Download Vladimir Putin`s speech: Mr Naryshkin, esteemed deputies

Vladimir Putin’s speech:
Mr Naryshkin, esteemed deputies, colleagues,
I am glad to meet all the State Duma sixth convocation deputies from all political parties.
Our country has just recovered from the great strain of the parliamentary and presidential election
campaigns. The repercussions of the emotion upheavals and political battles fought during this time
can still be felt. However, it is in the logic of a modern democracy that election campaigns end,
giving way to much more important periods of cooperation. We must look to the future now. It is
my understanding that we share the responsibility for our country and for the well-being and living
standards of millions of Russian families.
We share one country, therefore, the different political forces willing to make constructive efforts
should adopt, and be united by, the goal of advancing Russia’s development.
At the start of 2012, Russia’s GDP was higher than before the crisis, as we had planned. This means
that the national economy eventually recovered from the consequences of the recession of 20082009 (and 2010 in part). Allow me to cite a few figures. Russia’s GDP at 2008 prices totalled
41.421 trillion roubles in 2011, up from 41.277 trillion roubles in 2008. It is just slightly higher than
the pre-crisis level.
I’ll now report on our results for 2011 and for previous years. I would like to say that we have
nothing to be ashamed of because these are good results. I would also like to note, and to stress, that
these achievements should not be credited to the Government alone. They are primarily the result of
our people’s hard work in all sectors of industry and public service. These are our joint results – I
am referring to the ruling party which enjoys a parliamentary majority as well as the political forces
opposed to the government, because the solutions worked out through heated debates and
cooperation, have led eventually to the good results I will speak about shortly, and we do have good
results as I said.
We all remember that Russia was faced with an unprecedented financial and economic crisis. In fact
it was the first such global crisis ever. It was much larger in scale and far more dangerous than the
crisis of 1998. I think that those politicians and analysts, who said at the time that the world was on
the brink of pivotal, dramatic change, were right after all. It was an enormous challenge for Russia.
Had we not been able to respond to it, we would have sent our economy and social security system
tumbling, and what’s more, we would have jeopardised Russia’s very sovereignty and geopolitical
sustainability, thereby burying any hope for modernisation and development.
We can see what has been happening recently in many European countries. I will say more about
this – some of them are truly losing part of their sovereignty, when decisions on absolutely
sovereign affairs are handed over to supranational bodies. This would have been especially hard on
Russia. However, we did not crumble, but stood our ground as a mature, creative and confident
nation with great inner vitality and strength.
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Today I would like to thank all Russians again for their resilience, patience and trust. I am confident
that we have come through our trials because of our shared responsibility, social partnership and
civil solidarity.
I think our most valuable achievement has been to stabilise and increase the Russian population: by
the end of 2011 it stood at over 143 million. We did not allow the crisis to reverse the previous
positive demographic trends.
You probably know from media reports that the population of Krasnoyarsk, in Siberia, has reached
one million.
Perm returned to the million-plus category; Voronezh and several other cities are expecting their
populations to hit the one million mark. This year, there will be 15 million-plus cities in Russia. In
2008-2011, over 7 million children were born in Russia, making it one of the highest birth rates
we’ve seen in the past few decades.
There is a curious fact that, frankly, I was not expecting, although I deal with these issues on a daily
basis: I reviewed some figures while preparing this report to parliament. More and more Russian
families are deciding to have a second or even third child. Over the past five years, the number of
families with two children has gone up by 45 percent, and the number of families with three or
more children by 62 percent. This is, of course, a reflection of people’s confidence in their own
potential, their families, their country and their future, and in their government’s competence and
responsibility.
There is a professional term used in these situations – expanding one’s planning horizon. This
happens when people feel a certain stability.
In 2009, I stood here in the same room presenting the government’s anti-crisis programme to
deputies of the State Duma of the previous convocation. I said then that our efforts would be
primarily focused on the wellbeing of Russian families, that we would not just work to overcome
the crisis, but would continue working towards our long-term goals and would eventually overcome
this crisis through development.
