1. Measures to develop the production of strategic, deficit and import-replacing materials and low-tonnage chemistry for armaments, military and special equipment for 2009-2011 and in the period until 2015
2. The draft federal targeted programme Enhancing the Effective Use and Development of the Resource Potential of the Fisheries Complex from 2009 to 2013
Recent years have seen the build-up of a number of serious problems in the fisheries complex that prevents it from fully reaching its potential.
The problem of the reproduction of the species whose harvesting yields the highest profits has assumed greater urgency. Sturgeons are facing extinction. Among the general problems affecting the fisheries industry in Russia, the problem of illegal fishing of water bio-resources in the exclusive economic zone of Russia (hereafter, EEZ of Russia) and their movement to Japan, China, Korea, and Norway has become acute. Highly profitable types of marine biological resources - crabs, sea urchins, cod, and other types of marine bio-resources - are suffering from predatory harvesting. The situation with protection of sturgeon in the Caspian Sea basin and the preservation of sturgeon in the Sea of Azov basin and the Amur River has become complicated. The material and technical base of fish processing in Russia is lacking. The rate of renewal of fish processing equipment to enterprises has dropped to a critical level. The basic production assets now in operation are predominantly inefficient and outdated, having passed the 60% mark of physical wear-and-tear, which greatly affects the competitiveness of the fish products. The need to overcome the problems in the development of the fisheries complex is addressed in the Marine Doctrine of the Russian Federation, the instructions of the President of the Russian Federation, the Government of the Russian Federation, and the decisions of the Russian Government's Marine Board.
The federal targeted programme Enhancing the Effective Use and Development of the Resource Potential of the Fisheries Complex from 2009 to 2013 (hereafter, the Programme) has been developed pursuant to the directive of President Vladimir Putin of the Russian Federation of September 22, 2007. The state commissioners of the programme are the Federal Fisheries Agency and the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation; the government commissioner and coordinator of the programme is the Federal Fisheries Agency.
The aim of the Programme is:
- to ensure sustained development of the fisheries complex to meet the growing demand in the Russian Federation for fish products, with priority growth of the supply of high added value domestic products and substantial progress towards food sufficiency.
The tasks of the Programme include:
- increasing the fishing resource base through artificial reproduction of marine bio-resources, enhancing the effectiveness of comprehensive fisheries research of the state of marine bio-resources stocks in the areas of harvesting, including the zones of foreign states and open areas of the world's oceans;
- more effective harvesting of marine bio-resources;
- more effective state control of compliance by the users of marine bio-resources with legislation in the field of fishing;
- increasing the number of species and the spread of technologies for the cultivation of valuable types of marine bio-resources;
- increasing the amount of fish products and raw materials delivered to the territory of the Russian Federation by increasing the capacity of seaport fishing terminals;
- meeting the growing demand of the population for fish products by increasing the output of fish food for sale.
The Programme stipulates eight areas that ensure more effective use and development of the resource potential of the fisheries complex of the Russian Federation:
- the building and reconstruction of facilities for the reproduction of marine biological resources;
- the building and reconstruction of research and production centres for developing aqua- and marine-culture technologies (preservation and reproduction of marine biological resources);
- the building and reconstruction of facilities for the use of technologies to farm marine biological resources, financed from off-budget sources;
- the building of research vessels, vessels used for the reproduction of marine biological resources as well as the building of vessels used to ensure state control of marine biological resources and their habitats;
- renewal of fish processing equipment at fish processing facilities;
- the building and modernization of fishing vessels by Russian ship-building facilities;
- reconstruction of port facilities of fish terminals in seaports;
- research and development in the fishing sphere.
In the field of reproduction and farming of valuable marine biological resources, the priority measures will be taken to restore the populations of sturgeon, salmon, and other marine biological resources (maintenance of natural populations, reconstruction of existing and building of new marine biological resource farms), support will be increased for the development of research and production centres for the creation of aqua- and marine-culture aimed at the preservation and reproduction of marine biological resources (creating new shoals of promising objects of ichthyo-fauna to expand the range of species of farmed marine bio-resources, the introduction of new facilities for the development of aqua and marine-culture technologies to preserve and reproduce marine bio-resources).
