OREANDA-NEWS. November 30, 2010. The President outlined his views on the main domestic and foreign policy issues.

In his annual Presidential Address Dmitry Medvedev summed up the past year’s achievements, reviewed major research and technological projects, progress in the social sphere and technological modernisation, formulated future objectives and issued instructions to the Government and regional authorities.

The focus of the Presidential Address was on the subject of children. Dmitry Medvedev emphasised that Russia needs a state policy in this area that meets the interests of national development.

The head of state covered all aspects of this subject, including healthcare, family support, increasing the birth rate and encouraging families to have three or more children. In particular the Government and regional authorities were issued instructions to scrutinise the proposal of providing such families with free land lots for the construction of houses and various forms of financial benefits and tax breaks. The instructions also include the development of preschools, assistance to children being raised in orphanages and their social adaptation, and increasing the protection of children from child abuse.

The development of school education, new educational standards, support for gifted children and patriotic education were also discussed in the context of the main theme of the Address.

In connection with the main theme, the President touched on environmental protection and issued related instructions to the Government and regional authorities.

The President formulated requirements to municipal bodies in the part of his Address devoted to the life of Russian society and the Government received relevant instructions. The President focussed on the fiscal and investment policies in the regions, and charged the regional authorities with accelerating the privatisation of facilities in their ownership in order to dispose of property unrelated to the performance of their direct duties.

In the legal sphere the President discussed the reform of the Interior Ministry, the investigative and prosecution authorities, as well as the improvement of criminal law in reducing the punishment for minor and petty crimes. At the same time the President spoke of tougher penalties for corruption-related crimes, in particular, proposing to introduce economic measures in the form of large fines (up to one hundred times the amount of the bribe received).

The Address also contained a proposal to begin drafting a new version of the state procurement law, which has received a great deal of criticism in recent years.

To improve the political system, the President proposed to strengthen the role of parties at the municipal level and, in particular, to introduce mandatory use of the proportional or mixed electoral system in elections to the legislatures in urban districts and municipal areas.

The Address outlined the main directions in national security and defence policy. The focus, in particular, will be placed on strengthening the aerospace defence and the creation of compact and mobile armed forces. The President also spoke on international security cooperation, in particular, on strengthening the non-proliferation regime, including through possible creation of a new European missile defence architecture and a common peace and security space in the Euro-Atlantic region.

The President stressed the need to focus on the economic aspect of foreign policy, cooperation in innovation development and modernisation partnership with Germany, France and other states, as well as expanding cooperation with the EU and the United States.

The President said that Russia’s integration in the Asia-Pacific Economic Area is an urgent task. Cooperation with Latin America and Africa also has great untapped potential. Russia’s foreign policy priorities include the CIS, EurAsEC and the CSTO, and the creation of the Common Economic Space, which could cover the whole territory of Eurasia.

The foreign policy part of the Address also focused on disaster management, in particular the protection of the marine environment from large-scale oil spills, and a Russian initiative to establish an international mechanism for prosecuting pirates.

The President stressed that he is expecting the Foreign Ministry to produce concrete results in all these areas.

The transcript of the Presidential Address will be published later.