At its September 15, 2009 meeting the Government of the Russian Federation took the following decisions on the items on its agenda:
I. Draft programme for investment in the power industry in 2010
Taking into account the report by the Minister of Energy of the Russian Federation on the issue, the Government has approved in principle the list of key organisations in the power industry to be targeted for investment programmes in 2010, including through targeted investment funds (funds from the federal budget, tariffs and proceeds from the sale of stock in companies previously owned by RAO UES Russia: SO UES, RusHydro, RAO Eastern Energy Systems, Holding MRSK, Inter RAO UES, OGK-1 and Energoatom Concern.)
First Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Igor Shuvalov, jointly with Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation and Chief of the Government Staff Sergey Sobyanin, Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation andFinance Minister Alexei Kudrin, Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Igor Sechin, Minister of Economic Development of the Russian Federation Elvira Nabiullina and the Minister of Energy of the Russian Federation Sergey Shmatko, has been charged with determining the increase of electricity tariffs in 2010, determining the breakdown of revenue sources for financing investment programmes in entities in the energy industry, setting the deadlines and stages for the transition to regulating tariffs for the services of distribution network companies based on the profitability of invested capital, addressing the issues of financing the restoration of the Sayano-Shushenskaya Hydroelectric Power Station, avoiding excessive power losses in the republics in the Southern Federal District, restoring energy facilities in the Chechen Republic, completing the Nurenergo startup facilities and managing the investment programme MRSK North Caucasus.
Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin will deal with the issue of funding the search for and preservation of archaeological and cultural landmarks in the areas to be inundated due to the construction of planned hydroelectric power stations, including the Boguchanskaya Hydroelectric Power Station.
The Government has approved a list of key targets for FSK UES investment programmes in 2010-2012, partly through targeted investments.
The Government of the Russian Federation has instructed:
● The Ministry of Energy of Russia, jointly with the Ministry of Economic Development of Russia and the Federal Tariff Service of Russia, to approve the FSK UES investment programme for 2010-2012 and give reports of its progress in implementing said investment programme to the Government of the Russian Federation every six months.
● The Ministry of Energy of Russia, the Ministry of Economic Development of Russia and the Federal Tariff Service of Russia to take measures requiring entities in the energy industry to conduct scheduled repairs of energy facilities, buildings and production-related structures, and submit quarterly reports to that effect to the Government of the Russian Federation.
● The Ministry of Energy of Russia, the Ministry of Economic Development of Russia and the Finance Ministry of Russia to secure funding for the completion of the water discharge facility at the Sayano-Shushenskaya Hydroelectric Power Station from the Federal Budget allocated for the additional issue of the shares of RusHydro in 2009. The corresponding draft document will be submitted to the Government of the Russian Federation under established procedure.
● The Ministry of Energy of Russia, the Ministry of Economic Development of Russia, the Ministry of Regional Development of Russia and the Finance Ministry of Russia to finance the construction of the VL-220 KW Suntar-Olekminsk-NPS-14 and VL-220 KW Nizhniy Kuranakh - Tommot - Maya transmission lines from the 2010 Federal Budget.
● The Ministry of Energy of Russia, jointly with the appropriate federal executive bodies and the executive bodies of the federal entities of the Russian Federation in the Southern Federal District, to develop a comprehensive programme to reduce excessive power losses for 2010-2012, and submit the programme to the Government Commission on the Power Industry Development.
● The Federal Tariff Service of Russia, the Ministry of Energy of Russia and the Ministry of Economic Development of Russia to submit, within two months, to the Government of the Russian Federation proposals for amending regulatory acts regarding the possible transition to the method of regulating the prices (tariffs) for the products (services) of power industry entities based on returns on the invested capital, beginning in any given month.
The Government also recommends that the agencies regulating prices (tariffs) for the products (services) of power industry entities in the Russian regions:
- phase in, beginning in 2010, the abovementioned method of regulation at subsidiaries and affiliated companies of Holding MRSK and the Far Eastern Distribution Network Company;
- use, if necessary, the mechanism of excess tariffs to take into account the investment component of the tariffs for the services of transmitting power through distribution networks and the expenditure involved in connecting small and medium businesses, as stipulated by the Government of the Russian Federation in its prediction for the social and economic development of the Russian Federation in 2010 and the planning period of 2011 and 2012.
● The Ministry of Energy of Russia, jointly with the Ministry of Economic Development of Russia, the Finance Ministry of Russia and the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Russia, to consider the option of granting tax benefits to stimulate the introduction of new power equipment and energy-saving technologies.
II. Plans and programmes for long-term power industry development
The Government of the Russian Federation has adopted a draft resolution on the above issue.
III. Progress on federal targeted programmes and the Federal Targeted Investment Programme in the first half of 2009
The government has taken note of the report by the Ministry of Economic Development on the issue, and has instructed:
● federal executive bodies that are government beneficiaries of federal targeted programmes, federal government construction projects and federal government facilities to take necessary measures to make up for delays in various programmes and construction projects in the first half of 2009, paying particular attention to:
- utilising the budgets of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation, as well as municipal budgets and off-budget sources, and, in order to meet the 2009 targets, signing agreements for joint financing for major construction projects being carried out by the state in the constituent entities of the Russian Federation;
- granting interbudgetary subsidies, with due diligence for their targeted and effective use and within the framework of agreements with the constituent entities of the Russian Federation, to the constituent entities of the Russian Federation for the timely and complete fulfilment of their obligations to finance said construction projects and facilities, including the commissioning of priority facilities scheduled to be completed before January 1, 2010;
- identifying scientific and technological patents, protecting intellectual assets of the Russian Federation produced under federal targeted programmes, developing said assets for commercial use and ensuring a return on federal budget research and development expenditures.
