Izvestia: "The era of freebies has passed"
Russia must double the GDP in 10 years and create 25 million jobs.
Speaking at a forum on the non-oil-and-gas model of a social state, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin once again spoke about the need to double the GDP during a 10 year period of time. He stressed that the number of modern industrial jobs must also double during this period.
"The theme of today's forum is the non-oil-and-gas model of a social state," Putin said. "This is much better than the natural resources model of a non-social state. Today, nobody can say that we have a non-social state, but, regrettably, our economy is primarily driven by natural resources. We have a social model and this is obvious from the structure of our budget. We allocate a huge amount of money to resolve social issues."
But while making its social commitments, the state has become used to taking into account oil prices, as the oil industry accounts for about 40% of all budget revenues. The industry consists of only around 700 oil enterprises.
"However, it was obvious even before the crisis that the prospects of this (raw materials) model are limited and are shrinking all the time," he admitted. "It is impossible to build our strategic development on a few export-oriented industries. First, studies show that even with today's high prices on our traditional export products, the export of unprocessed raw materials can no longer drive our growth."
The conclusion is obvious. As Putin stated, "an economy driven by natural resources puts us on one of the lowest positions in the world division of labour, and, most importantly, it does not allows us to enter a new stage in the development of our human resources."
The prime minister thinks that "the way out is to drastically increase our resistance to all kinds of outside shocks." He stressed that Russia must become "one of the world's top five economies in a decade and increase the GDP per capita from $19,700 today to $35,000 and a bit more."
Putin stressed that "business, and in fact only business, can become the driving force of this project." Meanwhile, the audience of businesspeople burst into applause. He went on to say that "we are now working hard to reduce social taxes."
"I proceed from the premise that we must accomplish this objective," Putin said. "Right now, I'm not ready to mention the final parameters. But the government, the Presidential Executive Office and the president have reached a consensus on this issue. We all believe that this has to be done."
Head of the Independent Trade Unions Federation Mikhail Shmakov sat in the first row frowning. Several minutes earlier he had told Izvestia something quite different.
"What happens is that everyone wants freebies, but their time has passed," he said. "We think that the tariffs must not be lowered. Otherwise, people will remain without pensions. If we follow the road they (the business community) are now suggesting and reduce the rates twice or thrice, people in small private companies will be discriminated against. They will not receive a full pension."
Putin noted the reaction of the trade union leader and promised "to take into account the interests of all those involved in this difficult process."
"The massive creation of high-quality, well-paid jobs could become a systemic solution in this sphere," he said. "First, we expand the tax base. But, more importantly, we obtain additional resources for social development. High wages and decent jobs serve as an incentive for any person."
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Ministers must be closer to the people
The ministers soon learned about Putin's meeting with the business leaders.
While opening a subsequent government meeting, the prime minister lashed out at his subordinates. He said the business community "complained that you, dear colleagues, are not accessible. You or your deputies!"
"True, I pointed out that all the key issues related to the national economy, the drafting and adoption of laws and regulations, are discussed in direct consultation with business organisations," the prime minister said. "But if these people say that there is a lack of communication with regard to the resolution of specific issues while promoting long-term projects, then that's the way it is."
This was not the end of Putin's show of care for the country's business leaders. He stressed that the government will introduce notification procedures for opening a new business in public services.
Moreover, Putin promised to closely watch the progress in eliminating administrative barriers at all levels of government.
"We should instate two filters in the elaboration of any bill that directly affects the development of entrepreneurship in our country," he said. "Strictly speaking, they are already used this way. I consider it necessary to point out the need to improve them – at an early stage, it is the agency itself that prepares a bill or a by-law that must act as this filter, and the secondary, verifying filter is at the level of the Economic Development Ministry."
Anastasia Savinykh
