Agenda: Instructions following the plenary session of the 11th Digital Industry of Industrial Russia conference (CIPR), ensuring the effective operation of transport routes to Crimea and Sevastopol, and the participation of young people from the new regions in the University Shifts programme.
Meeting on current issues with deputy prime ministers
Meeting on current issues with deputy prime ministers
Meeting on current issues with deputy prime ministers
Mikhail Mishustin’s opening remarks:
Good morning, colleagues.
We had a working trip to Nizhny Novgorod yesterday. The 11th Digital Industry of Industrial Russia conference is continuing there. This is a major event for discussing the digital transformation of our national economy and enabling Russian companies and manufacturers to introduce and harness the latest solutions.
The President said that we must increase the use of Russian software in our country. Moreover, this applies to all sectors. In fact, this is a matter of national sovereignty and asserting our technological leadership.
The Government has been acting on a system-wide basis as it pursues this objective. We have carried out a whole series of measures, including initiatives for replacing foreign software. This primarily deals with creating industrial competence centres which cover manufacturing in all its aspects, as well as other domains. We reviewed the results of these undertakings in detail during the CIPR’s plenary session.
We also held discussions with our major customers and IT companies while touring the exhibition on introducing Russian solutions and carrying out the key projects.
Taking into account these conversations and the feedback we received from business leaders, experts and academia, the Government has issued several instructions. Their primary purpose consists of becoming more effective in introducing Russian software at critical infrastructure sites and creating a full-fledged cloud contour the digital economy needs for its efficient operation.
For that, we must accelerate efforts to devise a general framework which would include the existing and future data processing centres. This calls for reviewing the development plans for this sector in light of the available energy capacity. In addition to this, the instructions provide for submitting proposals on improving regulations for data processing centres.
It is essential that our companies use the latest artificial intelligence technology. We must offer these forward-looking solutions to all the sectors of the economy. This will be a task for the industrial competence centres. They must submit their proposals to the Government by the end of the year. An instruction to this effect has been issued. I would like to ask Dmitry Grigorenko, who is working in Nizhny Novgorod right now, to take this matter under his personal control and oversee its advancement.
We must continue to encourage the introduction of the most advanced solutions and make our companies less dependent on similar foreign products, so that businesses can benefit from a seamless transition to homegrown solutions at a minimal cost, which would, therefore, make them more competitive and enhance their productivity.
Now to another topic, which deals with ensuring the effective operation of transport routes to Crimea and Sevastopol.
The President always pays special attention to this matter.
We are entering the summer season when more people flock to the Crimean resorts. Millions of tourists from across the country visit historical and cultural landmarks or spend their time at the peninsula’s health resorts.
Travelers can use any route they like during these trips, including the Novorossiya federal motorway, which stretches along the northern coast of the Sea of Azov from Rostov-on-Don to Simferopol. It is part of the so-called Azov Ring, a road network around Russia’s inland sea. It crosses the Crimean Bridge, which also includes a connection by rail. There are also car and railway ferries for crossing the Kerch Strait, and passengers can use them for free.
This year, the Government will allocate 5 billion roubles to support this sector in order to ensure ferry service between the ports of Kerch and Kavkaz (Caucasus).
This decision will enable people to choose the route that suites them best and is expected to improve regional transport connectivity in general.
There is one more topic I wanted to raise. I am talking about the University Shifts initiative. The Government has been carrying it out in most regions of Russia, and over 100 higher education institutions, including teachers’ training universities, are taking part in this undertaking.
It offers a great opportunity to our young people between 14 and 17 years old to discover higher education institutions and their departments with their infrastructure and how they operate.
Young people live on campuses and in dormitories during these shifts so that they can have a truly immersive experience of what it means to be a student, discover the curriculum and programmes, talk to faculty members and find new friends.
These shifts have helped many young people choose their profession and the higher education institution where they can obtain the desired degree. There is a major emphasis on holding educational and cultural events as part of this project.
The young participants had a chance to tell the President that this is a very important and interesting programme, and the President supported the proposal to enable young people from the Donetsk and Lugansk people’s republics, and from the Zaporozhye and Kherson regions to take part in it too.
The Government will allocate over 150 million roubles for this purpose so that at least 2,300 young girls and boys from the new regions who want to enrol in our teachers’ training universities can take part in these university shifts.
Mr Chernyshenko (turning to Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko), the new shift will be starting soon. Therefore, all the preparations must be completed on time. I ask you to take this matter under your control.
