The agenda: expanding concessional lending for the construction of tourism infrastructure, student sport development programme until 2030, the pace of spring fieldwork, financing the reconstruction of power grids in the new regions.
Mikhail Mishustin’s opening remarks:
Government meeting
Government meeting
Government meeting
Good afternoon, colleagues.
Before we move on to the meeting agenda, I would like to say a few words about the recent decisions made in the tourism sector. There is no doubt that we must continue creating better conditions for comfortable and safe leisure. We need to build accommodation facilities that meet people’s expectations in terms of quality and service. Over 50 Russian regions have expressed readiness to increase the number of such sites.
A decision has been made to expand the concessional lending programme for the construction of tourism infrastructure. This programme is part of the Tourism and Hospitality national project.
As I mentioned in my report to the State Duma, domestic travel increased by ten percent last year. This growth was partly due to the availability of modern accommodation, including hotels, glamping sites and campgrounds. Many of these were built with state support mechanisms, allowing entrepreneurs to access loans on preferential terms. This tool has proven effective and has become highly popular with the business community.
Today, more than 220 investment projects are being implemented using this tool, attracting over 1 trillion roubles in private investment.
The decision to expand the programme will allow us to increase accommodation capacity by one-third, to 78,000 rooms, and to build 17 water parks, 11 ski resorts, and two year-round amusement parks.
This will create more opportunities for our citizens to travel around Russia, discover their country, and experience the beauty and diversity of its regions.
I would like to highlight another important decision in an area that remains one of our social policy priorities: the development of sport and physical fitness.
As the President has emphasised, sport is a means of self-realisation and a way to promote a healthy lifestyle.
At the President’s instruction, the Government has approved a cross-sectoral programme for the development of student sport until 2030.The programme aims to involve more and more young people in regular training. The share of those participating in sport should increase by 12 percent in colleges and by 14 percent in universities. The programme also supports the expansion of student sports clubs, of which there are already around 2,500 across the country, with over one million active participants.
In addition, the programme aims to enhance the delivery of physical education in these institutions, promote the GTO (Ready for Labour and Defence) physical fitness programmes and tests among young people. We will organise fitness and sporting events at all levels, including competitions among more than 30 existing student leagues across the country. These leagues cover a wide range of sports, from athletics and team games to martial arts. We must also expand the variety of sports based on the specific needs of each region of the Russian Federation.
The implementation of this programme will help improve public health and support the well-rounded moral and spiritual development of young people, both of which are among the national development goals set by the President.
Now, move to the today’s agenda.
Let us discuss how spring fieldwork is progressing; it is in full swing in many regions already, and the government support measures that may come in handy for farmers during the sowing campaign.
As the President noted, this is a very important period, when the foundation of the future harvest is laid, and the sustainability of the entire industry and the country’s food security depend on this.
The Government keeps on helping the agrarians, stipulating the funds for such purposes in the federal budget. It is important to accelerate the transfer of subsidies to our producers.
It is necessary that they have everything they need for spring field works. This includes fertilisers, plant protection agents, agricultural machinery, lubricants and fuel. And, of course, our farmers need tested, certified high-quality seeds of domestic selection, as has already been achieved for cereals, most of which are of Russian origin. The same should be for the other crops.
Also, agricultural insurance should be increased in order to reduce farmers’ losses because of any weather changes – frosts, fires, floods or drought. Last year, for the first time ever, almost 20 percent of all sown areas were protected by relevant contracts. This is more than 15 million hectares, which is a record number. This year the scope of insurance with state support will grow to seven billion roubles. This means that even more agricultural producers will have an opportunity to reduce risks through insurance payments.
Today, about 90 percent of the winter cereals are in good and satisfactory condition. Therefore, we expect that the spring fieldwork will be successful. And this is not only about stable and sustainable development of the agro-industrial sector, but also, as a consequence, about a wide choice of assortment and products for our people.
I ask the relevant agencies to monitor the prices on everything our farmers need for sowing. And respond promptly, if the need arises, assisting our agricultural producers. They are in their most important period now.
The next issue is support for our regions, primarily those that are currently in difficult circumstances.
The President underscored the exceptional importance for the residents of Donbas and Novorossiya to have decent conditions for life and work, for the people to see prospects for themselves and their children.
This is the purpose, for which we are building there from scratch and restoring houses and roads, utility lines, parks, schools and kindergartens. We are also helping to resume production and create new jobs.
We have recently merged the power grids that operate in the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, Zaporozhye and Kherson regions into a single enterprise. This will provide additional employment opportunities for the local specialists, high speed of launching facilities and quality of electricity transmission; and most importantly, uninterrupted supply of light and heat to people.
Today we will consider the allocation of eight billion roubles for major repairs of electric substations and power transmission lines, including for the acquisition of hardware, cranes, hoisters and other necessary tools and machines.
We expect such decision to help integrating our historic territories into a single national space, and, in general, to promote socio-economic development of the new Russian regions.
