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.”
"Since 1998, the Programme for State Medical Care Guarantees has been renewed annually. In essence, this legislation specifies the parameters of medical care provided for free, regardless of the recipient's place of residence. This will be the first opportunity at a Government meeting to review the results of this Programme for 2008."
"The federal budget will continue to support the development of town infrastructure and improve its quality, including within the framework of the Affordable and Comfortable Housing national priority project. Today we need to arrive at a final decision on the distribution of subsidies to build new highways in the areas with large-scale construction of housing. In 2009, a total of three billion roubles from the federal budget will be allocated to the 18 constituent entities of the Russian Federation that are actively participating in the Housing national project."
“In the budget for 2010, we have maintained or even increased spending on basic medical programmes, meaning the national project ‘Health,’ provision of free medicines for persons entitled to benefits and maternity certificate payments. Grants-in-aid to the regions for compulsory medical insurance will also not be reduced."
"In this regard, I would like to note that since 2005, the United Russia party has made significant progress on a social project entitled "Construction of PT Health-Building Centres." <...> The United Russia project involves 64 regions, and 144 facilities, including indoor skating arenas, gyms, and swimming pools, have already been built. I just spoke with him about using new technology for building swimming pools. They should be cheap to build, so that we can build many and meet the demand for them. Another 116 facilities are under construction, and at least another 60 will have been completed before the end of the year under the auspices of this project."
"We have launched a federal targeted programme The Development of Physical Fitness and Sports in the Russian Federation, and it is being carried out. It calls for the construction of about 4,500 sports facilities by 2015. As of today, 206 sports facilities have already been commissioned. Another 170 will open their doors this year, including 70 football pitches with artificial turf. The programme also calls for the construction of 64 sports facilities, two equestrian centres, and 75 football pitches in 2010."
"Growing birth rates will increase the demand for kindergartens and sports facilities. We will need even more sports programmes for kids, and more sports centres and clubs for physical fitness and sports overall. We must be ready for this, and we must start working now."
"By 2015, we plan to get 30% of the population involved in physical fitness and sports, and the relevant figure for young people should reach 60%. I've already mentioned the absolute figures."
"Today, more than 22 million people in Russia regularly participate in sports. This number increases by an average of one percent per year. The relevant figure for children and teenagers is even higher - 7.5 million, or more than a third of the total population. The figures are not insignificant, but we should not rest on our laurels. Neighbouring Finland has completely different statistics - more than 70% of its population participates in sports."
"Over the last five years the average life span in this country has increased by three years, to reach almost 68 years. Let me be frank - we still have much to do in order to match the European standards in this area, but we know that this is an achievable goal. This means that standards of living are changing, and that the substantial investment made in healthcare, physical fitness and the construction of sports facilities over the last few years is paying off."
"I would also like to draw your attention to the birth rate, which has been on the rise since 2005. A very pleasant change has taken place. Last August, birth rates exceeded death rates for the first time in the last 15 years. This has just been registered by the Ministry of Healthcare and Social Development, and confirmed by Gosstat (Federal Statistics Agency). For the first time in 15 years, we had a natural population increase."
"We must ensure that the post-crisis recovery of the Russian economy be accompanied by qualitative modernisation of its industrial base and infrastructure through the introduction of cutting-edge technologies and an increase in labour productivity."
"I also believe that we have no other option but to form a full-fledged and stable financial market of our own, where national savings will be converted into development capital - a source for so-called "long money." And this is yet another of our key goals."
"We call on businesses to more actively invest in Russia's regions. Do not stay in the same place, where there is often not enough "room" for everyone, but consider the regions that are not spoiled with overinvestment and where it is possible to take advantage of optimum business conditions."
"We are also pursuing a tight anti-inflation policy. Our goal here is to reduce the current inflation level almost by half (from the estimated 12% this year). I believe - I know - that Central Bank officials agree with these proposals: 11% on average by the end of this year, or even lower, and no more than 5%-7% by 2012."
"Russia is the only country that proceeded with a large-scale pension reform during the recession. The basic portion of labour pensions will be increased again by 30% later this year - on December 1. Next year, pensions will grow by an average of 46%, an unprecedented rise in Russia. Now what economic implications will this have? This reform will produce internal demand for an additional 1 trillion roubles, or over $30 billion."
