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.”
"The exchange of national years is an unprecedented project in the history of relations between Russia and China. It has given us an opportunity to implement many ideas in the development of our interaction in various fields. More than 600 socio-political, trade and economic, cultural, scientific and technological events have demonstrated the wide spectrum of possibilities for continuing dialogue between the two countries, the strengthening business-related partnership, friendship and confidence between our people".
"Judo is an exercise both for your body and your spirit. It develops strength, reaction, fitness. It teaches you to control your feelings, to feel the height of the moment, to see the rival's strong and weak points, to try to achieve your best results. And the most important is constant improvement and self-cultivation. You will agree that such knowledge, skill and experience are essential for a politician".
"To support physical education and sports in Russia certain measures have been introduced and approved by the Government. A special law has been passed, and a relevant ministry has been established. Since 2006 a special federal targeted program has been implemented - Development of Physical Education and Sports in the Russian Federation. The program will run until 2015. The project budget is more than 100 billion roubles ($4.07 billion). Over 4,000 sporting facilities are to be built. Three quarters of them will be housed in schools and universities. This means children and young people will be the first and most important users of those sporting facilities. Sport is beginning to play an essential part in educational programmes".
"We think it is of prime importance to get the younger generation interested in sport. And it is most important to encourage this from an early age".
"I'm sure that the Russian National Olympic Team will write a brilliant chapter in the history of the Beijing Olympics. Our athletes will give excellent performances, demonstrate high class and skills and will win the highest number of medals.<…> I am reluctant to talk about sure achievements before they come true. Laozi once said: "The one who chants praises to himself will never gain the fame." However, experts say we have a good chance in the rhythmic gymnastics, freestyle wrestling, Greco-Roman wrestling, tennis, boxing, track and field, shooting, and synchronized swimming. I also hope that judo fans will be pleased with the athlete's performance".
"The principal objective is to achieve a financial balance and put in place free healthcare guaranteed by the state.”
"We channel significant resources into this sector. But, I repeat, the national project for health and pilot projects in the regions must become a basis for changing the system in this sector. And we have to be fully aware how each individual will benefit from these projects and how the quality of work of health professionals will change".
"For the last six years government spending on health in real terms has more than doubled, despite increasing inflation. At the same time GDP has increased 1.5 times, which means that spending on health is growing at priority rates".
"I hope the participation of our athletes in the Olympic Games will become additional motivation for the development of popular sports".
"I'd like to emphasize that it is necessary to take full account of inflation when calculating pension expenditure. The achieved level of financial security for senior citizens must not decrease under any circumstances. That is why it is so important to develop an effective mechanism for the pension scheme in the long-term. This mechanism has to give the system stability in all economic circumstances both on domestic and global markets. The scheme should provide a merit level for pensions both for current and future generations".
"Obviously, both sides are committed to intensifying Russian-Libyan relations, in the first place in the trade and economic sphere. The prerequisites for our work are very good. I am referring to the long tradition of mutually-beneficial cooperation. The political dialogue between our countries has become stable lately".
"Nuclear power plants (NPP) work most efficiently under full-load conditions. That's why the country's unified energy system must be ready to accept new facilities. It means that the priority development of the network infrastructure is essential".
"In the mid-term we shall have to switch over to a new technology level. I mean a closed fuel cycle and commercial fast neutron reactor development. The Targeted Programme Atomic Energy Technologies of the New Generation must meet this challenge. The development of the Programme should be accomplished by November. One of the main demands facing the industry is the observance of safety measures. The safety system must be on the highest modern level and correspond to the highest world standards. And, of course, we can't spare money on this. This is not something to economize on".
"We have several items to discuss. One of the key items is the production of strategic materials for weapons, military and specialised hardware. We are talking about the production of composite materials, alloy additives, lubricants and special materials. They are indispensable in creating new-generation equipment, in making it competitive, effective and reliable. That key sector of the defence industry was at one time lagging behind. Some technologies were lost and production capacity was reduced. Unfortunately, we also lost some of the qualified personnel. As a result, we became dependent on foreign suppliers to some extent. And that in such an important and sensitive sphere as the defence industry. So it is necessary to attend seriously to the retrofitting of our enterprises and to research and development".
"Naturally, one of the main areas of our cooperation is energy. This is understandable since, firstly, Russia is a country that contributes considerably to the world's energy system, and secondly, energy resources are in the highest demand today. Lately, we have been strengthening the legislative base for our cooperation, searching for new ways to diversify our relations, to find new areas for collaboration, such as transportation, aerospace, science-intensive production, and of course, military-technical cooperation. You know that Russia is a reliable partner in this respect. We hope to develop cooperation in all these areas, including humanitarian aspect".
