OREANDA-NEWS. April 2, 2009. Vladimir Putin: Good afternoon. We met in this hall only recently, to discuss our efforts to solve the problems created by the global financial crisis. Today we will discuss these issues in greater detail.

However, I would firstly like to speak on a different topic. On April 1, we will mark 200 years since the birth of Nikolai Gogol, an outstanding Russian writer whose works formed an unbreakable bond between two fraternal people, Russians and Ukrainians. This is a memorable occasion for Russia's cultural and social life.

I would like to express gratitude to all those present here for drawing my attention to this event, in some form or another. I know that the parliament as a whole, including United Russia, is making efforts in highlighting this event. I want to congratulate all of you on this major event in our culture.

Now, let us address the issue that we have gathered here to discuss. Indeed, at our previous meeting we talked about the anti-crisis measures which we are taking to overcome the crisis with minimal losses and to return to the path of development.

We also said that we not only need to analyse what we are doing and how we are doing it. We said that we should consolidate all these measures in one package and clearly determine which anti-crisis measures would be most effective - and implement them. This issue has become a priority, as the State Duma will discuss a reviewed 2009 budget shortly.

I would like to thank United Russia for ensuring that the Government's anti-crisis measures have been carefully considered at all levels, including at the regional and top party levels, as well as in party clubs. They were not simply brought under consideration; I know that the proposals have been formulated and criticism offered. Today we will speak about this in detail. However, I want to say a few things first, for our meeting to be substantive.

I want to draw your attention to the fact that the budget and all elements incorporated in it are essentially aimed at overcoming the crisis. However, it can be said, although in a tentative mode, that a huge sum, approximately 1.4 trillion roubles, will be allocated directly for crisis relief efforts. I said at the previous meeting - I always say it at my meetings with public organisations and workers - that our main priority remains the unconditional implementation of social obligations to Russian citizens. I am referring to wages, pensions and allowances, their timely and full indexation, as stipulated in legislation, in the light of the crisis and inflation. This is the first thing I wanted to say.

The second, and no less important, issue is the support for the real economy sector. In this regard, we are highlighting innovation-based development, aspects of our economy that have constituted national pride - power generation, including nuclear, space exploration, shipbuilding, aircraft manufacturing, and several other spheres such as nanotechnology.

In doing this, we never forget the things that are directly connected with people's lives. Here I refer to the supporting of the construction sector. We have not discontinued the main construction projects of nationwide importance. At the same time, we are supporting and will implement our plans related to the development of the housing and utilities sector. We have preserved the sector's physical plant and other instruments of assistance to the sector. We will scrutinise these issues today and also in the State Duma on April 6 and during subsequent discussions of the budget in parliamentary committees.

It is no less important to explain the efforts of the Government and the joint anti-crisis plans of the parliament and the Government, because these efforts will be effective only if the overwhelming majority of the people agree that the measures we are taking is the best possible option for overcoming the crisis, and for ensuring that the allocations will be used to the benefit of the people. To do so, we should use all instruments at the party's disposal in the regions, in the centre, here in Moscow, in large cities and small towns, settlements and villages, everywhere where United Russia has its divisions.

This is all I wanted to say by way of introduction. Let's not waste time; let's start discussing the issues we have gathered here to discuss. I know - I have said so before - that you have scrutinised the proposed anti-crisis plan. Let us discuss it now. [Addressing Boris Gryzlov] Mr Speaker, you have the floor.

Boris Gryzlov: Thank you.

The Government Programme of Anti-Crisis Measures for 2009 was published on March 19. As early as Monday, March 23, our Executive Committee had a conference call when directions were given to all 83 regional organizations to consider the Anti-Crisis Programme. Through the regional organizations, we conveyed that assignment to 2600 local branches of our party across the country.

We are receiving proposals in the shape of additions, warnings, and suggestions that we believe should be considered before a decision is made. We have received about a thousand such proposals. Some of them overlap, but overall there are about a thousand proposals, a figure that has enhanced the public relevance of the discussion. Nonetheless, the drivers behind that process on behalf of the Party are of course the State Duma deputies - I am referring to our political clubs, our supporters, and your public reception offices. They too are receiving proposals and assessments of various items of the Programme. We can safely say that the task of organizing a public discussion of the Programme is being implemented.

The deadline of course is April 6, the day you will report to Parliament and actually speak about this Programme. We are preparing a draft resolution in the State Duma. I think we will be fully prepared by April 6 to give formulated and agreed upon - probably today - proposals regarding the Programme of Anti-Crisis Measures.

Vladimir Putin: I would like to say for starters that we practically discussed it at our previous meeting. Furthermore, in still earlier preliminary discussions many colleagues from United Russia and other parliamentary parties said it was necessary to sum up all the anti-crisis measures and put them in a single anti-crisis plan. What we in the Government have done was essentially a response to the proposals of the deputies so that the country would have a single set of rules for behaviour and actions in times of crisis.

Boris Gryzlov: On March 26 we had a joint meeting of the Supreme and General Councils at which we discussed the Anti-Crisis Programme in detail. I would like to say that we unanimously support this important document, but we have some proposals.