Regrettably, for objective reasons it was impossible to help all those who needed help and faced
problems, but we tried to protect the interests of the absolute majority of our people. Unlike the
early 1990s and 1998 when economic blows came as a severe shock to millions of our people,
during the crisis of 2008-2010 the government proved its ability to withstand trials.
I’d like to emphasise that we did not go back on any of our declared commitments. Of course, we
could have pointed to all the objective difficulties, and this would have been absolutely normal.
Moreover, the majority of people would have understood this. All countries of the world acted like
this. We could have also pointed to the circumstances and done nothing. We could have simply
made no response but this would have been wrong socially, politically and even economically. The
most important thing is to always speak the truth and to always be responsible for your words.
It is unprecedented that despite the crisis and its consequences real income of the population in
Russia did not drop on average, but even grew, albeit slightly. This trend continued during the past
four years, including 2009, the most difficult year. In fact, during that year growth was even a little
higher than before. Here are some figures. In 2008, the growth of inflation-adjusted income was
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2.4%, in 2009 – 3.1%, in 2010 – 5.1%, and in 2011 – a mere one percent. As for average wages in
the economy, in 2008-2011 they increased by 18%. I’m referring to real, inflation-adjusted wages.
Nominally the growth was almost 75%. In 2007, average nominal wages in the economy were
13,593 roubles per month and in 2011 – 23,693 roubles per month.
However, as we all know we still have a big material gap. The incomes of the wealthiest people –
and I’d like to speak about this issue because this is really a problem for us – are about 16 times
higher than those of the poorest. Regrettably, this gap has remained practically unchanged in the
last few years. We must pay very close attention to this problem. It is fraught with enormous social,
political and economic risks.
I’ll quote some figures to show how we compare with other countries in this respect. In Germany,
Austria and France the gap between the richest and the poorest is 5-7 times and the majority of
experts consider it the best ratio. In the United States the gap is 15 times, almost the same as we
have, while Brazil, a BRICS country, has a much bigger gap – 39 times.
I believe we must return today to one of our major tasks and make sure that minimum wages match
the subsistence level in the next few years. In the process we must upgrade the mechanisms for
determining both by updating them and making them more fair. During the very difficult recession
years, we also made a reassessment of Soviet pension rights. In effect we restored justice for
seniors. Since 2008 the average labour pension in Russia has increased by 150%.
You know what happened and is still happening in other countries against the backdrop of
persisting crisis phenomena. Ukraine has raised the retirement age; France increased it from 60 to
62 years, and I believe they don’t distinguish between men and women. You know what problems
Greece is facing in implementing its stabilisation programme – I won’t even talk about them.
Since January 1 of this year, pensions of all retired military were raised by 60% regardless of their
departmental affiliation. Also since January 1 the base pay of military personnel has been tripled; it
has been raised substantially in the Ministry of the Interior as well. Starting on January 1, 2013,
salaries will be considerably increased in all other law-enforcement agencies and secret services.
About 1.5 million people have received housing with the direct support of the state, including more
than 200,000 veterans of the Great Patriotic War, in the past four years.
In addition, maternity capital has helped more than one million families to improve their housing
conditions. By the way, we continually adjust this capital for inflation as we promised. In 2008, it
was a bit over 276,000 roubles whereas in 2012 it is 387,640 roubles.
We have continued large-scale repairs of residential buildings and the resettlement of people from
dilapidated housing. This project has affected about 16 million people.
During the past few years, we have carried out a programme for the construction of 23 perinatal and
seven high-tech medical centres, and established nine federal universities and 29 national research
universities. Every year, about 5,000 sport facilities are opened in Russia. Compared to 2008, the
number of people who regularly go in for sports has increased by six million. Sport has made a
comeback in schools – now pupils have three mandatory classes of physical fitness per week. Of
course, this is not enough. If we look at our neighbours in Scandinavia, the ratio of people going in
for sports is much bigger than here, but the trend in Russia is absolutely positive.
