Mikhail Mishustin’s opening remarks:
Mikhail Mishustin’s meeting with Government Expert Council
Good afternoon, friends.
We have gathered at the end of the year to review the activity of the Government Expert Council and identify key goals for the future.
This format of interaction is very important for us. The Government receives high-level feedback and expertise, which makes it possible to complement our efforts to develop the economy and the social sphere, adjust previous decisions more precisely, given regional or industry specifics, and understand which measures need to be more effective.
A year ago, very specific goals were set before the Expert Council. A list of priority areas for supporting the labour market and small and medium-sized businesses were determined. There were also new challenges which required clear and quick answers. The council’s work was reformatted with a greater focus on current issues.
The council proposed pinpoint ideas in many areas. They helped not only to mitigate the negative impact of unprecedented external pressure, but also to continue moving towards the national development goals set by the President.
The actions of the Western countries were aimed at destroying the Russian economy and destabilising society. However, our opponents underestimated the stability of our system relative to outside influence, and the ability of all areas to support it. The measures implemented by the Government in line with the President’s instructions as part of the plan of priority actions to ensure the development of the economy in the face of external pressure have shown their effectiveness, have made it possible to maintain budget stability and help key sectors, and most importantly, our people.
Today, the period of adopting to the current challenges continues.
As the President has recently noted, there is a recession in the economy, but the situation is better than in many other countries. The Ministry of Economic Development predicts a decline in gross domestic product at a level of less than 3 percent by the end of the year. Of course, a bit of a slump cannot be avoided, but it is already obvious that the negative scenarios did not play out, as many alarmists assumed at the beginning of the year. Even during the last global crisis, the drawdown of the economy was more severe, and the conditions are in fact incomparable.
Industrial production continues to recover. In October it increased by over 5 percent compared to September. The main growth is in industries oriented towards domestic demand. The driving force here is in equipment building.
Fixed asset investments are growing as well. In the third quarter they increased in real terms by more than 3 percent compared to the same period last year. This is due to several factors: the gradual recovery of corporate credit activity, and the restructuring of economic relations and technological processes.
The unemployment rate is still below 4 percent and inflation in November was below 12 percent on an annualised basis.
As of this year, the council has put forward some 750 proposals to make the Russian economy more sustainable under the sanctions. Many of them have become the basis for draft laws or Government acts. Members of the Expert Council also took part in the evaluation of measures provided for in the single plan to achieve the national development goals, our main document. There has been systematic work with ministries, departments and federal executive bodies to prepare proposals for the supervisor of each of them.
A large portion of the ideas were related to important areas like the health of our people. They are aimed, in particular, at reducing mortality rates from cardiovascular diseases, arterial hypertension and type-2 diabetes. They were reflected in a law that was signed by the President in late November.
The recommendations of the Expert Council expanded the possibilities for pharmacies to manufacture medicines and allowed for the development of a social contracting tool, in particular involving non-profit organisations in the programme.
More than 100 initiatives concerned the development of a comfortable and safe living environment. The list of participants in the emission-quota experiment was expanded. It included almost 30 more cities with difficult environmental conditions in 11 regions of our country.
Regarding the other areas, recommendations can be noted on fitting regional universities in the Far Eastern Federal District with advanced laboratory, research and education equipment; another recommendation concerns expanding the programme to help young people with employment in their home regions so they can put their talents to use in the place where they were born and where their families live.
To improve the efficiency of interacting with agencies, the Expert Council was given access to the state management automated system last March, thus making the adoption process of key changes transparent and creating a clear picture of how and when the amendments can be made.
Business associations and unions and their leaders have taken an active part in this effort. All of the council’s proposals were promptly processed by the Analytical Centre of the Russian Government. This is currently the single operator that coordinates our work. To improve this interaction, we have decided to introduce the centre’s deputy head, Anastasia Permyakova, into the Expert Council.
These are not all the changes. The new members are experts that have professional skills and wide expertise with vast knowledge and a portfolio of successful projects. They represent many areas.
We are focusing on the development of the aviation sector, both air services and aircraft manufacturing. Aeroflot Russian Airlines has the highest competence here; the CEO Sergei Aleksandrovsky has also been included in the council.
Tourism also holds an important place on the agenda. I am sure that Zarina Doguzova’s ideas and experience will be useful to the Government and the Expert Council.
Naturally, the improvement of our country’s industrial potential, its technological sovereignty and information security are very important to us. Science and our academic institutions will play a leading role here.
Therefore, Yevgeny Kaspersky, a world-class expert in computer security, and newly appointed head of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Gennady Krasnikov, as well as Rector of the Russian Foreign Trade Academy Sergei Sinelnikov-Murylev have joined the council.
Colleagues, friends.
It is important to promptly respond to challenges, work closely with deputy prime ministers, ministers, and the heads of the federal executive authorities, as well as to focus on resolving specific industry problems, because it is you who can give us the feedback that I talked about earlier. I ask all those present here to organise the work in this area.
The international situation remains tense now. In order to maintain our development dynamics, we need not only to mitigate the current risks, but also predict the emergence of new ones, constantly, so that we can proactively work out responses to them. We hope that the Expert Council will take a most active part in this.
Our priority tasks include balancing the economy. It is necessary to balance our further development efforts with the implementation of ongoing activities, including on mobilisation. Let me remind you that under the President’s instructions, a Coordinating Council has been formed, which is designed to strengthen the interaction between the Armed Forces and our industries in all areas, to step up the production of weapons, military equipment, uniforms, personal protective equipment, and medicines. All this requires serious resources.
At the same time, it is important to prevent an imbalance and to maintain consumer accessibility to basic goods and services. The quality of life of our people depends on this.
Personnel policy is also important to maintain a balance. In order for enterprises in the military-industrial complex to cover their needs for specialists, a decision was made to compensate employers for paying salaries to those employees who move from other Russian regions. For these purposes, the Social Insurance Fund provides about one billion roubles.
Another very important task is to preserve our scientific and technical potential. It is clear now that foreign organisations will try to more actively headhunt for promising specialists and young and experienced scientists. They are not hiding this; they say it publicly. And here, of course, it is very important to develop a detailed system of measures that will help protect Russia from the leak of intellectual and cultural capital, and support those who want to develop their projects and implement breakthrough ideas.
I am sure that many interesting ideas and proposals will be heard today, both on this and on other topical issues.