It is impossible to attain the required level of stocks of bio-resources in bodies of water without an additional increase in the capacity of fish farms. This area includes 58 measures involving the construction and reconstruction of marine bio-resources farms as well as four infrastructure projects in 27 Russian regions aimed at reproducing the populations of valuable species of marine biological resources.
The measure of fulfilment of that part of the programme is the growth of the release of juvenile commercial fish into natural bodies of water and reservoirs.
There are plans to build, renovate and retool eight research and production innovation centres under the leading fisheries research institutions: FGUP VNIRO, FGUP PINRO, FGUP TINRO, FGUP SakhNIRO, FGUP AZNIIRKH, FGUP VNIIPRKH, and FGUP KASPNIIRKH. The creation of centres will make it possible to introduce new methods and test new technological schemes of aqua-cultural measures to preserve and reproduce marine bio-resources, increase the biological productivity of the populations of hydrobionts, including those depleted by harvesting, as well as to formulate the basic requirements for growing marine invertebrate and weed planting material.
Eight commercial projects financed from off-budget sources are to be implemented. These projects will make it possible to release into inland bodies of water more than 30 million juvenile fish of ordinary species.
There are plans to build 27 research vessels (four large, six medium-sized and 17 small), eight vessels for reproduction, two Sprut patrol vessels, and 208 speedboats and small watercraft to ensure state supervision and protection of the marine bio-resources.
The building of research vessels will support the full range of research, including expeditions to remote parts of the world's oceans, and will provide the fishing fleet with data on the raw materials base for successful fishing. The building of vessels for reproduction of live fish will increase commercial recovery of juvenile fish of valuable species. Out of the more than 5,000 fishing fleet vessels operating in Russian waters, more than 15% operate with various degrees of irregularities. Experts estimate that Russia annually loses up to $1 billion due to illegal fishing and export of fish products abroad. To ensure the fulfilment of measures to control harvesting and bring the volume of marine bio-resources brought into Russian territory to a level of at least 0.85, the border service of the FSB of Russia needs two additional Sprut patrol vessels and 208 speedboats and small watercraft to ensure state control and protection of marine bio-resources. The renewal of fish processing equipment at fish processing facilities financed from off-budget sources will make it possible to increase the production of frozen fish by 154,500 tonnes, air-dried and smoked fish, by 35,200 tonnes, semi-processed fish, by 75,800 tonnes, canned fish, by 235 million conventional cans, and non-food products, by 170,000 tonnes. The building of new and restoration of existing fish processing facilities will make Russian fish products more competitive, reduce the share of imported fish products (above all those with high added value) in the domestic market, and give domestic producers access to the international market by ensuring the required standard of quality and safety of fish products.
Plans are underway to implement 17 commercial projects financed by off-budget sources, to build and modernise vessels of various classes at enterprises in the Primorye Territory, the Republic of Karelia, and the Arkhangelsk, Murmansk, Kaliningrad, and Kamchatka regions. Vessels need to be built not only to replace the discarded ones used in the exclusive economic zone of Russia, but to restore expeditionary fishing in the world's oceans. At present, the fish terminals at seaports handle 1.3 million tonnes of fish products. The target for 2013 is 3.5 million tonnes.
That part of the Programme includes measures to develop Russian fish terminals at the Vladivostok, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, Khasan, Nevel, Kholmsky, Kaliningrad, Pionersk, Murmansk, St Petersburg, and Novorossiisk seaports. The restoration of 5 km of broken down berths and 6.51 km of berths in need of reconstruction will ensure the capacity for handling the forecast volume of fish provided the berths receive highly efficient equipment from private companies.
Scientific support includes research and development work in four areas: scientific support of the development of expeditionary fishing of marine bio-resources outside the exclusive economic zone of Russia; scientific support of measures to increase the amount of artificial reproduction of marine bio-resources; scientific support of the development of new technologies for deep processing of marine bio-resources; study of the possibilities and preparation of technologies for catching marine bio-resources at great depths in the world's oceans.
