The agenda includes draft federal laws and budget allocations.
Mikhail Mishustin’s opening remarks:
Good afternoon, colleagues,
Government meeting
Yesterday, the President delivered his Address to the Federal Assembly, in which he outlined the concrete steps needed to be taken for the development of our country, its economy and social sphere. The President suggested a series of measures to work out issues that concern every Russian citizen.
The implementation of the provisions of the address is the government’s absolute priority. We need to do everything within our power to realise these initiatives together with State Duma deputies, Federation Council members and regional authorities.
There is no need to wait for the formalised instructions, for the President has already outlined all the tasks in his address. It’s necessary for us to begin working today.
I would like to ask you, without further delay, to start working out the presidential instructions and to prepare the necessary legal framework.
First of all, we are speaking here about assisting families with children. The Government will prepare a comprehensive system of measures to provide them with support. At the same time, we need to consider separate kinds of assistance for single-parent families. As of 1 June, a special payment of over 5,500 roubles will be provided for children aged between 8 and16 in single-parent families.
In addition to this, as per instruction by the President, families with school-age children will receive 10,000 roubles per child, including children who will only start school this year. It is necessary to make the process of receiving this support convenient for parents, without additional applications and delays.
There is another series of measures to support parents. Childcare sick leave for parents of children under the age of seven will go up and will be paid in full, regardless of the employment record. Future mothers who are experiencing financial difficulties and who register for prenatal care at an early stage of pregnancy will be receiving 6,350 roubles per month.
I would also like to point out another important decision. This year, at the President’s instruction, parents will be reimbursed half of what they spend on their children’s summer camps.
Government meeting
Ms Golikova (Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova), Mr Chernyshenko (Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko), please see to the implementation of this matter.
The President also noted the need to improve work to develop the healthcare systems with the use of new approaches and technologies. As of 1 July, the system of medical check-ups and periodic screening will be relaunched for people of all ages. Additional measures must be developed to counteract cardiovascular, oncological and other diseases. As per presidential instructions, the ambulance fleet will be further replaced with new vehicles. Within the next three years, we will make another 5,000 new ambulances available to the Russian regions.
The President has set another important task, namely, restoring the labour market. For this purpose, the Government should, within one month, chart additional measures to support small and medium-sized businesses.
A large section of the Address dealt with the regions. The President suggested substituting their commercial debts and restructuring budgetary loans. These measures will stabilise regional finances and will also boost the financial independence of the Russian Federation’s entities. They will be getting another development tool, namely, new infrastructure loans carrying three percent interest and repayable in 15 years.
At the same time, the President noted that infrastructure loans should be restructured and issued under the principle of justice. A region implementing the most well-thought-out policy will obtain more infrastructure loans than others.
We have to issue these loans as quickly as possible, so that the Russian Federation’s entities can make use of them. This decision will provide regions with additional opportunities for development and for implementing various projects.
It is also necessary to come up with a plan to supply private households with gas. Moreover, people should not have to pay for extending the gas pipelines to their plots of land in communities that already have their own gas network.
We will also have to draft plans for providing people with reliable and environmentally friendly energy sources. For this purpose, we have to continue expanding renewable energy sources, as well as the nuclear and hydrogen power sectors.
Colleagues,
We will have to work a lot. All the measures set forth by the President in his Federal Assembly Address should form the foundation for drafting new national socioeconomic development initiatives. As per the President’s instructions, the Government will draft them by 1 July.
And now, let’s discuss the items on the agenda.
Last year, the Government started overhauling development institutions, and we need to fine tune these tools for accomplishing various tasks, including those that were set forth yesterday by the President in his Federal Assembly Address.
We will introduce some legislative amendments, so as to be able to formalise a new concept of development institutions, which will operate under VEB.RF. We will specify approaches towards managing these agencies and coordinating their work.
VEB.RF will accomplish an important job, as it monitors the drafting of strategies and the adoption of decisions on major investment projects. It will monitor efforts to attain key efficiency parameters. We need to chart a policy for risk and liquidity management. This will make it possible to establish a joint decision-making centre and also to coordinate the work of all the development institutions.
Another topic the President mentioned yesterday in his Address is improving conditions for businesses in Russia and stimulating investment.
The Government will simplify the conditions of work and stay in Russia for foreign investors. Now foreign citizens who invest in the Russian economy will be able to fast-track the issuance of a residence permit for themselves and their family members. The stage of obtaining a temporary residence permit will be excluded.
At the same time, the Government will set the demand on the volume of investment in a Russian company for such investors, as well as conditions for establishing their own businesses. This is a successful international practice.
Today all countries are trying to attract investors and high-class specialists for joint projects from all over the world. Such cooperation helps to create new highly productive jobs, accelerate the technological modernisation of the economy and increase its competitiveness.
Now let us turn to an important initiative of the Government that will improve the administration of budget revenues at all levels. Currently, any money transfer can take up to three working days, even when it comes to transferring taxes or paying for state or municipal services.
Today we will discuss the amendments to the law on the national payment system. This document introduces a fast-track procedure of transfers to accounts that are part of the single treasury account. Banks will be required to fulfil them within one business day.
This will considerably decrease the period of receiving money in the budget system, while the State Information System on State and Municipal Payments will be more promptly updated on such banking operations. This will improve the efficiency of the use of budget funds. We hope that these amendments will come into effect as soon as 1 July.
Let’s get down to our discussion.