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In the last four years, the number of stadiums and swimming pools alone has increased by 20%.
Today Russia has twice as many swimming pools as in the Soviet Union. In the coming months,
key facilities will be opened as part of the preparations for the APEC forum in Vladivostok, the
Student Games in Kazan and the Olympics in Sochi. We are launching the construction of
infrastructure for the FIFA World Cup in 2018. All these projects are impressive, even by world
standards.
It goes without saying that the crisis was a trial for us, and a difficult one. We lost time and pace in
implementing some reforms, but we have kept up the forward momentum.
Yes, the decline was tangible. We know and remember this, but we recovered much faster than
many other countries. Today we have the highest economic growth rates in the G8 and one of the
highest among the world’s major economies. For comparison’s sake, the growth rate in the United
States is 1.7%, in the Eurozone 1.5%, in India 7.4%, in China 9.2% and in Russia 4.3%. We are
third among major economies.
I’d like to make a special mention of our agricultural recovery after the
severe drought of 2009 and 2010. Not only did we face a global financial and economic downturn,
we also had a drought for two years running. Nonetheless, all the support measures and the efficient
work of our agricultural producers led to good results. Russian agriculture grew by 22% in 2011.
Russia is becoming the world’s second largest grain exporter.
In 2011, investment in fixed assets reached a record 10.8 trillion roubles. In four years we doubled
investment – from 17.9 trillion roubles in 2004-2007 to 36.7 trillion in 2008-2011.
The profits of Russian companies went up by almost 16% in 2011 and tax revenues to the
consolidated federal budget increased by 27%.
Russia is showing positive dynamics on all key indicators of development without exception,
whereas in some European and other countries the crisis has developed into a chronic condition,
producing a protracted recession and growing unemployment. As I’ve already said, budget deficits
and the bankruptcy of public funds has become an albatross on the neck of states that are losing the
right to sovereign decision-making.
According to IMF estimates, world public sector debt grew by 14% in 2008-2011. This compares
with almost 90% in the entire Eurozone; in the United States the debt has exceeded 100% of GDP;
the relevant figures for Italy and Japan are 100% and 226%, respectively; in China it has grown by
10% to reach almost 27% of GDP. We have less than 10%, out of which the foreign debt is a little
over two percent.
We have overcome the crisis, while avoiding serious risks and a debt trap. We have preserved the
stability of our national currency and the budget system. Russia is the only G8 country without a
budget deficit in 2011. In fact, we even have a small surplus.
In the United States the budget deficit is 8.7%, in Japan 8.9%, in France 5.7% and in Canada 5%.
As of April 1, 2012, Russia’s international reserves amounted to more than $500 billion – $513.9
billion, to be precise. We have the world’s third largest foreign exchange reserve after China and
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Japan. Our National Welfare Fund and Reserve Fund are growing. The Reserve Fund increased by
36 billion last year to reach 1,826 billion roubles now. The National Welfare Fund is also growing
and stands at 2,624 billion roubles today.
Thankfully, we don’t have to approach anyone with hat in hand. As I said, our aggregate debt is less
than 10%. This is among the best in the world and the best figure not only among G8 but also G20
and BRICS countries.
We have curbed inflation in the past four years, and I’d like to draw your attention to this because
this is a very important indicator. We have reduced inflation from 13.3% to 6.1%. We have never
had such low inflation in our recent history. In fact, we have halved the inflation burden on our
people and the economy. It is still high compared with the industrialised market economies, but we
are approaching good results. For comparison’s sake, in Britain inflation stood at 4.5% last year and
in the United States 3.2%. We still have 6.1% inflation, but it’s falling at a very high rate.
During the crisis we spent huge funds on combating unemployment. Now the unemployment level
is even lower than before the crisis, and this is a major achievement.
