The agenda includes free admission to museums for large families, amendments to the Budget Code regarding the deadlines for distributing subsidies to regions, financing of housing construction in the new regions, and extending the validity of electronic visas.
Mikhail Mishustin’s opening remarks:
Government meeting
Good afternoon, colleagues.
As you know, the president declared last year the Year of the Family. The presidential executive order established a uniform status and basic social guarantees for large families at the federal level, which they can receive throughout the country, regardless of their region of residence.
These support measures include the right for free admission to cultural institutions and recreational spaces. However, some of them have established a special schedule, which parents with children have to fit into, for example, only two preferential days per month.
The government has endorsed rules for such organisations managed by federal government agencies. Now large families can visit them free of charge at their convenience during the institution’s working hours. Any information they may require should be posted on their official websites and updated regularly.
This way, parents will be able to better plan their vacation, and children will have more opportunities to get to know their country, its history and culture in all regions.
Now let’s get to today’s agenda.
Today, we will discuss several amendments to the Budget Code, including those aimed to strengthen the regions’ economy. The Government pays constant attention to this topic.
Last year, over 3.5 trillion roubles were allocated to support Russian regions. They were spent on implementing the most significant tasks of economic and social development, building hospitals, clinics, and updating utilities.
It is essential that the regions get these resources as quickly as possible, and get omformed about the transferred funds as promptly as possible. Thus, they will be able to think their budgets through, plan funding sources and the pace of solving problems, including as part of national projects, which we monitor on the president’s instructions.
Following the President’s instruction, we will begin work to distribute subsidies to the Russian regions for the next budget cycle at an earlier date – it will begin in June 2025 – so that the amounts and the results are verified by no later than August. The State Duma deputies highlighted the need for such changes during the Government’s report to the State Duma and our meetings with them.
We also designed requirements for the information systems that ensure the budget process and their interaction with each other, the key one being data unification, which is very important for communication of information.
The Ministry of Finance will set the organisational and technological principles. The use of federal funds must have clear and unified classifiers, reference texts, registers, and regulatory and reference information that would help various departments better complement each other’s efforts and resources needed to address common problems.
The next question concerns support for the new Russian regions: the Donetsk and Lugansk people’s republics as well as the Zaporozhye and Kherson regions.
We will continue to consistently implement a large-scale programme, called by President Putin a national priority, for their restoration and socio-economic development.
We also help industrial and agrarian enterprises as well as businesses.
We are repairing and building educational and medical facilities, power engineering and utility facilities, roads and, of course, housing. We allocated over 360 billion roubles to them for these and other measures last year.
Today, we will provide over 520 million roubles more for the construction of apartment blocks in the Donetsk People's Republic and the Zaporozhye Region.
We will continue to do everything necessary to actively develop the regions so that, on the whole, the standard of living there is no lower than the national average. This is the objective of the relevant government programme.
And about tourism.
The President has noted that the tourism industry is becoming more attractive. Transport infrastructure is being vigorously expanded, resorts and hotels are being built, and public spaces are being improved. We are implementing entrepreneurial initiatives and projects in this area. And an increasing number of people are choosing to spend their holidays in Russia. Last year alone, the number of tourist trips in the country grew by 10 percent.
Not only our citizens but also foreigners make such tours. They take part in both business and sporting events. Most frequently, guests come from China, Saudi Arabia, Germany, Turkey and India. It is already the second year that residents of 64 countries receive a single electronic visa. During this period, it has been issued over a million times.
Today we are to consider the legislative changes that would increase the time of stay under such visa. Now it will be 30 days instead of 16. Meanwhile, the visa validity term will also grow up to four months. This will enable foreign tourists interested in our unique nature, rich history and our country in general travel in Russia more. It will also expand the possibilities for those, who come to us to enhance business contacts.
