Agenda: bonuses for Russian athletes following the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games in Beijing, support for the tourism industry, remuneration for medical practitioners who give online consultations to Covid patients and incentives for investors on the Kuril Islands.
Government meeting
Mikhail Mishustin’s opening remarks:
Good afternoon, colleagues,
The Olympic Winter Games are opening in Beijing tomorrow, and they will be followed by the Paralympic Winter Games a month later. These events are important. The whole country supports our athletes and is proud of them. On these days, the people of Russia will wish them nothing but victory.
The Government has decided to reward Russian athletes following the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. Each gold medalist will receive four million roubles. Silver and bronze medalists will get 2.5 million roubles and 1.7 million roubles respectively.
Those helping athletes succeed and train will also receive bonuses. I am talking about coaches and specialists in the most diverse fields. They win victories hand in hand. Let’s wish all our athletes good luck. We will cheer them on and worry on their behalf.
Before discussing the meeting’s agenda, I would like to say a few words about a decision to support the tourism industry which is facing serious difficulties because of numerous pandemic-related restrictions.
Just as in 2021, the Government will subsidise domestic chartered flights. Tour operators will be able to recoup up to 50 percent of their flight organisation expenses using these subsidies. The national tourism project will provide 1.2 billion roubles annually for these purposes over the next three years.
We hope that prices for package tours to Russian cities will become more affordable, and that our citizens will take advantage of these inbound tourism opportunities.
And now, let’s start discussing our agenda. In line with the President’s instructions, the Government is continuing with the implementation of an upgraded plan of measures dealing with the Covid-19 response effort.
The load on outpatient clinics has increased considerably over the last few weeks. Consequently, we are bringing in personnel from other medical institutions, as well as students from medical universities and colleges. We will set aside 600 million roubles to pay them. This will make it possible to hire at least 2,500 more specialists who will provide online consultative services. People’s requests will be processed more quickly.
Here is our next item. In accord with the President’s instructions, we are continuing to provide additional benefits for investors who are ready to work on the Kuril Islands. These proposals were drafted with due consideration for the wishes of local residents. We discussed them during our trip to the Far East last summer.
The relevant Tax Code amendments have already been submitted to the State Duma, and they have passed the first reading. They include an entire package of measures that should make these territories more attractive to businesses. They include 20-year land tax exemptions and a number of other measures.
Today, we will discuss a bill stipulating reduced mandatory pension insurance payments. Business persons registering on the Kuril Islands after the introduction of these terms will obtain incentives. For the next 20 years, they will be entitled to a pension insurance rate of 6 percent. Taking other insurance payments into consideration, these rates will amount to 7.6 percent.
This is quite profitable for businesses. Residents of priority development areas and the free port of Vladivostok pay the same amount.
We hope that this decision will be of interest to investors, resulting in the creation of new jobs for local residents on the Kuril Islands, and accelerating the development of these remote territories.
