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 must also require the obligatory participation of manufacturers in the capital repair and technical maintenance of the equipment they produce, as well as requirements for the skills of professionals working at power generating facilities who should be regularly certified and be personally responsible for compliance with technical regulations.”
“This is why we must make prompt decisions to ensure fundamentally new standards of safety and reliability for power generating facilities. Obviously you have an exceptionally large role to play in this undertaking. First of all, we must review and adopt modern safety standards and norms for each technological stage, from equipment design engineering to operation and maintenance.”
“Traditionally Russia has had a large foreign trade surplus: at the end of 2009 it will be about $100 billion. Foreign investment is flowing in, the national currency, the rouble, is growing stronger and our sovereign wealth fund has now reached more than $447 billion.”
“Positive trends are apparent in Russia too. Since June 2009 the GDP has been growing month on month and investment demand and retail trade have been gradually recovering. The macro-economic situation remains stable, inflation in the country is set to be at one of its lowest rates since 1992, certainly under 10%, and I think it my be 9%.”
“I am happy to note that India, which truly is an important strategic partner for us both in the region and globally, strongly supports our contacts in virtually every area.”
“We consider the implementation of joint business projects to be a key factor in achieving sustained development and economic growth. In that respect we recognise that India has for a great many years proved our reliable partner. We have many promising areas such as mineral extraction, metallurgy, energy, the jewellery and chemical industries, pharmaceutics, aviation, machine-building, space, transport and communications.”
“Our task now is to move forward, to develop all the myriad opportunities we have to diversify the Russian-Indian partnership. The time has come to move to a qualitatively new level of bilateral interaction and to move on from traditional trade to large-scale joint projects and investments, including in the markets of third countries. This is even more important now when we are already seeing early signs of recovery in the global economy and business activity.”
“I would like to say that the strengthening of our strategic partnership with India has been, and remains, a key priority for Russian foreign policy. That applies both to our interaction in the international arena and to the development of multi-faceted economic relations. We have already created a solid base for the latter. Over the last three years our trade has grown at a steady 30% a year. Moreover, it grew even in a time of global crisis. It grew by almost 8% during the first nine months of this year. It is a totally unique phenomenon. We see that cooperation with India has become genuinely immune to the crisis and that it need not fear fluctuations in the world market.”
“Every necessary measure is being taken to investigate the circumstances of this tragedy. The Emergencies Ministry is conducting additional inspections on concert halls, clubs and other similar facilities of mass recreation. This work has started. But the main thing now is to save those who have suffered burns and injuries. Many are in serious condition”.
“Israel is one of Russia’s priority partners in the Middle East. We have also developed friendly relations over the past decades. We certainly value our contact and plan to continue promoting it”
"We are conducting a sector-by-sector analysis of it - including conventional weapons, rocket and space technology, the navy, anti-aircraft defence and so on. And there are lots of problems associated with the need to modernise our leading companies, because we cannot use 1950s-era equipment to produce modern weapons for our defence capacity. All of these issues are resolvable. We're resolving them and will continue to resolve them."
"As for weapons purchases and sales, we are No. 2 in the world in terms of volume of sales to foreign markets, and of course, we don't need to buy weapons from abroad to provide for our defence capacity."
"I take advantage of my current job to try to resolve the most acute problems in that area. Are you aware that our Red list includes many animals that are on the brink of extinction and extermination? Among them - the Amur tigers in the Far East of which there are only 500 left. That is a critical number. The Far Eastern leopards are in an even worse situation. Scientists estimate that there are approximately 50 to 60 species of leopards left. "
"When I was there[Battle for Respect], I really liked these young people, not only those who gave excellent performances, but also the people who attended the show. They are young and very trusting, so it is very important what it is said and done by their idols. And we should make sure these idols do positive things."
"I believe that the government should work with all age groups, and, in particular, with young people. 17% of Russians die of smoking-related diseases. The number of deaths from drug abuse is slightly lower. And we are all know about deaths caused by alcohol. That's why we have launched several campaigns promoting healthy lifestyle. I want them to be implemented at both federal and regional levels. And I am counting on the initiatives of youth organisations, because working with teenagers is our top priority."
