Agenda: Federal bills and budgetary funding.
Mikhail Mishustin’s opening remarks:
Good afternoon, colleagues,
Government meeting
Before we start our Government meeting, I would like to say that I spoke with the President this morning. I wished him a happy birthday and informed him that the Government will continue to do its best to accomplish the tasks set by the President. These include efforts to improve quality of life for Russian citizens, economic development and advancing the social sphere. Colleagues, their implementation is a high-priority aspect of our joint work.
A directive on approving a list of strategic socioeconomic development initiatives has been signed. This past summer, the President discussed these initiatives with us in great detail at a meeting of the Council for Strategic Development and National Projects. All these initiatives are needed to more effectively achieve the national goals set by the Russian leader for the next ten years. Moreover, we discussed ways of accomplishing tasks set by the Russian leader in his addresses to the Federal Assembly.
The Government has now drafted the required legal framework. The initiatives will be implemented in the form of federal projects. The 42 initiatives are subdivided into six key areas, including the social sphere, construction, ecology, digital transformation, a technological breakthrough and a state for its citizens. Each initiative stipulates specific results in two planning horizons, that is, for the first four years (until 2024) and ten years (until 2030).
The list heeds all modern trends and challenges that Russia has to address in the years to come.
First of all, this includes efforts to further improve the healthcare system. Our goal is to create a reliable “sanitary shield” that will make it possible to drastically reduce the chances of biological threats penetrating the territory of our country. It will be possible to detect potential dangers onsite, including by deploying a nationwide chain of laboratories for the quick and effective diagnosis of infections. This will allow us to detect infections much faster. It goes without saying that, for this purpose, we are planning to completely meet national demand for Russian-made test kits, vaccines and personal protective equipment.
This also includes the modernisation of the system for the medical post-disease and post-injury rehabilitation of citizens. Over 1,350 medical rehabilitation wards, as well as about 130 daycare medical centres, will be equipped or overhauled.
Of course, new initiatives in the social sphere do not only relate to medical issues. We will work towards a complex transformation of the secondary vocational education system and support the creative sector both by building new educational formats and through the development of infrastructure. The first steps in this direction have already been taken, I mean the Pushkin Card. It should help young people to visit theatres and museums more often, and get acquainted with classical works. Measures were also envisaged to support and develop mass sports.
In the construction sector, businesses’ temporal and financial expenses for building new facilities will be lowered, and for individuals, the construction of their own house has been made simpler by amending the rules for the allocation of land plots and solving problems related to connecting to all types of networks, as well as developing and introducing special mortgage products.
In the sphere of the environment, there is new project named Big Clean-up. Above all, it envisages removal of an entire range of dangerous facilities within Russia, such as sunken ships or abandoned wells posing environmental risks, and also creating a mechanism that will require businesses themselves to eliminate the harm to the environment accumulated during the entire life cycle of their enterprise.
In addition to this, the new initiatives include projects involving high-tech companies in the establishment of engineering schools, and social treasury as a modern system of targeted support for citizens, as well as production of new materials, including composites, and the development of projects in the field of hydrogen, renewable and nuclear energy. In agriculture, there are plans to reduce the country's dependence on foreign breeding material. For the development of regions, additional investment instruments were envisaged, including infrastructure budget loans and infrastructure bonds to increase the affordability of housing among other things.
Each initiative was assigned to a responsible ministry to strengthen control and achieve tangible results in every area.
We are planning to discuss the implementation of strategic initiatives at the Russian Investment Forum in Sochi, on 17-19 February 2022.
The Government has included all these initiatives in the single plan to achieve the national development goals that the President set for the next 10 years. The development of this comprehensive strategic document has also been completed.
In addition to the new initiatives, the plan has integrated the national goals, state programmes and projects. It also stipulates the logic of their implementation and the Government’s strategic priorities, as well as the goals we need to achieve, including in the constituent entities of Russia.
The plan identifies the factors that can affect its implementation, including the challenges to be met.
The mechanism of governing the achievement of our goals combines a strategic approach with tactical flexibility. The document includes only system-wide targets and the main objectives. The details and indicators are distributed among state programmes and national projects, as well as regional programmes and projects.
Our approach to management has changed to ensure a more effective implementation of the single plan at the federal level. The procedure for formulating and implementing state programmes and monitoring and controlling their implementation has been adjusted so that we can directly trace the connection between the Government’s actions and the attainment and financing of national development goals.
The draft of the single plan has been thoroughly discussed. The discussion involved representatives of the Federal Assembly, the heads of Russian regions, plus representatives of the Civic Chamber, All-Russia People’s Front, and the business and expert communities. We should continue acting in this manner in the future as well. We must maintain effective communication with all participants and concerned persons. We must provide feedback with our citizens by promptly responding to their needs and requests.
I would like to say a few words about the decisions made.
Last Friday, a law came into effect allowing children and adults to get vaccinated free of charge, not only at state but also at private clinics. This means medical establishments that provide medical care under mandatory medical insurance. The Government has approved the rules for supplying the necessary vaccines to them, to be paid for from the federal budget.
Those who choose these clinics will be able to get vaccinated against the diseases that are on the national immunisation calendar, such as flu, measles and pneumococcus. People will have more options when choosing a clinic, and vaccination will become more affordable.
Let us discuss the development of the machine tool industry in Russia. We will make a number of adjustments to the rules for the provision of federal subsidies. Enterprises will be able to use them to offer buyers discounts on their products.
The new rules have clarified the procedure for choosing producers, and have stipulated the timeframe for posting relevant information on the single website, as well as requirements for accounting and for monitoring compliance with the terms of contracts. This will ensure the transparency of the selection procedure. It will be based on clear criteria, which will ultimately have a positive impact on the competitiveness of Russian products and will increase the enterprises’ efficiency. They will be able to use their equipment more effectively and increase their sales and, consequently, income.
