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 should demand results from scientific research and should slightly change the structure of funding. Look at how the developed economies finance science. Business is paying two thirds of the funding, and only one third comes from the state. The latter is mostly funding fundamental science. Why? This is so because research is more precise. It is better adjusted to the interests of the economy and the social sphere. This is also a two-fold task."
"Ours is a big country. <…> We have places where ungraded educational establishments, ungraded schools should be preserved despite the high costs, although we all understand<…> that an ungraded school costs the state several times more than an enlarged educational centre. Not only does it cost more, its educational services are worse. Regrettably, this is so, but let me repeat again that despite all this, some of them should be supported."
"However, I have studied the experience of some regions and can tell you that if we guarantee safe and comfortable transfer of children into larger educational centres, we will upgrade the quality of education. This is certainly so, and probably only in this case can we ensure equal access to high-end education, and enable children from the provinces to study in the country's best colleges and universities."
"In the last few years, much money was spent on the repair of the Bolshoi and Mariinsky theatres. Initially, this funding was supposed to be reduced, but we decided to preserve it. Starting in 2009, we will finance many cultural monuments, primarily, those on a special list, and not only in Moscow and St Petersburg but also in the rest of Russia."
"Now we are facing new tasks. It is necessary to develop children's healthcare and pre-school education. The birth rate has gone up, and we do not have enough kindergartens. We should introduce new, higher standards for the production of food, and consider methods for protecting the younger generation from smoking, alcoholism, and drug addiction."
"We have agreed to help the Agency for Housing Mortgage Lending by increasing its authorised capital by 60 billion roubles. We should do this anyway, whether there are problems in the global economy or not; we need to develop the mortgage system, and the Agency has long asked us to increase its authorised capital. We should do this along with appropriating the planned 250 billion roubles to make market operation more effective."
"The Russian Government and the Central Bank of Russia have adopted a block of measures to ensure Russia's economic stability. Considerable funds have been allocated to stabilise Russia's financial institutions, and a package of tax innovations has been formulated to continue to stimulate the economy."
"Mr Fillon and I discussed at length preparations for and the presentation of the Year of Russia in France and the Year of France in Russia. We expressed confidence that this meaningful project will enrich our dialogue and strengthen direct personal contacts between the citizens of the two countries".
"One of the power houses of our economic cooperation is energy. Our French colleagues have confirmed Total's interest in all phases of development of the Shtokman deposit. We see in this evidence of major French companies associating its long-term and strategic plans with Russia.”
"One of such breakthrough areas is aerospace. At Kourou, French Guiana, the Soyuz-ST project is well underway. The launch is scheduled for September 2009. Firm ties are being established between Russia's United Aircraft Building Corporation and EADS. We expect to speak of full production cooperation in the future. A large number of specialists from France are already working in aerospace in Russia, and hundreds of Russian specialists currently work on French soil".
"We believe that the important approach now is to support the positive trends in the most advanced high-technology fields of cooperation. This will enable us to diversify our business ties and improve the competitive edge of the two countries in global markets."
"Economic cooperation between Russia and France is based on two powerful components - energy and high technology. Our countries have great potential in these areas, and a competitive advantage, which in turn secures their positions in world markets."
"Russia has always been open to close international cooperation, which should be based on respect for the partner, understanding mutual interests and profits".
"Energy remains one of our priorities. The work with our French partners confirms that Russia is committed to cooperation in this strategic area, whether in hydrocarbons, the energy industry or the peaceful use of nuclear energy".
"Our countries actively interact in industry as well as in research and development, for example, in aerospace. This is an important step towards boosting the quality of our business links and diversifying their structure".
"We use market methods to respond to emerging problems. The Government and the Bank of Russia have sufficient reserves to protect the Russian currency and the financial system. We have adopted a set of measures, as you know. These are both the Government and the Central Bank's measures, which provide extra liquidity to the market. The limit of budget funds deposited in banks has been raised from 625 billion roubles to 1.514 trillion roubles".
"I was pleased to see what was presented by the Belgian side. I cannot help but mention that our growing trade has reached $6 billion. I was particularly pleased to see the increasing Belgian investments in the Russian economy. Importantly, some of them are direct".