The seven priorities that form the basis of the Anti-Crisis Programme of course have our support. In connection with these priorities I would like to make some concrete proposals. The first priority is strict adherence to the public social commitments and addressing the employment issues. Today we can say that we do not just proclaim these priorities. As of today, the insurance part of the pension has been raised by 17.5%, higher than the target of 15%. This increase represents the fulfillment of the anti-crisis measures contained in the Programme.

I would like to touch upon the problem of employment. The Programme earmarks 43 billion roubles for retraining and possible movement of people between different regions of the Russian Federation. However, that section is not detailed enough. It is not very clear what occupations we need, where the bank of vacancies is, and in what specialities the people who have been dismissed from large enterprises are to be trained.

Vladimir Putin: Excuse me for interrupting you, I promise not to do it again, but you have raised a very important issue there. If it is not treated in a detailed manner, it should be, but on the whole we are proceeding in the following way: we have 43 billion roubles, we have agreed with the heads of regions - I think the same is happening in Moscow - that every region will set up an anti-crisis headquarters that should devote a large share of attention to the labour market. I have asked the regional heads to personally take charge of these headquarters.

I was rather surprised to hear at a conference that even the heads of regions sometimes do not know what is happening and indeed what the law and the Government propose to do to combat the crisis. What does that prove? It proves that the regional leaders do not always personally head up the headquarters. If they headed it up personally, they would know that only a person who has just lost his job and not one who has been out of work for several years would come to collect an unemployment benefit in the amount of 4900 roubles. Such details are known only to those people who have hands-on experience dealing with these problems.

Hence, these plans should be prepared in the regions. The regional governor who is involved in this problem knows the demand for labour in the region. He works with the commission he has set up and the commission includes businessmen. Businessmen tell him what professions are be in demand in the crisis conditions and will be after the crisis. For instance, they may shut down the painting shop at one enterprise but start a different production, or vice versa. Businesspeople propose their own set of professions for which they think there will be a demand. A regional plan is made and then the regional head or his representative comes to the Government and the relevant Government commissions discuss the draft.

On the whole, the mechanism is in place and is functioning, but it has some drawbacks; let us examine them.

Boris Gryzlov: Instead, we have a proposal.
There is one area that is sensitive for all Russian citizens. We are all residents of blocks of flats. Today the customers, that is, all of us, deal directly with the contractor, that is, the housing and utilities system, without a mediator, i.e. the customer's representative. In the past, this person was the house superintendent, but today the people put in charge of the partnership by the building's owners are not professionals. We have 3.3 million residential blocks in Russia, more than 50 flats to a building. I think we could create up to a million jobs, and not at the expense of the federal budget.

The point is that an experienced manager, an experienced house superintendent, can minimize the residents' expenditure by as much as 20-25 percent. The practice has already been introduced in some places. We have a party project headed by Sergei Petrov, a State Duma deputy. The project has been discussed at the Regional Development Ministry. Economy is achieved through optimization of the residents' expenses, through the introduction of electricity and cold and hot water meters. However, another revolutionary option exists. When a monopoly sees that its revenues are falling, it begins to think about optimizing the cost of the services rendered, its own costs. In the communities where that system has been introduced, we have seen savings of up to two times, that is, the cost of the service delivered by the housing and utilities sector.

Thus, we could create such a category of workers in Russia. Perhaps we could start the training process and then these people would be hired by the residents, thereby creating jobs and at long last launching a real reform of the housing and utilities sector.

I would like also to mention the issues connected with consumer prices and exorbitant network charges. We see that the markups for the products in the marketing system are often as high as 80%, and we think that the price structure is unfair. Of course, the producer should get more than the seller - that is another challenge that should be met in a comprehensive manner under the anti-crisis programme - but we are talking about social commitments, i.e. holding back consumer prices.

Now, as for maintaining the industrial potential, another Programme priority: we have many investment projects funded out of the federal budget, together with the regions, at the public-private partnership level. I think it would be important ideologically to name the investment projects that the Government supports. There could be 10-15 major projects. Today not only the people interested in knowing what the major construction projects are but indeed the general public do not know what we are building. Many of those present belong to the generation that developed the Virgin Lands and built the Baikal-Amur Railway and other major projects, and they think that such projects must be made known. If they are made known, many of our citizens could contribute to financing these projects. I am referring not only to all sorts of investment bonds or even bonds issued by the Government, that is, by the Finance Ministry. Obviously these bonds should not be inscribed; they should be floated freely, allowing broader segments of the population to take part in the process.

I think energy efficiency and energy saving are important for supporting industrial potential. It should be one of the main criteria of eligibility for government support in the real sector. The idea has been discussed in the regions: enterprises consuming too much energy to produce a unit of output should pay higher energy rates. As it is now, an enterprise that consumes 3 units of something pays the same price as an enterprise that consumes 5 units. I suggest that we discuss this issue, as well. The energy-saving potential is huge: up to 50% in the housing and utilities sector, up to 30% in the fuel and energy sector, and at least 30% in industry, according to experts. We can compare energy consumption for producing similar amounts of goods and services in Russia and in Germany. We consume twice as much energy per unit of output. This is another topic that should be among the priorities in the Anti-Crisis Programme.

Now for what I believe to be one of the most important issues, stimulating domestic demand.