OREANDA-NEWS. July 11, 2011. Sergei Sobyanin and Boris Gromov presented to Dmitry Medvedev their proposals on changing the borders between Moscow and Moscow Region in order to better develop the capital and the surrounding region.

The President proposed expanding Moscow’s borders at the St Petersburg International Economic Forum in June, and later instructed the Mayor of Moscow and the Governor of Moscow Region to draft plans.

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PRESIDENT OF RUSSIA DMITRY MEDVEDEV: Good afternoon,

Following my speech at the St Petersburg Forum, I asked you to examine the question of Moscow’s development and also the matter of synchronising the capital’s development with that of Moscow Region, so as to make it a more harmonious process and resolve various issues that have built up in Moscow, including (but not exclusively) relocating some of the government agencies beyond the city’s current administrative borders.

We also have before us the task of building what is a completely new institution in our country, and one of great importance for our future: the International Financial Centre in Moscow. This will require building the adequate infrastructure and resolving a number of other issues too of direct concern to people living in Moscow and in Moscow Region. 

I hope you have succeeded in examining these matters within the deadline that was set, and that you now have proposals on the direction we should take. This is a big undertaking after all which will take place over quite a lengthy timeframe.