overhaul these rules.”
“We see the advancement of the fishing industry as one of our key priorities. Despite the federal budget limits, we've decided to maintain spending on the federal targeted programme in the industry at the original level (over 32 billion roubles) and to extend (the programme) for one more year, through 2014. As you know, we subsidize loans taken out by enterprises to build and upgrade vessels as well as to develop processing and storage infrastructure for the fishing industry. Funds are also being spent to set up special fish markets in Russian regions. By the way, it would be interesting to hear from you today about where the first such markets are going to appear. The industry's top management has its own plans for this.”
“We are finishing the highway from Chita to Khabarovsk. In fact, this is an historic event for Russia. Russia has never been entirely connected by road through its territories. Until recently - 100 years ago, or how many, up until 1903? - in order to travel from European Russia to the Far East, people either travelled on the winter road in winter or on ships across the Indian Ocean. A railway was built by 1904, and this was because of an impending war with Japan. In Soviet times, another branch of this railroad was built as a result of deteriorating relations with China. And there was no highway at all. And now we are completing 2,500 km between Chita and Khabarovsk. And for the first time in history, Russia will be connected by roads throughout its territory - you'll be able to drive from its westernmost to its easternmost point.”
“I have to mention another serious problem - bloated regional and municipal administrative staffs and the extravagant costs associated with maintaining them. A majority of last year's regional anti-crisis plans envisaged administrative optimisation. All told, the regional administrative staff has been reduced by 4% and municipal staff by 2.5%. It is the right thing to do, but it is proceeding at a snail's pace. It is worth noting that spending on staff increased by 6% though staff size decreased. Please take note of this. The reduction was 4% while costs rose by 6%, and inefficient spending on public management totalled 83 billion roubles. I think that the work to make the managerial staff smaller and more efficient, and to optimise its costs, should go on.”
“On the whole, an analysis of the situation in Russia's regions has shown once again that we have managed to maintain key positive trends in the country's development despite the difficulties caused by the crisis. Death rates are continuing to decline in the overwhelming majority of regions. There are more births, and life expectancy is growing. It has reached 69 years now. Many regions have succeeded in raising real wages, reducing poverty and curbing unemployment. The number of people working in small and medium-size businesses has for the first time exceeded 25% of the total economically active population. This is a very good sign, in my opinion.”
“Millions of people across Russia eagerly followed the World Cup, empathising with you and the teams. An estimated 6 million Russians play football, but the number of football fans is certainly much higher. That is why we decided to put our bid in to host the 2018 FIFA World Cup. In addition, hosting such an important sports event would boost sports infrastructure and football infrastructure in any country, and maybe even more so for Russia. As I understand, this is certainly in line with FIFA's philosophy with regard to organising this kind of event.”
“We took up the formation of a national infrastructure of high-tech healthcare services for the first time in earnest as part of the Healthcare priority national project, and our principled position was to primarily build new clinical centres in the country's regions and thus bring modern high-quality medical care to the people who need it, so that they do not have to get on a train or a plane to receive treatment at Moscow hospitals, spend money on travel, accommodation and incur other expenses that are not directly related to healthcare, or be placed on a waiting list for months or even years to get the operation or tests they need.”
“Due to massive public support, we have managed to maintain the status quo. During 2009-2010, we invested very serious money - more than one trillion roubles - in housing programmes to support mortgages and the construction industry as a whole. As a result, we have not only made serious progress in sorting out people's housing problems, we have maintained the potential for reconstruction and the development of construction and related industries. Housing construction is up in 37 regions of the Russian Federation. From January to June 2010, 21.6 million square metres of housing was commissioned. This is almost the same as in the first, pre-crisis months of 2008, and about 60 million square metres of housing is expected to be built in 2010.”
“As our priority we have chosen economic modernisation and high technology. Now GLONASS is high technology in the direct and indirect sense of the word, a technology essential for the country's modernisation. We have already spent 60 billion roubles on this project. Its spending peak is past, because the basic satellite constellation is in place. Very soon, we will make it complete, total and global.”