Scientific research and development will be aimed at increasing domestic harvesting in remote parts of the world's oceans and in inland waters, the creation of effective technologies for obtaining biologically active substances and additives, scientific methods of managing the fishing industry with assessment of the stocks of marine bio-resources and advance forecasting of their dynamics, the reconnaissance of new types of commercial water bio-resources, etc.
The Programme will be implemented during the five-year period between 2009 and 2013. The Programme measures will be financed out of the federal budget, the regional budgets, and off-budget sources.
The total amount of funding for the Programme in the prices of corresponding years for 2009 to 2013 is 61,831.1 million roubles, of which:
- 32,439.3 million roubles (52.46%) from the federal budget;
- 340 million roubles (0.55%) from the regional budgets;
- 29,051.8 million roubles (46.98%) from off-budget sources (the budgets of enterprises and organisations in the fisheries complex, bank credits, etc).
The Programme has the following end goals:
- approaching the norms of fish product consumption recommended by the Nutrition Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences by 2013;
- improving the resource base, bringing the volume of marine bio-resources to a level that matches the fleet's production capacity;
- increasing the volume and depth of processing of marine bio-resources on the territory of the Russian Federation;
- increasing the effectiveness of foreign trade in fish products; increasing the average value of one tonne of exported fish products by 11% and the export-import balance by 63% compared with 2006;
- preserving jobs in the littoral regions of the Russian Federation;
- making the fisheries industry more profitable for the state and for business.
3. The draft Federal Law On Introducing an Amendment to Article 56 of the Federal Law On the Central Bank of the Russian Federation (the Bank of Russia)
Pursuant to the representation of the Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation made as a result of the audit of the Bank of Russia, it is necessary to clearly determine the body (official) authorised to approve the Statute on the Bank Supervision Committee (hereafter the Committee). At present, in accordance with Clause 18, Part 1 of Article 18 and Part 4 of Article 56 of the Federal Law On the Central Bank of the Russian Federation (the Bank of Russia), the Bank of Russia Board of Directors is authorised to approve the structure of the Committee. Under Part 3, Article 56 of said Federal Law, the Committee is a permanent body that comprises the structural divisions of the Bank of Russia, but is not an independent structural unit of the Bank of Russia. In connection with this, the provisions of Clause 13, Part 1, Article 18 of the above federal law, which put the issues of approval of regulations on the structural units of the Bank of Russia under the jurisdiction of the Board of Directors, are not directly applicable to the issues of approving the Statute on the Committee by the Bank of Russia Board of Directors.
According to the Bank of Russia information, in exercising its powers to approve the Statute on the Committee, the Bank of Russia Board of Directors is guided by the provisions of Clause 18, Part 1, Article 18 of the Federal Law On the Central Bank of the Russian Federation (the Bank of Russia), whereby the Board of Directors of the Bank of Russia performs other functions that the above federal law puts under the jurisdiction of the Board of Directors and Article 56 of the Federal Law on the Central Bank of the Russian Federation (the Bank of Russia). The Statute on the Committee has been approved by the Bank of Russia Board of Directors in compliance with the norms cited and not in compliance with Clause 13, Part 1, Article 18 of the Federal Law referred to above. To harmonise the provisions of Clauses 13 and 18, Article 18 of the Federal Law On the Central Bank of the Russian Federation (the Bank of Russia) it is necessary to introduce an amendment to Article 56 of the Federal Law to expressly vest the Bank of Russia Board of Directors with powers to approve the Statute on the Committee. The amendment being introduced into the Federal Law On the Central Bank of the Russian Federation (Bank of Russia) will clarify the procedure for approving the Statute on the Committee and will reinforce the Committee's position as an inalienable body within the Bank of Russia system as a whole.
4. Submitting to the President of the Russian Federation the Treaty on the Creation of the Common Customs Territory and the Formation of the Customs Union for the purpose of introducing the same for ratification
The Treaty on the Creation of the Common Customs Territory and the Formation of the Customs Union (hereafter the Treaty) was signed at the meeting of the Intergovernmental Council of the Eurasian Economic Community held in the city of Dushanbe on October 6, 2007.
