The meeting discussed the Expert Council’s agenda for 2014, in particular the efficiency of social expenditures, pension system improvement and priority development of the Far East.
The Government Expert Council is an advisory body established to examine projects and to contribute to the drafting and implementation of all the major socioeconomic decisions of the Government, federal ministries and agencies.
Last year, the Expert Council attended discussions of issues in Government competence such as the effectiveness of budget expenditures, the introduction of a contractual system of government purchases, the investment programmes of natural monopolies, the quality of state governance, the creation of a mega regulator of financial markets, and the management of Russia’s space industry.
Dmitry Medvedev’s opening remarks:
With Minister Mikhail Abyzov
Good afternoon, colleagues. I hope you have had good New Year’s holidays. To begin with, I’d like to thank you all for your contribution to the council’s work last year and the year before. I believe that we have a very good expert team. Experts’ work is not public, and it sometimes goes unnoticed, but it is extremely important for us. I want to say that the Government, ministries and agencies highly value your expert assistance.
Dmitry Medvedev: "I believe that we have a very good expert team. Experts’ work is not public, and it sometimes goes unnoticed, but it is extremely important for us. I want to say that the Government, ministries and agencies highly value your expert assistance."
Late last year, we adopted a concept on the transparency of federal executive bodies. We have become used to this figure of speech, openness or transparency, yet I am going to sign a resolution soon. The essence of our meetings and discussions is that the Expert Council has always operated openly and transparently. I’d like to remind you, because we tend to forget things, that we didn’t have this platform before. It’s good that we have it now.
The task of the experts is not only to formulate ideas and to develop them into regulations, laws, executive orders, programmes and concepts, but also to monitor them to see which are effective and which are ineffective. In Russia, this is no less important than the competently drafted concept or law. This is why the feedback mechanism, which directly involves your council, is extremely important for all Government members.
What are we going to discuss today? I recently met some of you at the Gaidar Forum, where I said that it is crucial that Russia becomes a country with an efficient workforce, a highly effective economy and efficient state institutions. This is why the work of the Expert Council should take these priorities into account.
Dmitry Medvedev: "The task of the experts is not only to formulate ideas and to develop them into regulations, laws, executive orders, programmes and concepts, but also to monitor them to see which are effective and which are ineffective. In Russia, this is no less important than the competently drafted concept or law."
Today, we will be talking about what can and should be done this year. I’d like to remind you that we discussed a number of vital decisions last year. They concern the improvement of governance mechanisms in various spheres, such as the creation of a mega regulator for financial markets and the drafting of a development concept for the space sector. The range of issues was very broad. Today, we’ll discuss our plans for the near future, in particular the efficiency of social expenditures.
Here are the issues on the Government agenda which I’d like to highlight today.
Meeting with members of the Government Expert Council
We are now actively addressing Far Eastern issues, and we consider it very important to establish a correct institutional environment there, so that we would be able to correctly distribute our resources, which are often quite modest, and, nevertheless, try and turn the region into a territory of fast development. Quite soon, I will chair a meeting, which has already been scheduled, and whose participants will discuss concepts that could work there and are acceptable, as well as those that are unsafe and probably should not be used. Of course, I would very much like our expert colleagues to speak their minds, so that we would be able to merge our stances.
Right now, I will not discuss all of the issues that may be addressed this year. Obviously, the agenda has been set. We have compiled a plan of legislative activity, we have large-scale state programmes, and the President has delivered his state of the nation address. All this remains on the table and serves as the basis for the Government’s work, so to say, and therefore, as the basis for the work of our respected team. Let’s exchange opinions.
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