"Taxation should play a more stimulating role, rather than merely serve as an instrument of securing the state's fiscal interests. Starting from 2009 corporate expenditure on education, health care and the housing problems of employees will be exempt from taxes. We have also extended the list of tax cuts for companies investing in research and development".
"Eliminating institutional obstacles to investment is an unqualified priority. We intend to get rid of the obsolete permit and control procedures involved in starting and developing a business. They must be replaced with mechanisms of self-regulation and responsibility".
"Russia needs to build a strong independent financial system. In this, we plan to make Russia an international financial centre, which envisages developing the banking system, the stock and commodity exchanges, streamlining the tax legislation concerning investments in the securities market. I have already stated that we decided to zero out the income tax for those who trade on the stock exchange".
"Today we have made the economy's innovation development our key task. Not only because the state and any government is obliged to improve the quality of life for its citizens - there is an underlying economic objective that prompts us to address these problems constantly and systematically. Since, as you have already stated, it is impossible to address innovation development problems without an educated specialist, a healthy person living in good conditions. It is our strategic goal. It is an essential, so to say, infrastructure requirement to develop innovations".
"My colleagues must have informed you that we have prepared a special computer programme to follow progress on each facility. The programme will also give an overall view of the whole project, enabling us, the International Olympic Committee, and you as its representative to monitor the general picture and particular activities daily and even hourly".
"We are interested in attracting foreign investments. I would like to say it openly and clearly. Of course we hope for reciprocity, for the western partners' equal interest in welcoming investors from Russia. We are perplexed to encounter purely political impediments that have no sound economic ground. We become more dependent on each other through mutual investments. But is there anything wrong with that? Apparently, it insures us against abrupt changes in the economic situation bringing together the business community in the whole world".
"There is certain tension on our stock exchange as well, but we believe that it is the result of domestic issues. Russia's economy has no systemic problems, with all key indicators being within norm, including the surplus of both the budget and trade balance. Our gold and foreign exchange reserves are growing, as are the opportunities in the country's social sector. I think nobody will dispute the fact that the major issues are rooted in the American and European financial markets. I am confident that the current problems can be overcome. Of course, we cannot ignore the events that are unfolding, with both Russian Government and the Central Bank of Russia taking necessary measures. As you know, Russian Financial Ministry has adopted a decision to place 1.5 trillion roubles worth of treasury funds on the market".
"For Russia the most reasonable way to address the situation is to keep theprices at a level where they would cover manufacturers' expenses and investment needs, but at the same time would not have a negative effect on the world and national economies".
"I am well aware that the predictability and stability of economic policy is vitally important for business, and I would like to emphasise that despite certain political events of some urgent and even critical nature, Russia will not change its economic development model. Our policy will remain unaltered, there will be no closed market or economic mobilisation. We will not take any politically motivated decisions or actions in the economy, and we are trying to make our plans as open and clear as possible".
"We must study everything that concerns the preparation for the Beijing Olympics. Our Chinese partners' best practices are to be meticulously analyzed and taken into consideration. It is also important to follow organisational nuances when observing the preparing for the Vancouver and London Olympics".
"We will be happy if Bulgaria becomes more active in the Black Sea region. We have discussed economic issues, including energy, military and technical cooperation and major projects. We have also discussed our financial relations, where we appear to have full understanding of what needs to be done, and cultural cooperation. This year in Bulgaria is the Year of Russia. We have agreed with Mr Prime Minister that we will make every effort to launch the Year of Bulgaria in Russia the next year".
"Russia and Bulgaria have strong long-standing ties. In the recent years we have managed to increase the mutual trade volumes by more than 30% last year in the face of many difficulties. According to our current statistics, Russia is the top exporter to Bulgaria and ranks fourth in sales turnover between our countries".
"As planned, we will aim at further decreasing economic pressure, trying to arrange economic activities to reduce the tax burden. This is our strategic choice".
"Recently, the Russian Government has passed the law on foreign investments to the economy's strategic sector, which lists all the areas that require administrative procedures before investment is made. I should clarify that the law does not mean certain sectors will be closed for foreign investors, but implies administrative procedures which can be implemented, while other sectors will require no special coordination and permissions. In the next few months, we will launch the new procedure to see how it works and report the results".
"We must study everything that concerns the preparation for the Beijing Olympics. Our Chinese partners' best practices are to be meticulously analyzed and taken into consideration. It is also important to follow organisational differences in preparation for the Vancouver and London Olympics".
