Agenda: Results of the working visit to Belarus, support for fisheries in the Sea of Azov – Black Sea basin, support for regions.
Government meeting
Mikhail Mishustin’s opening remarks:
Good afternoon, colleagues,
As instructed by the President, we continue to establish a strong network of partnerships with foreign states. Yesterday, members of a government delegation completed their visit to Belarus. Together with our colleagues from the Eurasian Economic Union, we took part in a plenary session on food security. We exchanged views on the future development of our countries’ agricultural complexes and discussed essential measures to enhance the sector’s independence and ensure the availability of high-quality food for our people.
Russia has always been and will remain a reliable and responsible international partner. We are committed to upholding these principles. In May, the union celebrated its tenth anniversary, proving its relevance and effectiveness.
During the meeting of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council, participants discussed the progress of integration and addressed topical issues of our joint agenda, including the modernisation of transport infrastructure and cooperation in important spheres such as customs regulation, digitalisation and all aspects related to railway freight traffic.
The meeting participants supported initiatives put forward by the Eurasian Development Bank and the Eurasian Fund for Stabilisation and Development. These organisations play a pivotal role in the integration process. They attract investment in large-scale infrastructure projects that are seen as important for both the people and businesses. They also contribute to the economic restructuring of EAEU member states and enhance ties between our countries.
Colleagues,
Please track the implementation of agreements with our partners in the Group of Five in your respective areas.
Now let’s discuss support for the fisheries industry.
The President has repeatedly emphasised, including in his Address to the Federal Assembly, the need for special measures to develop coastal regions.
We have signed a resolution that will enable us to support seven Russian constituent entities in the Azov-Black Sea basin: Crimea, Krasnodar Territory, Sevastopol, Donetsk People’s Republic, Zaporozhye, Rostov and Kherson regions. Many local enterprises in these regions have been engaged in fishing and fish farming for many years.
However, fishing in these regions has been restricted recently, for obvious reasons, including due to failures of ship navigation equipment. There are also difficulties with accessing and leaving ports, which makes it necessary to change routes.
In order to help fishery organisations to reduce costs, a decision has been made to compensate for a portion of their current expenses, specifically for salaries and social contributions, including compulsory health insurance contributions and a number of others. The federal budget has allocated approximately 1 billion roubles for these purposes over three years.
We believe that these measures will enable us to retain the majority of employees at enterprises that catch or farm fish in the waters of the Azov and Black Seas. This way, products that enjoy high demand will continue to be available to consumers.
The agenda of today’s Government meeting includes an entire cluster of regional issues.
We will implement the plans for the development of economic growth centres in the Far East, as instructed by the President. We are allocating funds from the federal budget to create favourable living conditions in this region.
Over the past six years, thanks to a single subsidy, hundreds of social, engineering, urban and transport infrastructure facilities that residents need have been built and repaired in the macro-region’s constituent entities. These include kindergartens, schools, hospitals, clinics, sports facilities, roads and boiler houses.
Today we will also allocate over 1.2 billion roubles for various projects. These funds will be used to build a high-voltage power transmission line in the Magadan Region, a tuberculosis clinic and a treatment unit at a central district hospital in the Khabarovsk Territory. In addition, landscaping work will be conducted in residential areas in the Chukotka Autonomous Area.
We will also continue to provide assistance to the new constituent entities of the Russian Federation. We will allocate approximately 5.8 billion roubles to balance their budgets, primarily to support the operation of their boiler houses, water supply systems, purification facilities and other public utilities. This will ensure that local residents can enjoy uninterrupted access to basic utility services.
In his address, the President stressed the importance of making our regions more economically self-sufficient. We will continue to do everything necessary to create equal conditions for the self-fulfilment and comfortable lives of our people throughout the country.