"We propose to make a list of priorities and use it to extend larger subsidies to regional budgets. The regions will have more freedom to choose how to use that funding so that Moscow officials do not tell the Governors the heads of regions how they should spend the money. The Governors, together with the regional legislatures, will be able to determine the priorities. Naturally, this system will function on condition that the targeted indicators are achieved".
"We intend to work seriously to further improve the mechanisms of federal aid to the regions. I will speak about it in more detail in a moment.<…> Today the Ministry of Regional Development is preparing amendments to the rules of subsidizing the regions to address socially sensitive problems".
"We are facing a unique situation when building and engineering work in Russia costs several times more than the same work in neighbouring European countries. And yet on many counts this work is cheaper in Russia. I am not just talking about the cost of labour, but energy, land, even water and other resources are also much cheaper here. But on balance it turns out to be more expensive. Why is that? Legally, everything is in order. The reason is outdated regulations going back to the 1950s and 1960s applied to what appear to be natural and simple instruments. But at the end of the day it is a mess. We have to put an end to it".
"The ideology of government control must be changed fundamentally. Routine checks must not be held more frequently than once a year. And for the most part these should be documentary checks without on-site inspections. Unscheduled inspections should be made only if there are grounds to suspect a potential threat or real health hazards and environmental hazards".
"We should also learn to be flexible in adjusting the plans and programmes that we have already adopted. Unfortunately, such a need arises when external conditions change. The Agriculture Programme is an example in point. When it was developed the prices of oil, fertiliser and other resources were at a certain level. Today the situation is entirely different. The programme needs to be adapted to the new realities".
"Let me stress that we are not against imports as such. In the WTO negotiating process and in the dialogue with our partners we always come out for equal and fair access to each other's markets".
"The investment potential of Vneshekonombank and other newly-created development institutions must be used more fully".
"The adoption of technical regulations is an important instrument in enhancing the competitiveness of the domestic industry. Early steps in that direction are being taken. Let us face it, they are still very timid, but we must go down that road".
"We must create conditions to enable our producers to use their competitive advantages fully, to secure a worthy place in the world division of labour and protect our citizens against the negative phenomena that excessive dependence on foreign markets may engender".
"At the same time, the development of children's and youth fitness and sports is our main duty for today. We have determined to fully reinstate and modernise children's and youth sport schools. This is one of the essential fields of work".
"Upsetting the balance of nature may create a situation you cannot get out of for love or money. So I consider it necessary to shift these facilities to other sites to be agreed with the International Olympic Committee".
"In choosing between priorities – funding or the environment – we have opted for the environment. Our reasoning was this: a new project may be costlier, but the possible bill from nature might be so enormous as to be beyond any financial compensation. We should preserve the uniqueness of Sochi for this and future generations".
"The starting idea was not only to make the 2014 Olympic Games in Sochi a sports pageant for the country and the world, but also to give southern Russia a facelift, in particular the Greater Sochi area, where hundreds of thousands of Russians holiday every year. This implied the improvement of all types of infrastructure - transport and energy - and the improvement of the environment, because all that we are making here must serve our people. To do otherwise would be to make the entire project pointless".
"All projects and all work on Olympic facilities will be conducted completely openly. All disputes will be spotted and resolved in dialogue with the environmentally minded public and international non-governmental organizations".
"Transport and the environment are at the top of the agenda and will continue to enjoy priority. Altogether, we plan to build 35 transport and 18 nature conservation projects.<…> Now concerning the environment. Our core idea is to observe all environmental requirements. Sochi, its nature reserves and the biosphere preserve are our treasures. We prize them and will do everything to keep them and the place unique".
"I have already spoken about the importance of combating such national scourges as drunkenness and smoking, especially among the young. I think that beginning from 2009 we should start financing measures to propagate a healthy way of life and encourage people to give up harmful habits".
"In public health, the main decisions will be connected with stepping up control of socially significant diseases such as HIV, tuberculosis, diabetes and some other diseases. And of course they will be connected with an increase in hi-tech medical assistance".
"In developing the budget we have, for the first time, applied in practice the «sliding three-year period» method. In other words, we correct budgetary items for 2009 and 2010 and at the same time make plans for 2011. Let me stress that all earlier budget commitments are to be complied with unconditionally. This is the underlying logic of the three-year budget".
