A meeting of the Presidium of the President of the Russian Federation on strategic development and priority projects was held

Yesterday, on August 30, the Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation, Dmitry Medvedev, held a meeting of the Presidium of the President of the RF on strategic development and priority projects. The President of the Republic of Tatarstan - Rustam Minnikhanov, Minister of Economy of the Republic of Tatarstan - Artem Zdunov and others attended the meeting by means of videoconference. 

The participants of the meeting discussed the passports of the priority program "Improvement of labour productivity and employment support", the implementation of a priority project aimed at preserving and preventing pollution of the Volga River, and reviewed the progress of implementation of the priority project "International cooperation and industrial exports". 

Dmitry Medvedev noted that in the year 2015 the productivity in Russia was twice as low as in other countries of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. 

"Why is this happening?" First, because of the lack of competition in the economy, and hence the lack of incentives to increase labour productivity. Secondly, because of the technological backwardness that we have accumulated in a number of industries. Thirdly, because the heads of companies, and sometimes the regional leaders, as well as the federal authorities do not have all the necessary knowledge to work in conditions today's economy", - said the Prime Minister of the Russian Federation. 

To address this issue, Dmitry Medvedev proposed to develop a package of special measures for working people and companies. It is also about tax incentives and about optimization of staffing. In addition, the Head of the Russian Government has assigned to develop the regional programs to increase productivity and support employment.

"The project "International cooperation and export" also relates to productivity", - Dmitry Medvedev continued: "We're doing substitution of import, but that doesn't mean we have to support products of any quality. The goods, as well as services, should be at a high level and at adequate prices. Export in this case - is an obvious and quite objective measure of quality that is why any weak developments, bad goods will not be taken abroad. This is indeed a clear indicator of success for companies, and that is why we have developed this priority. It is a matter of looking at specific measures for the development of industries such as aircraft, car building, railway engineering, and agricultural machinery."

The third project, which was addressed by the Prime Minister of Russia, was dedicated  to the rehabilitation of the Volga River. "We discussed this in detail at a retreat meeting the decisions were taken, the instructions were assigned. Today we will adopt a priority project passport. Today we have 60 million people living on the banks of this largest river; this is a third of the Russian population. "Here, half of the industrial production is concentrated, and the problems of the Volga River basin are associated with it," - summed up Dmitry Medvedev.