The signing of the Treaty has been prompted by the need to further develop the legal framework for the Customs Union within the EurAsEC in view of the deepening integration between the Russian Federation, the Republic of Belarus, and the Republic of Kazakhstan (hereafter the Parties).
The Treaty is aimed at creating a Customs Union of the Parties. The Customs Union is defined as a form of trade and economic integration of the Parties that envisages a common customs territory within which customs duties and economic restrictions, with the exception of special protection, anti-dumping, and compensatory measures, do not apply in mutual trade in goods originating from the customs territory of the Parties, as well as originating from third countries and released in free circulation on that territory. Within the Customs Union, the Parties use a common customs tariff and other uniform measures of regulating trade with third-party countries.
Article 2 of the Treaty contains a complete list of conditions required for the unification of the customs territories of the Parties into a single customs territory and for completing the formation of the Customs Union. The supreme governing body of the Customs Union is authorized to make such a decision. This approach guarantees a coordinated and simultaneous transition of the Parties to the Customs Union and rules out contradictions and disputes connected with the varying speeds of integration.
Although the Parties renounce the use of customs duties and economic restrictions in mutual trade, they reserve the right to apply special protective, anti-dumping, and compensation measures, as well as bans and restrictions on imports or exports required to protect public morals, the life and health of humans, animals, and plants, protect the environment and cultural values, provided such bans and restrictions are not vehicles of unreasonable discrimination or a disguised restriction of trade.
According to Article 5 of the Treaty, from the time a single customs territory is created, the regime of the collection of customs duties and levies on imports or exports, the methods of collecting such duties and levies, and the rules and administrative procedures used in connection with the import and export of goods that each of the Parties supplies to any third-party country under an international treaty or de facto, may not be more favourable than the regime the said Party offers to other Parties.
The Treaty is subject to ratification in accordance with Article 8 of the Treaty and in accordance with subclause "a" of Clause 1 and Clause 2 of Article 15 of the Federal Law On International Treaties of the Russian Federation.
Implementation of the Treaty will not entail additional costs for the federal budget.
5. Submitting to the President of the Russian Federation the Treaty on the Customs Union Commission for the purpose of introducing the same for ratification
The Treaty on the Customs Union Commission (hereafter the Treaty) was signed at the meeting of the Intergovernmental Council of the Eurasian Economic Community held in the city of Dushanbe on October 6, 2007. The signing of the Treaty was prompted by the need to form the legal framework of the Customs Union within EurAsEC in view of the deepening integration between the Russian Federation, the Republic of Belarus, and the Republic of Kazakhstan (hereafter the Parties).
The Treaty would establish a Customs Union Commission (hereafter, the Commission), which is a single permanent regulatory body of the Customs Union. The main task of the Commission is to ensure conditions for the functioning and development of the Customs Union.
The Treaty seals the principles of the Commission's work, its functions and regulates the main issues of the organisation of the Commission's activities. In particular, the Treaty envisages the creation of the Secretariat of the Commission, which is the working body of the Commission that organises and provides information and technical support of its work. The specific functions of the Secretariat, its structure, and the size of its staff will be determined by a separate international treaty.
The Treaty embodies the approaches that ensure effective functioning of the Commission as the body that implements the decisions made by the supreme governing body of the Customs Union, ensures compliance with the international treaties on the formation and functioning of the Customs Union, and monitors their execution. An important function of the Commission is the assistance to the Parties in the settlement of disputes within the Customs Union prior to referring the same to the court of the Eurasian Economic Community.
The Treaty envisages voluntary and gradual transfer to the Commission of some of the powers of the government bodies of the Parties and vesting it with the right to make decisions that are binding on the Parties.