"Of course, we should pay special attention to libraries. All it takes is to finance their revival, to impart a new quality to them, to put their work on a modern technological basis. Financing for this will come through two channels".
"On the whole I think we should change the system of remuneration for cultural workers. The Culture Ministry must think about it and make corresponding proposals. Of course, the salaries of people working in this sphere are very small and do not match the importance of culture for society. It is an evident fact".
"As the saying goes, the new is the well forgotten old, so we are planning to bring back the support system for young people's creative endeavors in the fields of science and technology. Such centres existed in Soviet times, but they gradually disappeared. We are talking about creating new centres, societies, study groups. These are important mechanisms for talent scouting and for bringing young talent into science".
"In fact it amounts to creating a general system of insurance for the provision of drugs. Under the system, the state will subsidise part of the price of the drug dose. But for this system to work we have to assess all the financial outlays, complete the development of standards of medical assistance and introduce the necessary monitoring system including, of course, quality assurance. It is necessary to protect the market from inferior and counterfeit products".
"It is necessary to guarantee energy supply to households and to the economy, especially in the autumn and winter season. To this end we have to build an effective system of interaction among all the energy market participants".
"A great deal will depend, not only in the energy industry but in the economy as a whole, on our effective and responsible actions. Much will depend on how we will modernise the economy as a whole. We understand that the modernisation of the energy industry can to a large extent be a pilot project, an example for other branches of the economy. So we must achieve a positive result here".
"We have new ministries and agencies, at least they have new names. This should not be a pretext for holding back financing of the programmes already adopted. I especially would like to draw the attention of the Minister of Economic Development and the Finance Minister to this. Equally, the change of the government institutions' status should not mean holding back funding. What matters to us is not the status of an institution or its name, but the substance of the programmes. We must implement these programmes and we must not delay them under any circumstances. So I urge my colleagues to think about an effective way of closing this problem once and for all, rather than go from door to door to various agencies and spend a whole year getting the necessary approvals. That cannot be tolerated. We don't want more red tape".
"Rational use of budget money is one of the key tasks facing every government body. Let me remind you that irrational use results in an excess of liquidity in the economy and spurs inflation. Agencies keep asking us to increase funding, and then they fail to use the allocated resources in a timely manner. Monitoring that process must be one criterion for assessing the effectiveness of government agencies".
"First, as we had expected, Russian business has displayed considerable interest in the Olympic project. That is good news. Investors in 59 infrastructure and tourist facilities have been identified. It means that the load on the state budget will be diminished. The organisational and technological resources of Russian companies will be actively used".
"It is great that young athletes - and it is important above all for the young - now have a chance to show their skills to their fans. For the first time the Russian championship will be held this season for the under-21s.<…> Today about 67,000 kids attend sports schools. That is not the limit. That is not enough. We need to promote mass sports, which is what we have been doing in recent years consistently and will do in the near future. The juniors, many of them at least, will compete in Vancouver and later in Sochi in 2014. Of course, their fans will expect results, expect victories".
"The new law on foreign investments does not ban them. On the contrary, it creates procedures that are transparent and easy for investors to understand. This is in fact the main aim of the law. It contains a closed list of types of activities for which foreigners seeking to control enterprises will have to go through a special approvals procedure".
«I think our European partners need more time to get used to cooperating with Russian companies, to be able to appreciate their contribution to the joint development. Today's examples of Russian investment in France and vice versa are practically all positive. There will be more positive examples of this kind».
«In a month, France will assume the presidency of this prestigious union. We have agreed to work together for an early start on talks for a new fundamental agreement between Russia and the EU».
«However, it seems that high-tech cooperation is the most promising area. Our French partners are invariably interested in Russia's developments in bio- and nano-technologies. We would like to cooperate in this field, and intend to create an atmosphere promoting mutually advantageous scientific and industrial partnership».
«Practically all major European energy companies are taking part in the production of hydrocarbons in Russia and they are involved in sizable projects. Total, for one, is taking part in the development of the Stockman and Kharyaginskoye deposits. Gas de France has long cooperated with Gazprom both in sales and other areas. They have very good prospects for liquefied gas».
"The updated projection of the federal budgetary revenues will increase to almost 9 trillion roubles, i.e. by more than 900 billion roubles. My heartfelt congratulations. The revenues of off-budget funds will also grow by a total of over 100 billion roubles".
