The meeting was held on the sidelines of the 2nd Caucasus Investment Forum.
Excerpts from the transcript:
Mikhail Mishustin holds meeting with Government Commission on North Caucasus Federal District’s socioeconomic development
Mikhail Mishustin holds meeting with Government Commission on North Caucasus Federal District’s socioeconomic development
Mikhail Mishustin holds meeting with Government Commission on North Caucasus Federal District’s socioeconomic development
Mikhail Mishustin holds meeting with Government Commission on North Caucasus Federal District’s socioeconomic development
Mikhail Mishustin holds meeting with Government Commission on North Caucasus Federal District’s socioeconomic development
Mikhail Mishustin holds meeting with Government Commission on North Caucasus Federal District’s socioeconomic development
Mikhail Mishustin: Good afternoon, colleagues.
Before we begin the meeting of the governmental commission, I would like to thank the forum organisers – heads of the regions comprising the North Caucasus Federal District. This event has already become an effective platform for investors, entrepreneurs, and government officials to meet and forge strong partnerships, as well as to establish a constructive dialogue of people striving to develop this wonderful macro-region, the regions of which have enormous potential: above all in tourism, agriculture, industry, and logistics, alongside a number of other sectors.
Today, we have made certain of this once again, after touring the forum exhibition. Breakthrough projects, the progress of which you, heads of regions and government, reported on, significantly boosted the growth of the economy of the entire district and improved the quality of life of people. We are seeing the most important trend everywhere: the growth of people’s real monetary incomes.
It is noteworthy that out of more than 500 billion roubles already invested in these initiatives, over 400 billion came from private investors. In other words, for every rouble of public funding, businesses are contributing four. This is a strong indicator of trust and genuine interest.
Of course, it is necessary to further build on the North Caucasus’s inherent strengths.
Tourism is one of its apparent advantages: a hallmark of the region during all its history. Today, it is the only district in the country where nearly every region hosts a special economic zone dedicated to tourism and recreation. The total volume of capital investment declared by residents of these zones amounts to approximately 200 billion roubles.
More tourists are visiting. For two consecutive years, the region has welcomed around six million tourists, many of them attracted by ski resorts. For investors, this area presents one of the most attractive opportunities. They are actively investing in both existing destinations, such as Elbrus and Arkhyz, and in newly developed resorts. Just two months ago, the first phase of the Mamison resort in North Ossetia was launched – something Sergei Menyailo described in detail during our visit.
Of course, it is crucial that hotels, ski lifts, trails, and supporting infrastructure meet the highest modern standards.
Today, we saw a domestically manufactured ski lift cabin for ski resorts, produced by a company in Tver. This is a notable achievement. I would like to thank everyone involved, especially Mr Bachin. At a previous forum like this, we noticed that nearly all cabins were imported. Now, thanks in part to platforms like the Caucasian Investment Forum, we have made real progress.
The state support provided to entrepreneurs building tourism facilities is impressive.
Recently, a new decision was made: to extend the right to apply a zero value-added tax rate for hotels and other accommodation facilities for travelers until the end of 2030.
Overall, work upon the President’s instructions to restart the entire system of health resort therapy in the North Caucasus is underway. It is to be completed in the next three years. This is a promising area, and, of course, we need to involve businesses as much as possible.
It is essential to fully tap into the unique advantages of this region – its favourable climate, nature, and geographic location – to create diverse and attractive conditions for tourism and recreation.
As for agriculture, the district has secured its position as a national leader. Each of its regions boasts large enterprises, including high-tech greenhouse and livestock complexes, as well as vineyards, or intensive fruit and berry orchards offering significantly higher yields. We saw one of these in North Ossetia in early May.
Creating such capacities, including for storage and processing, is a key development area. We must adopt cutting-edge technologies in both crop production and livestock farming. Ensuring independence from foreign suppliers of seeds, breeding stock, and agricultural machinery is a strategic priority.
To this end, the state has introduced a comprehensive set of support measures for farmers, including those incorporated into the infrastructure menu. A similar infrastructure budget loan of nearly half a billion roubles has already been allocated to the Republic of Ingushetia for the construction of the Tikhaya substation, part of the Sunzha Agro-Industrial Technology Park project.
The growing volume of goods produced in the North Caucasus, supplied both to other regions and for export, along with the steady increase in tourist flow, is placing a significant strain on the region’s transport and logistics infrastructure. Therefore, it is crucial to expand capacity across all modes of transportation: land, water, and air.
In this regard, following the President’s instructions, special focus is placed on the development of the airport network. A notable milestone is the recent opening of the airport in Mineralnye Vody, which is already operational and receiving flights.
We are also continuing to develop key transport corridors, with a particular focus on the international North–South corridor. This route is becoming a central logistics hub and, in the coming years, is expected to unlock new opportunities for increasing the volume of Russian exports to nearly all promising markets.
Today, we will definitely discuss this and other major infrastructure projects of the transport complex in the North Caucasus.
Dear colleagues, all transformations in the economy and social sphere are primarily aimed at improving the quality of people's lives. This is one of the indicators that we use to coordinate approaches with regional leaders, including those in the North Caucasus.
In the course of systematic work and thanks to government support, we are changing populated areas and improving the urban environment. We continue to actively expand the infrastructure that is simply necessary for people to live and stay there comfortably.
Over the recent several years we have built and overhauled hundreds of medical facilities, kindergartens and schools as part of the completed national projects.
The North Caucasus is the youngest district, because a third of its residents are young people. This is considerably more, by the way, than in the entire country. The key task is to provide them with modern conditions for education, sports, creativity, information technology and research. It is important that the children grow up active, inquisitive and with a broad outlook.
They are future specialists who will come to work at local enterprises and organisations. We need to do our best to give them a profession they want, so that there will be a demand for them here.
Moreover, the President set a task for the national education system to concentrate efforts on training specialists who meet the demands of the modern economy.
Special importance in fulfilling it is given to the Professionalism programme. Twelve training clusters are in place here. Two more are being set up this year and next year there will be four more in key sectors. They include construction, transport, mechanical engineering, and the information technology sector, which is increasingly gaining popularity in the Caucasus. Today, we will consider in detail the measures needed to attract businesses to the development of such educational institutions.
Dear colleagues, there is one more issue that I believe is important to discuss: the situation with utility networks and the housing and utilities sector. We see that social, industrial, tourism facilities and residential buildings are being put into operation very actively. And all of them must be provided with reliable modern infrastructure.
Work in this area is certainly underway. Three republics – Dagestan, Ingushetia, and North Ossetia-Alania – are implementing programmes for the sustainable development of energy and housing and utilities enterprises, with federal budget support. They are intended to balance the activities of single regional operators and, which is also very important – and please don't forget this, dear regional leaders – to improve payment discipline since without it, it will be very difficult to make investments, and attract residents and investors who would build and develop infrastructure facilities here, among other things.
Yet the situation in the housing and utilities sector in some constituent entities is still difficult. It requires decisions that would help us change the situation. We need to assess the situation in the regions of the district in detail, analyse the decisions taken earlier and identify new tasks for further development and, I repeat, for increasing investment activity. And primarily to support business here.
I will conclude my opening remarks at this point and ask Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak, who has done much to ensure that today's event took place, to take the floor.