As you know, in the most problematic countries, such as Spain, unemployment stands at 25%. Just
imagine – every fourth person in the working-age population does not have a job! Other countries
are also in a bad shape in this respect.
Again, despite all the trials, we have deliberately chosen the path to development rather than a
psychology of survival.
We are often criticised. Criticism is essential, and it is justified to some extent – I will speak about
this a bit later. But in the last four years Russia has built and commissioned more than 2,000 plants
and production lines in various industries, including the pharmaceutical industry, IT and
nanotechnology, construction materials and timber processing.
Look at how drastically the picture has changed in the Russian automotive industry. In the early
2000s and before, and especially during the crisis, many proposed shutting down some enterprises
altogether. Of course, we did not do this; we did the right thing. What do we have today? We have
several major auto manufacturing clusters. In 2008, we imported more than two million cars and
lorries, whereas in 2011 this figure was cut in half and the share of Russia-assembled cars in the
market grew from 40% to 70%. The Russian car market is growing very fast and is already second
to Germany in Europe and fourth in the world.
We said that the crisis should mobilise our economy and encourage our businesses to become more
efficient and modern.
Importantly, these processes are underway. In 2011, more than 60% of Russian enterprises invested
in upgrading fixed assets, technological re-equipment and greater energy efficiency. In 2008, the
share of new equipment, up to 10 years old, at domestic enterprises was about 30%, whereas by the
end of 2011 it increased to 40%.
We know the headaches of our aircraft manufacturers. Of course, there are still many problems in
our space industry, our defence industry, but nonetheless, we have launched a new Russian
passenger liner, Superjet-100, which has been made in digital format for the first time. Our fifth
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generation fighter is undergoing tests. We are launching the construction of our new national space
port Vostochny, which will be exclusively oriented toward civilian programmes. The formation of
the GLONASS satellite group has been fully completed. Of course, you can be as ironic about it as
you wish. Of course, there are many problems with this system, but this is a vital direction for our
defence industry, security, economy and technology.
Incidentally, we have launched this project simultaneously with our European partners. I believe
they have five or six satellites in orbit now whereas our group has been fully formed. This is
probably one of the few fields in which we have really surpassed our partners. The People’s
Republic of China is also trying to develop a similar system. We have developed it even faster than
we planned initially. Of course, we must deal with map-making and make the signal more precise.
There are many problems, but still we have come a long way on this programme, and this is
important. As for the defence industry, it has increased production by almost 50% compared to
2007.
The last four years have brought to our national thrift box the oil and gas of Vankor and Talakan,
new deposits of Yamal, Yakutia and Sakhalin. Our companies have started working on the Caspian
Sea and the Arctic shelf. The first stage of the Eastern Siberia-the Pacific oil pipeline has been
completed. We have started exporting our products to Asia and the Pacific, a very promising region
that is making rapid progress. We have even supplied a new mixture to the world market.
Last year, we gained direct access for the first time to the European gas market, having launched the
Nord Stream, a gas pipeline running along the bottom of the Baltic Sea. You no doubt understand
how important this is for us – after the Soviet Union’s disintegration we found ourselves beholden
to a host of mediators and transit countries. We plan to start laying the South Stream on the Black
Sea bottom at the end of this year.
During the past four years, over 12 GW of new power capacity has been put into operation. Just
imagine – 12 GW! This is the best achievement in the last few decades. I will quote the figures for
the following years: 2008 – 1.7 GW; 2009 – 1.5 GW; 2010 – 3.2 GW, 2011 – 6 GW, and during
this year alone we are going to commission another 8 GW of capacity.
In 2010, the construction of the Chita – Khabarovsk Motorway was completed. The Far East was
integrated into the national road network for the first time in the Russian history. We must now
bring this motorway in line with the most up-to-date world standards, including access to towns and
villages, and build the necessary road infrastructure.
The programme for high-speed railways has been launched. Over 50 highly complex tunnels and
railway bridges have been built. The modernisation of the Baikal-Amur Mainline and the TransSiberian Railway is underway.
