The main issue on the agenda: a draft law on industrial policy.
Dmitry Medvedev’s opening remarks:
Government meeting
Good afternoon, colleagues. Today we will discuss several large issues, as usual, and also several other important questions.
The first issue concerns industrial policy. Industrial development will always be in the focus of attention for any government. The draft law which we will discuss today is aimed at ensuring the competitiveness of our industrial products. This goal cannot be achieved without a technical upgrade, innovations, high-tech jobs and, of course, without developing the human resources potential. Government support has always played a major role in this area. Some of the tools that we use are effective, but this draft law proposes using also other assistance measures, for example, subsidies for the creation of industrial infrastructure and repayment financing of certain industries. Actually, this can be described as an official industrial policy.
Dmitry Medvedev: "The first issue concerns industrial policy. Industrial development will always be in the focus of attention for any government. The draft law which we will discuss today is aimed at ensuring the competitiveness of our industrial products. This goal cannot be achieved without a technical upgrade, innovations, high-tech jobs and, of course, without developing the human resources potential."
A special investment contract should be used as a stimulation measure. It should be signed between the Government and the investor, who will undertake to create an industrial company in Russia and ensure that it produces the specified products, and who will also assume several other obligations. At the same time, we should not forget about the importance of a balance between industrial development measures and market competition. In other words, excessive protectionism that can hamper the development of a competitive environment is inadmissible, just as it is unacceptable to forget about assistance to industrial development. This is what we should keep in mind, because industrial policy is sometimes interpreted lopsidedly, especially by our colleagues from political parties.
Special attention is paid to the defence industry whose potential should be used as an important resource for innovation development, for strengthening national security and for expanding Russia’s positions on the global high-tech market.
Dmitry Medvedev: "Special attention is paid to the defence industry whose potential should be used as an important resource for innovation development, for strengthening national security and for expanding Russia’s positions on the global high-tech market."
The Minister of Industry and Trade will tell us about some other measures contained in the draft law, and we have invited our colleagues representing the industry to speak. I will also give the floor to Mr Alexei Mordashov who has been invited as an expert on these issues.
Another law aims to make Russian products more competitive and deals with the national standardisation system. Naturally, the current standardisation system is somewhat outdated, and it doesn’t meet many modern needs, including some in defence, in efforts to overcome the technological lag and to ensure Russian economic modernisation. The gap between the national standardisation system and the best international practices has increased, and we need to eliminate this gap. Obviously, Russian legislation has to be updated, and this is also related to Russia’s membership in the World Trade Organisation and our commitments under a number of other conventions that have been ratified and abide by. In this case, international standards can be directly applied in Russia, without being adapted to national legislation. I hope that this approach will encourage more innovations in Russian industry and national companies.
Today, we’re reviewing one more document on the liquidation of the State Corporation Olympstroy. Indeed, the whole country saw the Olympic Games as an exam, and we passed this exam quite well. The Olympic Games were extremely well-organised, the national Olympic team performed successfully, and the city of Sochi changed beyond recognition. All of us know what was accomplished, and it’s obvious that this is our latest achievement.
Dmitry Medvedev: "I would like to raise one more sport-related issue. We are preparing for the 2018 FIFA World Cup and the FIFA Confederations Cup, held 12 months prior to the World Cup. We have also drafted a law for this purpose which will specify a number of items linked with the World Cup. This includes the work of the experts preparing these competitions, some intellectual property issues, with due consideration for our Olympic experience, and a number of other issues that have to be resolved."
The State Corporation Olympstroy was mostly responsible for the preparations of the Games. The corporation’s objectives have been accomplished for the most part, and it therefore should be liquidated. As I see it, this is a good example of a situation where we create something, the project is fulfilled, and the concerned agency needs to be liquidated. At the same time, the corporation’s management isn’t trying to prove that the agency is irreplaceable, and that it is ready to accomplish other government objectives. It’s high time we started learning how to work like this. Nevertheless, I would like to separately thank all Olympstroy employees and its management for their work that really deserves the highest praise. And actually, management has received well-deserved orders and medals. And indeed, the Sochi Olympic Winter Games are probably the best in history. Well, this is true.
I would like to raise one more sport-related issue. We are preparing for the 2018 FIFA World Cup and the FIFA Confederations Cup, held 12 months prior to the World Cup. We have also drafted a law for this purpose which will specify a number of items linked with the World Cup. This includes the work of the experts preparing these competitions, some intellectual property issues, with due consideration for our Olympic experience, and a number of other issues that have to be resolved.
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