"President Dmitry Medvedev spoke in his state of the nation address about the New School programme. The government is giving schools and education in general a lot of attention. We have a priority national project in education. We will continue this project."
"Would like to emphasise once again that we will continue fighting corruption. The President has spoken more than once about this, and the Government will do all we can on this issue, although this is a very complicated process. Corruption is a huge problem in this country, but we are not the only ones. Corruption is worst in countries with transitional economies, because they have numerous grey zones which are not regulated by law. However, we will achieve success if all of us, if our entire society works on this issue."
"State-owned corporations were not established to expand the state's involvement in the economy. They were established in order to gather the fragments of those industries and enterprises that were scattered in previous decades, primarily during the privatisation of the 1990s, and that are also vital to the interests of the state. This includes the aircraft industry and some areas of the defence industry. Our task is to consolidate these assets and bring them up to the required conditions and levels. In some cases, these corporations will actually be dissolved, as is the case with the housing and public utilities corporation, which was established to operate for a preset period. Some of them must be converted into public shareholding companies, which was initial goal."
"We have held a tender for 14 higher educational and research schools this September, and that, according to the commission, three specialised schools have submitted quite competitive and interesting programmes. Three of them, namely, the Moscow Aviation Institute, the Kazan Institute and probably the Saratov higher aviation school, have been listed among federal higher research schools. All of them will receive additional funding and resources totalling 1.8 billion roubles over the next five years and will use it to modernise their material-and-technical base and to improve personnel training."
"A substantial number of students pay for their training in economics and general specialisations, while not more than 15% of future engineers pay for their courses. On the whole, this shows that the state prioritises the training of top-grade aircraft industry specialists."
"In this case, I am speaking as the company's ardent advocate. <…> We are trying to encourage innovation-based development. Engineering is the sector of the economy where innovations should be introduced. Our policy should not be to shut down all our companies and import everything from now on. Our policy should be to move our industry to a higher technologic level through evolution and not revolution. I am confident that we will be able to do that."
"We will make a considerably larger investment - I mean the state - 50 billion roubles, and Renault has undertaken to invest the necessary amount of 300 million euros in the form of technology, in the form of equipment, and in the form of its know-how, in order for AvtoVAZ products to reach global standards in the passenger car sector. Indeed, the new platform should be able to launch an absolutely new car under the Lada brand. A considerably larger number of cars will be released under this brand."
"And now let us move on social issues. Renault itself has good experience in reorganising its companies without mass layoffs. Small and mid-sized subsidiaries are set up around these companies that work with the head firm. People that are made redundant because of new technology go to work for these companies. Pouring in money for no particular reason and generating losses is pointless."
"I have also recently signed documents stipulating additional support for the Sukhoi Corporation itself. As you know, we capitalised the company some time ago, and have made yet another similar decision recently. I am confident that the national aircraft industry, primarily the civilian segment, has a good future despite all problems, and that the industry will be operating to capacity in the next few years."
"This decision has been made, and the Government's executive order on allocating an additional 17 billion roubles to the Amur Shipbuilding Plant in several instalments signed. The first 1.9 billion roubles will be allocated by late December 2009. Another 1.6 billion will be allocated next year. The enterprise will receive 3.2 billion roubles in 2011, 2012 and 2013, respectively, as well as another 3.4 billion roubles in 2014. We hope very much that the funding, as well as current efforts to place orders at the enterprise, will facilitate its recovery and stable performance."
"The prices for companies making vitally important medications will be registered. This is the first thing. Second, the Federal Tariff Service will draft procedures for the constituent entities limiting their authority to regulate mark-ups. On the one hand, maker's prices will be fixed, and, on the other, mark-ups will be limited. These regulations will be effective from January 1, 2010."