"In line with the pension reform issues, we postponed an increase in corporate insurance premiums, so as not to worsen the fiscal burden on businesses during the recession. Admittedly, as a result - back to our macroeconomic problems - the 2009 federal budget will carry an 8% deficit for the first time in a decade."
"We have enough resources and opportunities to protect the country from new currency shocks, from shocks to the national currency and the financial system. Russia's gold and foreign currency reserves exceed $400 billion."
"We need to improve many things in legislation and corporate governance, and to modernise the structure of the real and financial sectors. But we do not need to reinvent the wheel. Russia's development strategy until 2020 and the guidelines of the Government's operation until 2012 outline the main directions for development, the main projects that should ensure qualitative changes in the Russian economy, and the innovative vector of its modernisation."
"I would like to say that we need not so much a quick, as a qualitative recovery. Our recovery should be based on fundamentally new precepts, with reliance on new growth parameters."
"At present, nearly all the leading countries are trying to determine their place in the post-crisis world. Russia is also facing this task. I believe that Russia can not only strengthen its traditional competitive advantages, for example, in energy, metallurgy, chemicals, transport, and now also in agriculture, but also greatly enhance the role of its high-tech innovation sector."
"We can now shift our attention, moving from "manual control" to systemic solutions capable of ensuring the sustainable development of the Russian economy in the post-crisis period."
"We will consistently promote private enterprise, the country's integration into the global economy and will also do our best to create a favourable investment climate. As the situation becomes stable and the crisis trends are overcome, it is our intention to purposefully and consistently reduce state economic intervention, to use traditional market tools, including privatisation instruments."
"We believe that we still need to support those industries where a dramatic decrease in demand has created serious problems. As in many countries, these include the automotive industry, engineering as a whole, housing construction and other industries."
"We must also consider including in the Yamal project the construction of a gas liquefaction plant and related infrastructure, such as a seaport and ice class ships. In this connection, I would like to spotlight one of the key elements of the Yamal development programme - the creation of a new LNG centre in Russia."
"We proceed from the belief that when implementing joint projects on the Yamal Peninsular Russia will get access to our foreign partners' innovation technology, while Russian enterprises will get large-scale contracts for high-tech equipment, including the equipment we need."
"To become truly successful, the Yamal development programme should also be comprehensive. We need to consolidate the efforts of Gazprom and its partners, other oil and gas companies, and the Government. It would be inefficient to create expensive infrastructure to gain access to only one field, even one as large and unique as Bovanenkovo."
"We must do everything to the highest possible standards on the Yamal, above all as regards environmental protection. Nature in the Extreme North is very fragile; it would not tolerate unprofessionalism."
"Today we have commissioned a new 3.9-km railway bridge, the largest in the Arctic. It was built with the use of cutting-edge technology. We have also built a 572-km railway. They are a vital infrastructure prerequisite for large-scale development of the Yamal Peninsula. They mark the beginning of its development."
"I believe that the main value of Yamal's resources is their ability to act as a stabiliser of the global natural gas markets. These are unique deposits in terms of scale, which can flexibly regulate the amounts of commodities delivered to the market depending on changes in the demand and supply."
"The largest of these deposits, Bovanenkovo, has 5 trillion cubic metres of gas. Gazprom has actually started developing this deposit, where commercial production should begin in the third quarter of 2012. Overall, Yamal has approximately 12 trillion cubic metres of natural gas, and we are confident that additional exploration will greatly increase these figures."
"Russia is certain to remain the absolute leader in gas production and sale for the next few decades. And, of course, we can resolve our domestic energy problems and honour all of our export commitments."
"The federal budget will retain its role of the most important stimulating tool for economic modernisation. We will continue programmes of infrastructure development and establish innovation-based production facilities. Allocations for these purposes will total around 1.6 trillion roubles. Out of that sum, 300 billion roubles will go into building roads, and about 240 billion for support of high tech industries. The Federal Space Programme will receive 67.2 billion, the Rosatom corporation over 53 billion roubles as a Government's property contribution, the GLONASS programme 27.9 billion, civil aviation 22.5 billion, research and teaching personnel training 11.9 billion, and digital TV programme 10.8 billion roubles."