Incidentally, transportation on the Far Eastern Railway today exceeds the best Soviet indicators
achieved in 1988, which is a very significant milestone. Just imagine – the growth is 75 per cent
higher than at the peak in the Soviet time.
There is another important example. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, almost all major trade
merchant harbours remained abroad – on the Baltic, the Caspian, the Black or the Azov Sea.
Overnight Russia has lost all of its large ports, though the Soviet Union invested billions of dollars
in them. To be honest, at that time it seemed impossible to get away from this infrastructural
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dependence. I am happy to report that today the capacity of the Russian sea ports exceeds the
transshipment of the Soviet ports by almost 50 per cent. By 2015, the capacity of the country’s ports
will be increased by another 50 per cent.
According to our overview of the past four years, we can state with confidence that Russia has not
only recovered from the crisis but has also made a significant step forward. We have become
stronger.
Esteemed colleagues, you are aware that in the course of the past election campaign I listed our
priorities, at least as I saw them as a presidential candidate. My first presidential decree will include
a roadmap for all the initiatives that I announced. Moreover, work on them has already begun. I
believe that we must focus on the issues of strategic, fundamental importance that have to do with
our historical prospects as a nation. Firstly, it is the demographic situation in Russia. Every Russian
citizen counts today. We must realise that we will face a serious challenge – the demographic echo
of the 1990s, when the country saw its most severe demographic decline. We need to take new
decisive steps to maintain and raise our population numbers. However, unless we revive the
traditional attitude to basic moral values, no socio-economic policy will produce stable results. The
efforts of the state, society, religious, educational and cultural organisations should be aimed at
promoting a close-knit prosperous family with many children.
Secondly, Russia has the world’s largest territory. We must preserve and protect our territory from
external threats and provide modern living and working conditions in all the country’s regions. We
must pay a great deal of attention to the development of the Far East and Eastern Siberia. This is an
essential geopolitical task. We need to ensure higher growth of the gross regional product in Siberia
and the Far East as compared to the growth of the national GDP. This trend needs to continue for at
least 10 to 15 years. Certainly, we will try to achieve a stable demographic increase in these regions
instead of an outflow that is still observed. Its pace is decreasing, but, unfortunately, the outflow is
still there. We must ensure population growth.
We are now discussing the establishment of a specialised agency that will coordinate and oversee
the implementation of projects aimed at developing the Far East and Eastern Siberia. The decisions
will be submitted soon.
Out third priority is the creation of new and sound jobs. Millions of people are now employed in
outdated, ineffective workplaces with low wages and zero prospects. We must provide them with
other jobs, interesting and well-paid, which can give them high living standards, good pay and the
opportunity to support a large family. The average real wages in Russia need to grow by at least 3741% by 2020. We must also encourage active employment of people with disabilities, which
requires building a nationwide barrier-free environment. We have adopted such a programme and
you are aware of this.
Creating sound jobs is essential to meet the demands of our human resources. An extensive middle
class is a key for victory over poverty. This is an opportunity for millions of people to fulfil their
dreams and it is a way to a true diversification of the national economy.
Hence, our fourth basic goal is to build a new economy. It is not fourth in terms of importance. In
terms of importance, this is probably the key one. The economy must be stable and capable of
showing qualitative growth under tough competition. We must be prepared for any external shocks.
As you know, the possibility that they will happen again is quite high. The world has entered the
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age of turbulence. In addition, there is a wave of technological changes; the configuration of global
markets is also changing.
There were some questions from the parliamentary parties ahead of our meeting today. I will try to
answer some of them in my speech. For instance, the United States has actively developed the
technology of shale gas production over the past years. Colleagues from LDPR ask about this issue
and our attitude to it. This can dramatically restructure the hydrocarbons market. Russian energy
companies must certainly meet this challenge. I agree with the deputies’ proposal on the creation of
a better long-term system of macroeconomic, financial, technological and defence forecasting. It’s
all the more important given that the 21st century promises to become the age of new geopolitical,
financial, economic, cultural and civilisation centres.
