OREANDA-NEWS. November 12, 2010. Transcript of the beginning of the meeting:  Vladimir Putin: Ladies and gentlemen, let’s begin with a news update. A session of the Russian-Indian intergovernmental commission is scheduled for the latter half of November. Sergei Sobyanin used to co-chair this body on behalf of Russia. Now Sergei Ivanov has been appointed as his replacement.

Mr Ivanov, what kind of issues are you planning to discuss with your Indian counterparts?

Sergei Ivanov: Next week I will travel to India to hold the 16th regular session of the Russian-Indian intergovernmental commission for trade, economic, scientific, technological, and cultural cooperation.

There are six working groups operating within the commission at the moment. They deal with economic and trade cooperation, science and technology, information systems, space exploration, industrial modernisation, and culture and tourism.

It should be noted that besides being a strategic partner of ours, India is also an important trade partner. Bilateral trade is still quite modest, but it is growing steadily. Even during the economic crisis of 2009, trade grew 5.7%. In the first nine months of this year, the growth rate reached 23.7%. Overall bilateral trade now amounts to USD 10 billion.

For two powerful economies like ours, this amount isn’t large enough, obviously. But India holds a very special place in our export structure, with high-tech equipment accounting for as much as 45% of the products we export there. As you know, we actively cooperate with India on nuclear power, aircraft technology, and the aerospace industry. Space cooperation has been given a big boost in recent years.  We also work together in the fuel and energy sector. But from the point of view of our exports, India is an important partner to us.

Within the framework of the intergovernmental commission, we are going to consider the entire range of issues related to our cooperation, including the preparations for President Dmitry Medvedev’s forthcoming visit to the Russia-India summit, scheduled to take place in New Delhi in December.

I’ve been to India on several occasions before, and I know the country quite well. I used to be closely involved with cooperation in the defence industry. Now we’ll be focusing on civilian cooperation, in a whole range of areas.

Vladimir Putin: Good. Please report back.

On October 29, the Russian government’s Grants Council selected 40 winners who submitted applications in an open competition. Mr Fursenko, how did the process go, and what’s next? When will the awarded grants be presented? Please, proceed.

Andrei Fursenko: Mr Putin, this work was carried out in accordance with Resolution No. 220. The Grants Council of the Russian government made up of prominent Russian scientists, which I was charged with heading, completed the first contest to select the world’s leading scientists to set up research labs in Russian universities. More than 500 applications were submitted for this contest, with more than 60% submitted by Russian citizens. But the majority of these Russian applicants achieved significant success while working abroad. 

After conducting a thorough international expert evaluation of all applications, the Grants Council chose 40 outstanding scientists, including a Nobel Prize winner, a Fields Medal winner and a number of scientists who are recognised as leaders around the world.

The Grants Council made a unanimous decision to award only 40 grants, though we could have had 80, believing that it is vitally important to choose the best of the best and hold another contest using the saved money. This was done primarily to give an opportunity to those scientists who had not submitted the applications on time, and also to give a chance to those scientists whose applicants were denied for some reasons, so that they could take into account all the experts’ remarks and take part in the second contest.

Vladimir Putin: When do you plan to hold the second contest?

Andrei Fursenko: We will announce it, because the money has already been reserved as part of the funds allocated this year. But we plan to allocate more money to get applications and finish the contest in the first quarter of 2011. By that time we will know how the work of the winning scientists is going at the initial stage, as the contracts with them will be concluded soon. 

Vladimir Putin: How will you get these funds? The funds are from this year’s budget!

Andrei Fursenko: We have funds for supporting research work at Russia’s universities reserved for three years. They have been reserved for next year and for the year after it. We saved some money this year. We have discussed with the Finance Ministry how we could use this saved money, perhaps in 2013. But in this case, the bulk of the money…

Vladimir Putin: Let’s talk with the Finance Ministry.

Andrei Fursenko: Why? I believe this is the case.

Vladimir Putin: Good.  Thank you. When do you plant to present the awards? Sometime in February or March?

Andrei Fursenko: We are going to sign contracts this year, and some scientists will start working this year. We require that they spend at least four months per year at the university at which they will work. At the same time, they bring their own colleagues and professionals and they attract professionals from Russia.

Vladimir Putin: Is Yuri Trutnev here with us?

Yuri Trutnev: Yes.

Vladimir Putin: Mr Trutnev, how are the preparations progressing for the Global Tiger Forum? It must take place in St Petersburg.