To ensure that the interests of the Parties are protected the Treaty stipulates some legal guarantees. Such guarantees include the norms that envisage the passing of decisions by a qualified majority (two-thirds of the votes), the distribution of votes among the Parties in proportion to their contribution to funding the Commission's activity, the making of decisions on disputed issues by the supreme body of the Customs Union and the right of any Party to table a motion on reversing the Commission's decision at the supreme body of the Customs Union. The Treaty is subject to ratification in accordance with Article 17 of the Treaty, subclauses "a" and "e" of Clause 1 and Clause 2 of Article 15 of the Federal Law on the International Treaties of the Russian Federation.
The Treaty does not require any amendments to the existing federal laws or the adoption of new ones.
The creation of the Commission would require an increase in the federal budget expenditure of the Russian Federation equal to the size of its contribution to financing the Commission's activities, which will be determined in forming its structure, including the Commission's Secretariat and its representative offices to be established in accordance with Articles 10 and 11 of the Treaty.
6. Submitting to the President of the Russian Federation the Protocol on the Procedure of the Coming into Effect of International Treaties Aimed at Forming the Legal Framework of the Customs Union, Withdrawal from and Accession to Them for the purpose of introducing the same for ratification
The Protocol on the Procedure of the Coming into Effect of International Treaties Aimed at Forming the Legal Framework of the Customs Union, Withdrawal from and Accession to Them (hereafter the Protocol) was signed at the meeting of the Intergovernmental Council of the Eurasian Economic Community held in the city of Dushanbe on October 6, 2007. The signing of the Protocol was prompted by the need to form a legal framework for the Customs Union in the framework of EurAsEC in view of the deepening integration between the Russian Federation, the Republic of Belarus, and the Republic of Kazakhstan (hereafter the Parties). The Protocol is an important element of the legal framework of the Customs Union that envisages the package principle of the coming into force of the documents that form the legal framework of the Customs Union. The Protocol establishes that the withdrawal of a Party from any agreement signifies its withdrawal from all the international treaties aimed at completing the formation of the legal framework of the Customs Union.
In accordance with Article 5 of the Protocol, the provisions of international treaties aimed at completing the formation of the legal framework of the Customs Union do not affect the rights and obligations of the Parties under other international treaties among the Parties if such treaties envisage a higher degree of integration of the Parties.
The Protocol is subject to ratification in accordance with Article 7 of the Protocol and with Clause 2, Article 15 of the Federal Law On the International Treaties of the Russian Federation.
Implementation of the Protocol will not entail additional spending for the federal budget.
7. The Organising Committee for the preparation and holding of the international forum on nanotechnologies
If Russia is to gain a leading position in the world nanotechnologies markets, it is necessary to create a global forum in Russia for discussing the problems of the development of the nano-industry (scientific, technological, production, investment, safety problems, etc.) and to secure Russia's recognition in that capacity on the part of the world nanotechnology community. The key event in this area must be the annual international forum on nanotechnologies (hereafter the Forum).
The first international forum on nano-industry and applied aspects of nanotechnology is to be held in Moscow on December 3-5, 2008 at the Expotsentr (Central Exhibition Complex) in the shape of a series of plenary and breakout group meetings, reports on stands, seminars by world nano-industry leaders, roundtables, press conferences, and an exhibition.
The main themes of the forum will be applied aspects of nanotechnologies over the whole spectrum of research and development that have practical relevance today and in the future.
The Forum is designed as a venue for annual specialised events devoted to outstanding Russian scientists who have made an internationally recognised contribution to the foundations of contemporary science on the processes at the nano-level and nano-materials, as well as events with the participation of young scientists (undergraduates and postgraduates) specialising in nanotechnologies and related disciplines. The holding of the Forum will be an effective means and an occasion to inform the broad public about the results of government efforts in developing nanotechnologies and the nano-industry. The state Rosnanotech Committee will perform the functions of Forum organiser.
Adoption of the draft executive order of the Russian Government on the holding of an international forum on nanotechnologies in the city of Moscow in 2008 will not entail additional costs for the federal budget.
July 25, 2008
Moscow
* Press releases by the Department of Press Service and Information contain the materials submitted by the federal executive bodies for discussion by the Presidium of the Government of the Russian Federation.