"The Government sees its prime duty in providing enough financing for education, health, infrastructure and innovative development. And, of course, for the strengthening of the country’s armed forces and security".
"I would like to note that the 2008 budget is being executed smoothly and according to the planned schedule. The budget surplus amounted to 1.4 trillion roubles in the first six months, while the Reserve Fund assets reached 3.1 trillion roubles and the National Welfare Fund amounted to 770 billion roubles. This shows that our budget system has reached a considerable financial safety margin, which makes for minimising the negative impact of the instability of the world financial markets and fluctuation of raw materials prices".
"Starting in April, part of the temporarily available funds will be placed in bank deposits, which is a measure to support the national banking system today. We also know that the Finance Ministry has planned to increase these funds".
"Yes, France is undoubtedly a privileged partner of Russia. That is why we have made some strategic decisions to allow French companies into the Russian energy sector, into the extraction of hydrocarbons."
"In spite of some fluctuations of the so-called speculative capital, overall investments in basic assets in the first half of the year increased by 14.5-14.6%. That is a good record. In that sense the Russian economy is a "haven" for foreign capital and we will do everything to support that process".
"Despite our modest record in addressing social problems we still see rising incomes. Real incomes grew by over 7% in the first six months and real wages by almost 13% (12.7%-12.8%)".
"Russia is developing at a rapid pace. In 2003 I said that doubling our gross domestic product was our medium-term goal. And we are moving towards that goal: the goal will be achieved in late 2009 or, according to some other estimates, in the first quarter of 2010".
"We observed some outflow of foreign capital from our economy even before the events in the Caucasus. This is not connected with the problems of the Russian economy but with the problems of the Western economy and insufficient liquidity on the Western financial markets. The money that came into our economy from the West has been taken off. This is true not only of the Russian market, but of many other developing markets where the same processes have been taking place".
"We have already decided on the entire range of planes to be manufactured by the national aircraft industry. This is based on expert assessments and our real potential. In effect, we have found competitive market niches where we can succeed".
"Hard and painstaking work will be required in order to accomplish our long-term objective, namely, mass-producing competitive civil planes. Maximum concentration of resources and effective state support are also essential. This is why we started establishing the UABC that consolidates private and state assets manufacturing, designing and selling military, civil, transport, and unmanned aircraft two years ago. It took a lot of time and effort to set up the UABC. I hope that it will become a cost-effective performer".
"The Russian aircraft industry must have its own production facilities, maintenance and repair centres for the sake of sustainable development".
"The aircraft industry ranks among those hi-tech sectors where Russia’s industry and science can effectively realise their competitive potential and ensure the country’s worthy positions among leading global manufacturers of passenger and transport planes".
"As far as general designers are concerned, unfortunately, we lack a permanent platform for dealing with people who generate all the main ideas. This concerns not only the aircraft industry but also other hi-tech sectors. I suppose that we should set up a council of general designers working in hi-tech sectors under the Prime Minister’s auspices".
"We have recently decided to merge numerous aircraft unit-and-component manufacturers with the Russian Technologies State Corporation (Rostekhnologii), whose managers must ensure that the national industry starts making inexpensive and up-to-date products".
"These decisions should not make us forget about our current work. If we do make these decisions this year and start implementing them next year we will have to ensure the indexation of pensions at the beginning of the year and in the second half of the year. If we make these decisions in the second half of the year the rise will be already considerable and we should make sure that the Pension Fund has the money. You have to be in contact with the Finance Ministry and other agencies to ensure that nothing misfires".
"The decision to mark the 450th anniversary of Astrakhan was made three years ago. We drew on the positive experience of preparing for the jubilees of St Petersburg, Kazan and other Russian cities and regions. The aim of such large-scale projects is not only to mark a historical date or milestone, but above all to concentrate federal, regional and local resources in tackling the city's and regional problems in a comprehensive way, to give a powerful impetus to the renovation of utilities, transportation, social infrastructure, improving the environment and creating better living conditions".
"The increase in wages for public sector employees in the regions should be coordinated with our plans to increase the labour compensation fund for the budget-paid employment sector. On December 1, federal employees will get a 30% increase in wages, and all of this has to be coordinated".