"As far as the aircraft industry is concerned, we have established the sizable United Aircraft Corporation (UAC). You probably know this. Unfortunately, the UAC has inherited all problems from previous years, including massive debt. We have just adopted a decision to provide additional support to the UAC. We will allocate several billion roubles for its authorised capital and will start restructuring its debt worth another 46 billion roubles in the next few years."
"To cut a long story short and make it clear to everyone - the key problem is insufficient funding for the system. There are shortfalls in funding from every source, including the federal and regional governments. We have plans to reform this system. But at the moment we are embarking on a major project to improve the pension system, which will require between 500 and 700 billion roubles in 2010, according to our estimates. Our next effort will be to reform the compulsory medical insurance system gradually."
"Now, concerning the WTO. Our entry remains our strategic objective, but our impression is that for some unknown motives certain countries, including the United States, are hindering our accession to the WTO. For us, our main priority is still integration across the post-Soviet space, and we are very pleased with the processes going on in the Customs Union, which I mentioned before, and which has been formed by Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus."
"On the whole the Belarusian leadership and the President of Belarus are in favour of integration, of closer relations with Russia and we set great store by that. We have recently observed a spectacular manifestation of these sentiments and this policy when Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan signed documents to create a Customs Union. It is an important move towards integration, perhaps one of the most important in the post-Soviet times because it is a truly a path towards real integration."
"The plans to develop our power facilities, and these are big plans, will be implemented. In the past ten years, we commissioned 13000 MW of capacity, but we plan to commission 10000 MW of capacity within the next two years. These are challenging plans, and they also concern the Boguchany hydroelectric power plant located nearby, in Siberia."
"We cannot support all our infrastructure monopolies from the budget, because we also need funds to fulfil our social obligations, including raising pensions. But we will do that to some extent, like we did last year. We have promised to give 25 billion roubles to Russian Railways but we will manage, ultimately, to increase the sum, as a minimum, to 50 billion in 2010, as it was this year."
"We set before ourselves the goal of achieving such a level of pension support that the average old-age pension would not fall below retirees' cost of living. We will certainly accomplish this objective in 2010. And we have further plans to raise pensions at a specific pace, although naturally this will depend on the overall state of the Russian economy. If everything proceeds as planned, pensions will exceed retirees' cost of living by at least 150% by 2050, which is our planning horizon for pension support."
"All the World War II veterans are to be given flats regardless of whether or not they joined the waiting list before March 1, 2005. We are financing this out of the budget for 2010. I have just one question or request for the veterans and the administrative bodies: determine as quickly as possible the number of people who are entitled to new housing under that decision. This needs to be done so that our construction companies could get government financing in time to buy or build the required amount of housing in 2010."
"A decision has been taken at government level and at the level of RusHydro, in which the government holds the controlling stake, that all the station workers from the families of those who died or are missing, and in general all the station workers who have been affected will get preferential treatment in terms of jobs for the whole period of its recontrction, as well as after the station has been restored, and you should have no doubts on that score."
"We passed a decision at the end of last year, in December, to increase the wage fund for the federal public sector workers by 30% at once, but we immediately launched a reform of the budget sector. I will tell you in a nutshell what these reforms amount to. We have given public sector institutions much greater discretion as to how they spend government money and have enabled them to optimise their spending. In other words, optimisation of expenditure is to a large extent in the hands of the managers of various institutions."
"When we talk about this country, about Russia, we start with its economy, efficiency and competitiveness, and all that is very important. But our ultimate goal is people. Russia is its people, and we must make them happy, improve their lives, as well as Russia's healthcare services, security, defence potential and infrastructure."
The list of possible options for the use of maternity capital may be extended further. Why haven't we done it yet? Only in order to secure women's interests. It's easy to withdraw this money. 317,000 roubles is a considerable sum for people in the regions. It will simply vanish overnight. It won't be spent on education, housing or to replenish pension account funds.