Hence, our fifth priority is strengthening Russia’s positions in the world, first of all, through new
integration in the Eurasian space. Esteemed colleagues, the creation of the Customs Union, the
elimination of border barriers allowed for an increase in the mutual trade of Russia, Belarus and
Kazakhstan by 37 per cent last year. Beginning this year, we are working in a closer integration
format within the framework of the Common Economic Space with a free flow of goods, capital
and workforce. Incidentally, the mutual trade of the three countries went up by another 13 per cent
in January – February of this year.
Together with our Belarusian and Kazakh partners, we have delegated the essential powers in the
field of macroeconomics, customs activities and technical regulations to a supranational agency –
the Eurasian Economic Commission. In fact, this will make the integration processes irreversible.
Here I would like to emphasise that the creation of the Customs Union and the Common Economic
Space has been the key geopolitical and integration event in the post-Soviet space since the collapse
of the Soviet Union.
Our next step is to launch the Eurasian Economic Union from 2015. We expect to gain new partners
who are interested in a more advanced cooperation join Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan.
The idea of new integration in the Eurasian space is becoming more and more attractive. The
realities of our life and the experience we have gained over the past 20 years have put everything in
place. It has become clear that alone one cannot cope with the present challenges of global
turbulence. It is no surprise that the CIS partners have demonstrated much more common sense and
interest in collaborative work. For instance, broad discussions on a free trade zone in the CIS were
held for over a decade without success. Last year the Free Trade Agreement was professionally
discussed, promptly coordinated and signed. I am grateful to the Russian parliament, which was the
first to ratify this strategic document.
Esteemed colleagues, according to our estimates, Russia will become one of the world’s five largest
economies in terms of purchasing power parity within two or three years. However, we lag behind
the world’s most advanced economies in terms of labour productivity, or, in other words, in terms
of the quality of the economy by 67-75 per cent.
The natural solution to the problem of low productivity is creating brand new jobs. I have already
mentioned the figure: we must create at least 25 million [jobs] in the coming years. Our strategic
goal is to launch the mechanism of constant renewal of jobs and the economy on the whole. Jobs
are created through direct investment, primarily private investment. We need to bring the
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investment level up to at least 25 per cent of the GDP by 2015, and later by up to 30 per cent. This
objective is absolutely attainable. In 2011, we had about 20 per cent, so the growth of 25-30 per
cent is absolutely possible.
A favourable, competitive investment climate needs to be created in Russia. We have set the goal to
make 100 steps forward in this direction and move up to the 20th place from the 120th in the near
future. Incidentally, Japan is in the 20th place today and Latvia is in the 21st. Our partners in the
Customs Unions and the Common Economic Space are considerably ahead of us. Belarus is in the
69th place and Kazakhstan is in the 47th.
Entrepreneurs have a great and legitimate demand for comfortable and open business environment
today. This need to realise one's potential, to create, to find demand for one's talent and work, the
wish to serve Russia exists in almost all spheres of our life. We should certainly fulfil this need.
The creation of the Strategic Initiatives Agency has become a new format of direct dialogue
between society and state. Today, it has become a real instrument for the promotion of social
initiatives and business proposals, spreads and supports best practices and projects, provides
opportunities for new people with a positive and creative motivation. In fact, the agency is also a
new format of growth management in the economy, the social sector and government agencies.
In December 2011, an idea of a national business initiative was advanced. It implies that the
business community should formulate proposals to improve the investment climate. We will
continue to pay a great deal of attention to this. If we don't improve our business climate, we will
not be able to attain any of our goals in the economy and the social sector.
I mentioned the positive developments and there have been many, but now I would like to speak
about assessments of our business climate. There is a rating agency called "Doing Business," a
stable agency with an impeccable reputation, and according to its rating, Russia occupies the 178th
place in the world in terms of doing business in the construction sector. Just imagine, the 178th
place.
