10 february 2011
The following issues are scheduled for discussion at the Government Presidium meeting on February 10, 2011
PRESS-RELEASE*
The following issues are scheduled for discussion at the Government Presidium meeting on February 10, 2011
1. Approving Regulations for the Coordination Council on the Development of the Moscow and Moscow Region Transport System
The draft resolution was submitted by the Ministry of Transport.
The governments of Moscow and the Moscow Region, jointly with the Federal Road Agency, are currently implementing separate measures to improve the road situation. At the same time, to ensure the coordinated action of executive federal agencies and the executive agencies of Moscow and the region to develop the region’s transport infrastructure, the president has instructed that a coordination council be formed. The council is to include representatives of the Ministry of Transport, the Interior Ministry, the Ministry of Regional Development, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, the Ministry of Economic Development, and the Ministry of Finance, as well as the Moscow government, the Moscow Region government, state institutions and departments, research and development organisations, public organisations, and businesses.
2. The draft federal law “On Amending Article 23 of the Russian Federation Law On the Employment of the Population of the Russian Federation”
The draft federal law was submitted by the Ministry of Healthcare and Social Development.
One of the basic factors restricting the ability of persons bringing up disabled children to combine work with child rearing is the discrepancy between their professional training and the structure of jobs.
In connection with this, the draft law proposes to extend the list of unemployed persons who have priority rights to undergo vocational training, retraining or advanced training by including unemployed parents, adoptive parents, and guardians (wardens) of disabled children (clause 3 of Article 23 of the Law of the Russian Federation On the Employment of the Population of the Russian Federation).
Clause 3 of Article 23 of the Law is set forth in new wording that precludes any ambiguity and provides for the priority right to undergo professional training, retraining or advanced training only to unemployed persons registered with employment agencies.
The implementation of the draft law will not require allocation of additional funds from the federal budget because the professional training, retraining and advanced training of, and the payment during this period of scholarships to, unemployed parents, adoptive parents, and guardians (wardens) of disabled children will be effected with subventions transferred from the federal budget to the budgets of constituent entities to subsidise the Russian Federation’s transferred powers to promote population employment in accordance with the Federal Law “On the Federal Budget for 2011 and the Planning Period of 2012 and 2013.”
3. International treaties on indirect taxation between the Government of the Russian Federation and the Government of the Republic of Belarus
The draft resolution was submitted by the Ministry of Finance.
Within the common customs territory of the member states of the Customs Union, the procedure for levying indirect taxes on mutual trade is regulated by provisions under the Agreement on the Principles of Levying Indirect Taxes on the Export and Import of Goods, Performance of Works and Rendering of Services in the Customs Union, dated January 25, 2008, as well as by protocols adopted in accordance with this Agreement – the Protocol on the Procedure for Levying Indirect Taxes and the Control Mechanism over their Payment in the Export and Import of Goods in the Customs Union, dated December 11, 2009, and the Protocol on the Procedure for Levying Indirect Taxes on the Performance of Works and Rendering of Services in the Customs Union, dated December 11, 2009.
When the above international treaties enter into force, bilateral international treaties on indirect taxation as applied in mutual trade between the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus will be voided.
Furthermore, the above-mentioned bilateral treaties between the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus do not provide for the withdrawal of the Parties from these treaties, which requires that a special Protocol be signed between the two governments on their termination.
In view of the requirements set out in Articles 15 and 36 of the Federal Law On International Treaties of the Russian Federation, the termination of bilateral treaties concerned is subject to ratification because the procedure requires the adoption of appropriate federal laws.
4. Signing the Agreement between the Russian Federation and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development on a Loan to Finance the Project “Improving the Financial Literacy of the Population and Developing Financial Education in the Russian Federation”
The draft resolution was submitted by the Ministry of Finance.
The document provides for the adoption of the proposal made by the Ministry of Finance and agreed upon with the Ministry of Economic Development, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Education and Science, as well as the Russian Federal Agency for Consumer Supervision, to sign an Agreement between the Russian Federation and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development on a loan to finance the project “Improving the Financial Literacy of the Population and Developing Financial Education in the Russian Federation,” which provides for granting Russia a loan of $25 million with a repayment period of 14 years, including a 5-year grace period.
In addition, the draft instructs the Ministry of Finance to:
The cost of the project is $113 million, spread over five years (2011-2015), including $25 million from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development and $88 million from the federal budget.
The project is a nation-wide undertaking and anticipates the participation of interested bodies, including: executive federal agencies, professional associations, financial players (including pension funds, insurance companies, and banks), and institutions of learning, as well as organisations protecting the rights of financial sector service consumers.
Implementation of the project in the regions will be carried out in two stages: there will be three pilot regions selected during the first stage and eight regions in the second stage. Regions and initiatives will be selected on the basis of chosen criteria, including the readiness of the regions to co-finance the project. Their experience of its implementation will later be popularised in other regions of Russia.
Measures to improve the financial literacy of the population and financial education were one of the initiatives advanced by Russia at the G8 meeting of finance ministers in 2006 in St Petersburg and one of the subjects discussed at the April 2009 meeting of G20 leaders.
A delegation of the Russian Federation held talks with the IBRD for a loan to finance the project in September 2010. On December 7, 2010, the bank’s board of directors endorsed the loan for the Russian Federation.
5. Amending separate acts of the Government
6. Measures to prepare and hold the 2011 world biathlon championships in Khanty-Mansiysk and the 2011 world biathlon and ski championships for disabled persons
Moscow, February 9, 2011
* Press-releases by the Department of Press Service and Information are based on the materials submitted by the executive federal bodies for discussion by the Presidium of the Government of the Russian Federation