"At the same time, we are working not only in the economy but also in the legal sphere. Agricultural producers and companies that process agricultural raw materials want to settle their relations with retail chains. As you know, a relevant law is being considered in the State Duma. This law covers issues of great importance to farmers. One of them concerns payment for delivered products. If the lifetime of bread is 72 hours and is even shorter for milk, money for them should be transferred to the producers without delay or else they will have no working capital, no money to produce these products or for their economic operation. But the money was delayed for a month and even longer. As of now, payment for perishables is to be transferred within ten days, for other products within 30 days, and for spirits within 45 days, but we will reconsider this."
"Agriculture, which some in the previous years called "the black hole" of the economy and so on, is a growth area today. It will grow by 0.5% this year, and in some areas, for example, in livestock, it will grow by 10%. It should have been still greater, but that is how it looks on paper: Last year we had a record grain crop of 108 million metric tons. This year it will be large too, at 93 million tons, but because it is less than last year, on paper the indicators have gone down. But on the whole, I repeat, agriculture will grow by 0.5%."
“We have big support programmes for agriculture, such as tax breaks and subsidies. Last year we issued large subsidies, which covered 60% of spending. Early this year we increased them to 80%, and in livestock breeding to 100%, at the request of farmers and in view of problems due to the economic downturn. In general, I would like to tell all those present here, including farmers, that in 2009 we have issued 700 billion roubles ($24.1 billion) of loans to agriculture through different channels. This is more than ever before, but then, agriculture has never reported such good results before either. We will continue to implement these programmes.”
"The economy has been growing in the past five months. The growth is modest, an average of 0.5% a month, and some months even lower, 0.3%. Some months the economy grew by 0.8%, but on average the economy has been growing by 0.5% for the past five months. I very much hope that these positive figures will grow by the middle of next year."
"We are restoring our gold and currency reserves. Today they are the third largest in the world after the People's Republic of China and Japan and amount to $444 billion. We have a trade surplus, and we will probably have the best indicator in this area. We have a positive trade balance, probably the best figure. We did well in 2006, and the inflation rate is likely to be lower this year. It will be lower than 10% this year, probably even one-digit figure, around 9%. This means that we have coped with these problems."
"We see the average wage falling; it is down 3.6%. Why? Because the fall in the commercial sector was considerable, 5.6%, I think. The influence on the public sector became evident in 2009 because the wage fund in the sector was increased in December 2008, and so wages in that sector increased by 4.1%. We have increased pensions considerably, by 13%-14%."
"In the sectors that the Government considers to be its direct sphere of responsibility the situation is more or less acceptable. For instance, industry, as I said, is expected to contract by 13%, but the defence industry will grow by 3.7%. And in some areas, for example in aerospace, they have many problems too and we were recently looking at this industry - but they have a growth of 13%."
"What has been done during this difficult year, I would say, first, that it was one of the most difficult years in the past decade - not only for us, but for the world economy in general. These events have hit us hard. We had predicted (though no official forecasts were made), some experts believed that GDP in Russia would drop by about 10%. It has dropped significantly, but not as much as some experts had thought. It is likely to be 8.5-8.7%. That is a lot."
“A total of 14,500 people are employed at the construction site and over 2,000 construction machines are being used. Of all the facilities planned, 123 are at the design stage; 42 are already past that stage; and construction is underway on 49 sites. The grand ice arena is at an advanced stage of construction. Local infrastructure is also being developed - the Sochi bypass highway is near completion.”
“Next year state defence orders will be boosted considerably, specifically to 1.75 trillion roubles. We hope that this decision will not only allow us to begin the upcoming modernisation of the defence industry, but will also provide significant support to related companies and encourage the introduction of high technologies and the manufacture of cutting-edge materials and components. This will result in a considerable increase in the efficiency of the rocket and space industry. All the more so, because in 2010, defence companies are to supply over 30 ground-based and sea-based ballistic missiles and 11 space shuttles to the Armed Forces.”
“Despite the overall economic and industrial decline caused by the global economic downturn, the defence industry has grown by over 3% - to be exact, by 3.7% to 3.8% - primarily thanks to state support. That's not bad.”