I speak about measures to be implemented in this sector at almost every government meeting, but
progress has been very slow. I would like to ask you, colleagues, deputies to think together about
concrete steps (I will mention them now), about our joint efforts in this area. By the end of this year,
we expect to introduce a set of amendments to laws that are aimed at improving the business
climate considerably and creating extra guarantees for investors. In particular, we will establish an
institute of an ombudsman for the protection of entrepreneurs' rights both at the federal and the
regional levels. Yesterday, Mr Medvedev and I discussed whether we should set up a special
prosecutor's office to deal with these issues. We will ask for your advice. Let us seek together the
most effective means to address the current issues. I ask the deputies representing all political
parties not only to consider our draft laws for the improvement of the investment climate on a
priority basis, but to become true co-authors of these laws.
We will submit the proposals on tax legislation to the parliament at the beginning of our new budget
cycle. It stipulates keeping the fiscal burden light for the manufacturing sector and investment while
increasing it for inefficient consumption and annuity payments. We need a fair tax system that
promotes development.
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Next, the volatile world financial markets have taught us that we should finance our modernisation
by ourselves. We should focus on the banking system, development institutions and the stock
markets.
This year we must make the decision to enhance opportunities for the investment of national
savings this year. First and foremost, this includes long retirement funds. Naturally, the key
condition is to ensure decent return and absolute safety of pension savings.
As for the Reserve Fund, which I already mentioned and which has slightly increased, the National
Welfare Fund, these funds play an essential role in ensuring macroeconomic stability. The 20082009 experience proved the importance of having such safety cushions. I believe that we should be
very careful in this regard. It's easy to spend our savings as there's never enough money but losing
this reserve will be very dangerous, especially in the modern world, in the face of the volatile and
uncertain global economy.
Who could we ask for help? For example, Greece can ask Brussels for money, and Brussels gives it
money. But who will give money to us? Someone may loan it but on what conditions? Even Greece
is losing its sovereignty in taking certain decisions, and it will be even tougher for us. I can well
remember the events of 2000, when we were heavily in debt and conditions were put to us. I won't
even speak about this so that I don't upset anyone. Russia is a special case. Being left without any
reserves is very dangerous.
However, we can think about it. Our government experts have tough debates and arguments about
this issue. For instance, some of them believe that we should use the gains received from the
management the National Welfare Fund. That means using these gains for development purposes,
without touching the principal. These funds can be used for the development of Eastern Siberia and
the Far East. According to some experts, some of the money from of the National Welfare Fund can
be used to invest in long-term risk-free strategic projects, primarily in infrastructure development.
We can think about it, but let me repeat that we must be very careful.
We must reach an absolute consensus on this issue at the expert level before we make a decision.
We should strive for consensus in such issues, all the more so that we have lived without it for some
time and still have been developing. But we need a faster pace. These are Olympic slogans: higher,
faster, stronger. We must be very careful in the economy and the social sector but nothing is
excluded from discussion. Let us think and make decisions together.
We will develop the banking system to increase the availability of loans for the real sector and
decrease interest rates. I have already issued instructions to establish an effective lending rate for
businesses and individuals, and, most importantly, to make this work absolutely transparent and to
exclude any hidden banking fees from it.
Next, we have formed a set of development institutions over the past years. However, some of them
are not quite accessible and efficient. They often lag behind their foreign counterparts. We need to
provide international competitiveness of our development institutions, to audit them together with
business associations and to formulate proposals on improving their activity.
Development institutions are designed to serve as a business lift for thousands of our companies.
Thus, beginning in 2012, the Russian Agency for Export Credit Insurance will provide support to
small- and medium-sized businesses that enter the world market with high-tech products. We must
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at least double our high-tech exports by 2020 and increase the share of high-tech and intellectual
sectors in the GDP by 1.5 times.
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