On March 20, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev will address the plenary session of the defence industry conference, Current Issues in the Development the Defence Industry in Russia. Main topics will include the implementation of the 2011-2020 state armament programme, the development of the human and technological capacity of the defence industry, improvements in legal regulations in the sphere of the state defence order, and public-private partnerships in the defence industry.
The Prime Minister will present state awards to heads of defence enterprises.
The conference will be attended by Deputy Prime Minister and Chairman of the Russian Military-Industrial Commission Dmitry Rogozin, Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu, Minister of Industry and Trade Denis Manturov, Minister of Science and Education of Dmitry Livanov, legislators and representatives of Russian regions, heads of defence enterprises and public organisations, as well as veteran defence industry workers.
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The conference is organised by the Government Military-Industrial Commission, which is a standing body in charge of organising and coordinating the activities of federal executive bodies in the implementation of government policy in the sphere of military-industrial issues and military and technical support for national defence, law enforcement and national security.
The commission turned 60 on March 16. The Special Committee of the USSR Council of Ministers, which later became the Commission of the Presidium of the USSR Council of Ministers for Military-Industrial Issues with the functions of management and oversight of the work to develop and rapidly manufacture missiles and missile weapons and other military equipment, as well as coordination of work between these industries.
Currently, the Military-Industrial Commission coordinates work to form a single methodological framework for pricing products, work and services related to the state defence order and increasing penalties for failure to comply with the requirements established by Russian law in the sphere of defence contracting.
The federal law On the State Defence Order entered into force on January 1, 2013. In addition, the State Duma is completing a review of the draft federal law On Federal Contract System in the Procurement of Goods, Work and Services.
The defence industry conference was last held in 1991. The conference has a website in Russian at http://vpconf.ru.