● the Ministry of Economic Development to submit a relevant report as part of background materials for the government meeting to review progress on the federal targeted programmes and the Federal Targeted Investment Programme at the end of the third quarter of 2009.
● that the federal executive bodies that are government beneficiaries of Federal Targeted Programmes be given until October 15, 2009 to submit to the Ministry of Economic Development draft resolutions of the Government of the Russian Federation, which will have been coordinated with the appropriate federal executive bodies, on introducing amendments to the relevant federal targeted programmes.
● the Russian Ministry of Economic Development to submit to the Government of the Russian Federation said draft resolutions under established procedure before December 1, 2009.
● the Russian Ministry of Regional Development, the Russian Ministry of Education and Science and the Russian Ministry of Defence to take measures to secure funding from the Federal Budget for the following federal targeted programmes in 2009: Socio-Economic and Ethnic/Cultural Development of Russian Germans in 2008-2012, Research and Pedagogical Human Resources in an Innovative Russia for 2009-2013, and Improvement of the Federal System of Reconnaissance and Control of the Airspace of the Russian Federation (2007-2010), and present the results to the Government of the Russian Federation before October 1, 2009.
● the Russian Ministry of Regions, the Russian Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Russian Ministry of Defence, the Russian Federal Drug Control Service , the Russian Ministry of Communications and Mass Media, the State Atomic Energy Corporation Rosatom, the Ministry of Education and Science, Ministry of Healthcare and Social Development and the Federal Agency for Fishery to take measures to ensure co-financing for the relevant programmes from the budgets of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation, the municipal budgets and off-budget sources for the projects envisaged for 2009. Reports on the results of this work are to be submitted to the Government of the Russian Federation before December 1, 2009.
● the Ministry of Regional Development of Russia , the Ministry of Education and Science, the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Ministry of Communications and Mass Media and the Ministry of Healthcare and Social Development to take the necessary measures to expedite the following federal targeted programmes: Socio-Economic and Ethnic/Cultural Development of Russian Germans in 2008-2012, Research and Pedagogical Human Resources in an Innovative Russia for 2009-2013, Development of Civil Marine Technology in 2009-2016, Electronic Russia (2002-2010) and Preventing and Combating Socially Significant Diseases (2007-2011), and report on the progress thereof to the Ministry of Economic Development, with explanations for the failure of these federal targeted programmes to be implemented by their deadlines.
● the Ministry of Economic Development of Russia to analyze the abovementioned information and submit proposals aimed at enhancing the effectiveness of said programmes to the Government of the Russian Federation before November 1, 2009.
● the Ministry of Regions and the Ministry of Defence to finish tendering procedures and sign government contracts as soon as possible for projects undertaken as part of the federal targeted programmes Socio-Economic and Ethnic/Cultural Development of Russian Germans in 2008-2012, and Improving the System of Recruiting Sergeants and Soldiers from Among Service Members under Contract and Carrying Out the Transition to Filling Sergeants' Positions in the Armed Forces, Other Forces, Military Units and Agencies of the Russian Federation, as well as Seamen's Positions in the Navy, with Service Members Under Contract (2009-2015), and present the results to the Government of the Russian Federation before November 1, 2009.
● the Ministry of Communications and Mass Media, the Ministry of Regional Development of Russia and the State Atomic Energy Corporation Rosatom to submit to the Government of the Russian Federation as soon as possible drafts of the federal targeted programmes Developing Broadcasting in the Russian Federation in 2009-2015, Social and Economic Development of the Republic of Ingushetia in 2010-2016, A NewGeneration of Nuclear Energy Technologies in the 2010-2015 Period and through 2020, which will begin in 2010.
● the Ministry of Economic Development and the Finance Ministry of Russia, jointly with the appropriate federal executive bodies, to consider, in light of the discussion of, ways of improving the procedure for granting subsidies to the constituent entities of the Russian Federation that provide investment from their own budgets for co-financing major construction of government-owned facilities in said constituent entities of the Russian Federation, and submit the relevant proposals to the Government of the Russian Federation before October 15, 2009.
IV. Programme to facilitate online access to high-priority and widely used services provided by federal executive bodies
In light of the discussion, the Government of the Russian Federation has approved a draft executive order on the issue and instructed the Ministry of Economic Development to prepare proposals for reducing the necessary time and streamlining the necessary paperwork for starting a new business, and submit these proposals to the Government of the Russian Federation under established procedure within ten days.
V. Draft Federal Law On the Ratification of the Agreement between the Government of the Russian Federation and the Intergovernmental Foundation for Humanitarian Cooperation of the Member States of the Commonwealth of Independent States on the Terms of the Foundation's Presence in the Russian Federation.
The Government of the Russian Federation has approved the Draft Federal Law entitled On Ratification of the Agreement between the Government of the Russian Federation and the Intergovernmental Foundation for Humanitarian Cooperation of the Member States of the Commonwealth of Independent States on the Terms of the Foundation's Presence in the Russian Federation, and will submit the draft to the State Duma under established procedure.
Moscow, October 6, 2009
* Decisions on the items on the agenda take into account the remarks and proposals stated at the Presidium of the Government meeting and are issued as official documents of the Government of the Russian Federation.