"Overall, the Government will spend an unprecedented 4.4 trillion roubles on pensions, or 10% of the country's GDP. There has never been anything like that in Russian history."
"Total expenditures of the federal budget will amount to 9.9 trillion roubles in 2010, which is comparable to this year's spending. No, it is slightly more, as spending in 2009 is expected to be 9.8 trillion roubles. These resources will certainly help us finance all of our priorities, first of all to significantly increase retirement pensions. Let me remind you that the next indexation is scheduled for December. We will raise the basic part of labour pensions by over 30%. Next year pensions will grow by another 46%, averaging at 8,000 roubles a month."
“The primary goal of the budget policy for the immediate future is to ensure macroeconomic stability and to consistently reduce the budget deficit, which will amount to 3.2 trillion roubles in 2009 and should be halved to 1.6 trillion roubles by 2012.”
"I would like to tell you that the Government has drafted a decision on issuing the next tranche of state guarantees amounting to 36 billion roubles to the Agency for Housing Mortgage Lending. These additional funds should help the AHML to continue to develop mortgage lending, and therefore support people and the construction industry."
"We should also formalise mandatory technical maintenance of technically complicated and potentially hazardous equipment by the companies that produced it. In such complicated cases and regarding such complicated hydroelectric facilities as power plants, we should probably introduce data recording equipment similar to aircraft's black boxes."
"There is one more problem in the Russian power industry - we need to synchronise regulation at the systems operator - power plant level with due account of safety requirements."
"I believe it is necessary to say again that the investigation must be conducted as carefully and objectively as possible. One of its results should be a change in the rules of operating hydropower plants and all other large and technically complicated facilities. The undivided priority should be given to technological safety and the protection of people's lives. The point at issue is to amend industrial safety legislation, and in particular stipulate strict requirements to the workers' qualifications and their personal responsibility."
"A decision has been made to speed up the construction of the onshore spillway. I spoke about it during the meeting at the Sayano-Shushenskaya Hydroelectric Power Plant. As much as 4.3 billion roubles will be allocated from the Government's reserve for this purpose this year."
"I would like to draw your attention today to one of the key problems, stimulating investment in development. Russia's economy still has a deficiency of investment. Whole sectors require an overhaul of their infrastructure and technology. To remain competitive, Russia's industries need to dramatically increase energy efficiency and labour productivity, cut costs and introduce more innovation."
"I would like to draw tour attention to a number of key sectors where, we believe, investment is crucial. First, I am thinking in terms of sectors involving the development of the transport and energy infrastructures, telecommunications, and digital television."
"Along with further implementation of tried and true anti-crisis policies along with a few new methods we have planned, at least new for Russia, although maybe successfully tested by other countries, the Government will begin working on a major exit strategy - a set of policies to modernise the economy and ensure post-crisis development."
"Apart from removing administrative barriers, we have cut taxes significantly. As you must know, Russia has the lowest income tax rate today, 13%, and also the lowest corporate tax rate in both the G8 and BRIC - 20%."
"We are open to foreign investment. Last year we adopted a law regulating the procedure allowing foreign capital to gain control of companies in strategic sectors. Ladies and gentlemen, that law was adopted largely as a result of consultations with our foreign partners, who said openly that we must tell them clearly where they can work, under what conditions and where they could expect limitations. We have done so."
"The Russian Government is drafting a state energy efficiency programme. We have drafted a new Energy Strategy for a period until 2030. In fact, we would like to develop a fundamentally new energy system that will be more reliable, effective and environmentally friendly."
"We must make final decisions on the most rational location for Olympic facilities, and find additional opportunities to reduce environmental impact. We are obliged to protect nature against harmful, careless, or unprofessional interference. It is highly important to take into account constantly the advice of experts and the representatives from environmental protection agencies."
"The Olympic construction programme is fully funded, but it is clear that there are plenty of opportunities to save money on practically every project, including sports facilities, transportation infrastructure, and electric power stations."
"Two difficult sections of the road bypassing Sochi have been completed this year. The second stage of this project should also be completed this year. Such projects are crucial for the city and the upcoming Olympics. It is also essential to commission the alpine road leading to the Roza Khutor ski resort in time. In February of 2011, it will host the Alpine Skiing European Cup."
