The agenda includes: supporting the labour market, LNG development programme.
Mikhail Mishustin’s opening remarks:
Good afternoon, colleagues. We continue to support the labour market. The President has set us the task of returning employment to the pre-pandemic level by the end of the year. With this aim in view, we are introducing a new tool for stimulating employment. Companies and sole proprietors will be able to receive subsidies from the state if they provide jobs for those who were registered at labour exchanges as unemployed as of 1 January 2021. The subsidies will amount to three minimum monthly wages per each new employee (one minimum monthly wage equals 12,792 roubles).
The Government has approved the rules for providing this support. The money will be transferred to employers in several stages; one month, three months and six months after a new employee starts working at the given company. Thanks to this new support measure, 220,000 people will be able to find jobs and improve their positions. The federal budgetary funds required for this have been approved for this year in the amount of 12 billion roubles.
This year, we expanded the career development programme
as part of the national Demography project. We expect that, annually, at least
115,000 people who have trouble finding jobs will be able to learn some skills
that enjoy demand on the market. The WorldSkills agency, the National Research
Tomsk State University and the Russian Academy of National Economy and Public
Administration will be in charge of organising nationwide training. Over 3
billion roubles have been set aside for these purposes from the federal budget for
this year. The funds distribution rules have been approved as well. We will
continue taking comprehensive measures in order to stabilise the situation on
the labour market and overcome the coronavirus fallout.
A long-term programme for expanding liquefied natural gas production has been approved which is an important decision in the energy sector. It will expand the opportunities for gas infrastructure development, including in the Russian Far East and the Arctic which is a priority task set by the President.
Earlier on, we adopted a five-year roadmap for expanding the LNG market’s low-tonnage segment. The programme relies on an integrated approach and is designed to diversify gas supply sources including, primarily, the use of the resources of the Arctic shelf and the Russian Far East. The liquefied gas production capacity will triple 15 years from now. Lucrative terms will be offered to the investors who implement projects in this and related industries. In addition to this, state regulatory mechanisms will be improved in order to stimulate wider use of domestic technology in the gas industry.
As well as expanding the production of LNG, plans are in place to increase its consumption, to develop an autonomous gas supply infrastructure, and to expand state support measures for a more efficient and broader use of gas engine fuel in the transport complex. It is also important to increase exports given that the global demand for LNG is growing fast, not in the least because it is an environmentally friendly fuel.
The already mentioned measures will help expand the gas and the manufacturing industries, strengthen regional economies and speed up the creation of gas infrastructure in the regions, which will help obtain concrete results faster in order to achieve the national development goals set by the President.
