Transcript of the beginning of the meeting:

Dmitry Medvedev: Good afternoon, everyone! Today’s meeting includes representatives of all the parliamentary parties. I would like to remind you that when the State Duma appointed me Prime Minister, I promised to hold such working meetings, and not only ones for listening to reports, as is stipulated by the Constitution and the law. I  also meant to hold regular meetings with the leaders of the parliamentary parties, but I believe that we need to communicate in a somewhat expanded format and discuss the agenda that we all are concerned about. It has been over six months since the new Government began its activities and now it is time to talk about our life and our plans. But before we do that, I would like to add that the law-making activities of the Government and the State Duma over the past year have been very productive. Over a half of laws signed by the President in 2012 were developed and submitted to the parliament by the Government. I would like to thank you all for your work.

The spring session will also bring with it hard work. We have plans to implement, they are outlined in the Presidential Address and in the key legislative acts effective in our country, but what is most important is that the lives and well-being of our huge population depend on them, that's a huge number of people. 

Today, I would like to discuss certain issues, but if you would like to, we can also touch upon issues that you consider important. The first issue I would like to address is the draft law on the federal system of contracts for the purchase of goods, work and services, which will replace the infamous Law No. 94, which needed to be improved. In fact, the law affects almost all sections of society. Experience has shown that the law has many flaws, but this is not only about the flaws. We have constantly tried to fix its faults, but the law itself does not defend the customer from the non-fulfilment of contract terms and does not allow the work carried out to be evaluated. This is its weak spot, which created opportunities for corruption and all kinds of money laundering like so-called “pocket” firms, tenders for unnecessary services or tenders where the winner was known from the outset. I hope that this situation will be considerably remedied.  

The draft law proposed by the Government passed its first reading in June 2012, with more than 800 amendments made and taken into account. There are many amendments. State and municipal authorities will publish long-term and short-term financial plans for government procurements for the fiscal year. This will allow small and medium-sized businesses to participate in and prepare for tenders. The past experience of contractor organisations and some other variables will be considered. I hope this will make it possible to better evaluate the merits of government procurement orders and to expertly evaluate the quality of the goods and services supplied. It is also stipulated there that at least 15% of total annual procurements comes from small businesses. I approve of this, because arithmetic parameters can be important sometimes. Although it is difficult to enforce this rule, this is an indicator we should be guided by.

The merits of procurement orders will be subject to public discussions. I suggest discussions be held, and I would ask that State Duma deputies approve the bill, so that it is fully operational on January 1, 2014.    

The second issue is improving state migration policies. The state migration concept and the implementation plan have been adopted, so work is underway. In 2012, parliament adopted 14 federal laws. The same number of bills are still being discussed. A lot of bylaws have been issued. Today we must deal with all of this; we must supply the economy with a modern workforce, create civilised labour markets, attract highly skilled workers, including foreign ones, in the most high-demand jobs with the greatest shortages, but not at the expense of Russian citizens. We understand that the unskilled labour has been coming here so far. They can hardly speak Russian, and are not familiar with our culture and traditions. This leads to conflicts and often crimes. Deputies introduced a draft law requiring people to demonstrate their knowledge of Russian, its history, and the basics of our laws. This is not discrimination; it is common practice among most countries, in all countries that care about their future. I think the draft law should be approved.

Another bill bans the hiring of foreigners in retail , except for managerial positions, and establishes quotas on highly-skilled foreign workers and their family members, which is in our interest. And, of course, we must continue to promote the voluntary resettlement of Russians in Russia. The Government bill to simplify the process of becoming a Russian citizen has also submitted to the State Duma.

There are other big, challenging issues in addition to these two. Some of them deal with our jurisdiction, the advantages and disadvantages of the current system, which may also be discussed. There are other aspects. The anti-smoking law is under development, but the tobacco lobby has stuffed it so full of regulations that it wouldn’t make sense to pass it in its current form. I need to understand your point of view, as I myself have not seen the latest version. I would like to discuss with you what the law should include.

Another pressing problem is drinking and driving. I have always thought that the parliament must pass the toughest version of the law. Let’s discuss this. I would also like to remind everyone that on January 31, at an expanded Government meeting, the main areas of the Government’s work through 2018 will be discussed, which is the main document for the Government. I am prepared to discuss your ideas and proposals on this document.

Let’s start our discussion and get to work. 

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