Vladimir Putin's opening remarks:
Good afternoon, colleagues.
I am pleased that we are meeting again. I propose that at today's meeting we discuss the issues that I recently talked about at the State Duma and the joint collegium of the ministries of finance and economic development.
I am referring to our priorities for the short term, the continued implementation of essential anti-crisis measures and, of course, the modernisation agenda formulated by the government of the Russian Federation.
We are following the expert evaluations of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs closely. We aim to incorporate the constructive proposals from the business community as we work toward decisions. And, as you know, we are in constant contact with you at practically all levels.
Last year was not an easy one. Nevertheless, we were able to handle the situation and maintain social and economic stability. It must be noted that Russian business has proved itself competent and capable of developing in rather difficult conditions and finding domestic resources. And this is important - on the whole, our companies have adhered to the principles of social responsibility.
This primarily concerns maintaining workforce capacity, regular payment of wages and the continuation of social programmes. I'm not one for flowery speeches, but I want to thank you all, truly. Indeed, I can say this with total confidence - I have spoken with practically everyone present many times. And I never encountered a lack of understanding about the problems people are facing, and this is a good sign.
That being said, there are problems. As you know, today I, quite recently, held a meeting on the disaster at the Raspadskaya mine. We were compelled to introduce additional oversight by government agencies over high-risk jobs.
I am also counting on your understanding and participation in developing these decisions. These decisions, of course, must be balanced.
I propose that today we focus on issues that directly affect business. These, of course, primarily have to do with creating a favourable entrepreneurial and investment climate.
Basic logic tells us that what we need is a drastic cutback in licensing and the scale of mandatory certification combined with stronger legal liability for actual violations of safety requirements for products, services and project management.
At a recent meeting of the joint collegium of the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Economic Development , which I already mentioned, I issued instructions to set up constant monitoring of the situation in the entrepreneurial community. In other words, we will not limit ourselves to a one-time campaign, but will work methodically to clear the economy of all manner of red tape.
We have set similar goals in the field of technical regulation. It is still very archaic in many ways. And instead of stimulating consistent innovation in business, it actually turns innovation into an unnecessary luxury. Therefore, we will continuously focus on adopting new technical regulations.
All the more so since the formation of the Customs Union requires changes to the principles of technical regulation. We will have to adopt common regulations for the governments of the "troika." This is rather complex work. And we would like for business to act as a kind of supervisor of the bureaucracy, so that new administrative barriers do not arise during the integration and convergence of our domestic economies and laws.
We are also now reviewing the enforcement of the new law on protecting competition. Proposals for improving the law are being drafted.
Let me emphasise that we see a direct link between an increase in business activity on the one hand and recovery and subsequent stable development on the other. In order for the market to develop, new companies must enter it.
And here government policy and the position of major, established businesses are equally important. Of course, it would be naïve to ask you to help create new competition for yourself, but at the same time, you can do much to form a circle of independent suppliers of goods and services around your companies and cut costs thanks to efficient ordering.. You know this practice- it is found throughout the world.
The emergence of a full-fledged domestic market and the spread of modern technology and a corporate culture are beneficial to everyone on the whole. And here big business must serve as a kind of engine driving the process.
Returning to the subject of the Customs Union, I would like to draw your attention to a few more aspects of the government's work.
Starting on July 1, when the unified customs code comes into force and customs procedures on the internal borders of the three countries are repealed, business conditions will change considerably.
This will result in importers and exporters being able to freely choose which of the three countries it will be most convenient for them to conduct their business in.
And we will, of course, do everything to ensure that Russian border infrastructure and our customs services will be, as they say, on the level. And I hope that such competition will benefit both government structures and business.
In addition, we intend to considerably strengthen the system for supporting exports, help Russian companies as much as possible to enter international markets, use our capabilities to quickly identify and eliminate barriers to domestic production, and develop an insurance and lending system for exporters.
I am highlighting another three items that, as the crisis has shown, demand increased attention and our joint actions and efforts.
First of all, we must strengthen the credit and finance system, boosting its stability and resource potential. Second, we must qualitatively improve the labour market, in terms of its flexibility, productivity growth, competitiveness and the professional level of the country's workforce.
Third, we must promote innovation, and this is the work that both the presidential commission on modernisation and the government itself are carrying out.
I will gladly listen to your opinions, so let's get down to work.