Yuri Trutnev: Mr Putin, the forum is being prepared in accordance with the plan. To date, we have confirmed the participation of six heads of state. In addition, Iran's vice president, 16 ministers from interested and tiger-habitat countries including Kazakhstan, Germany, the United States, South Korea, North Korea and Japan have confirmed their participation. Forty leading international organisations such as the World Bank, Global Environment Facility, World Wildlife Fund (WWF), the International Fund for Nature Conservation, CITES and many others will be personally represented. A declaration of the heads of state and a global programme for tiger conservation will be adopted as basic documents. The international programme envisages doubling the global tiger population by 2022.  We are basically saying that if we do not take action, the tiger could literally disappear from the face of the earth in 10-12 years, and we hope that the forum will be a turning point. Thank you.

Vladimir Putin: It’s such a representative forum.

Yuri Trutnev: There is very, very great interest.

Vladimir Putin: Good. Mr Kozak, how is the work on the housing inventory going? I am referring to our plans to extend its service life based on the positive results that the housing fund has demonstrated. I have in mind both moving people out of dilapidated and condemned housing, and overhauling those apartment buildings that have not been repaired for decades and are almost ready to be classified as unfit to live in. Please.

Dmitry Kozak: If we are talking about the current situation on the progress of the fund, it is now time for major repairs and the relocation of people from dilapidated housing. – 308.7 billion roubles have been allocated: 251 billion from the federal budget and just over 57 billion roubles from the regional budgets. These funds have now improved the living conditions of 14.6 million people by improving the quality of housing and making major repairs to housing that had not been repaired in decades – 111,000 residential buildings were repaired, and this is 97.8% of the year-end estimated figure submitted by the constituent entities of the Russian Federation at the beginning of 2010; 148,000 people were resettled. We plan to move a total of 212,400 residents out of dilapidated and condemned housing. This is a fairly large number of people who actually lived in intolerable conditions. Through these programmes, this problem is being solved.

I also want to say that these subsidies from the federal budget are allocated to the constituent entities of the Russian Federation not only to implement their own programmes, but also in terms of structural reforms in the housing complex and conditions for implementing relevant reforms.

These conditions are improving constantly.

This year, as of August 1 of this year, taking into account the fact that we are allocating additional money, we further capitalised the fund with the adoption of the regional energy efficiency programmes in the housing sector as an additional condition for paying the subsidies. As of August 1 of this year, 17 constituent entities of the Russian Federation had received grants after having elaborated the relevant energy efficiency programmes, and in 2011, they will report on this implementation. From now on, all constituent entities of the Russian Federation may obtain such subsidies given the presence of such a programme.

Regarding an extension of the fund, taking into account the adopted resolution and the budget law for 2010, a decision was made to further capitalise the fund. Currently, there is a bill to extend the activities of the fund for one year, until January 1, 2013. Initially, it was January 1, 2012. Taking into account the additional capitalisation and the additional condition for granting subsidies in 2011, as of mid 2011, according to this bill, permanent mechanisms should be established at the regional level for the implementation of the overhaul of the housing inventory in order to avoid the situation that developed in the mid-2000's, when a huge number of buildings had not been repaired in decades.

This mechanism is supposed to give first and foremost independent authority to the constituent entities of the Russian Federation, which themselves have to adjust the procedure of the implementation of planned maintenance – with loan plans and with cost schedules. Today in the regions there are various practices with varying degrees of efficiency. The constituent entities of the Russian Federation should adjust these plans themselves. And only if the relevant laws exist the constituent entities can they get subsidies in 2011, and in 2012, the year we extend the fund, the fund will monitor how these laws are implemented in the Russian Federation.

Vladimir Putin: Alright. Thank you. Decrees on amending the rules for registration of citizens of the Russian Federation at the place of temporary or permanent residence and de-registration have been signed. These changes include the ability to process such procedures through the Internet. I ask Mr Zhukov to explain.

Alexander Zhukov: Mr Putin, colleagues. I remind you that in accordance with current law, people must register at their temporary or permanent place of residence. To do this, one needs to go to the registration authorities, and do it twice – first to submit the required documents and then again to retrieve these documents.

In conjunction with a programme to implement the provision of public services in electronic form, we have the capability of registration in electronic form, such as through the Internet.

The proposed changes in the registration rules give the citizen the capability to submit the necessary documents without leaving the house – in electronic form via the Internet, where a citizen can do this both individually and by notifying the registration authority through the owner of the dwelling. Accordingly, he does not need to go anywhere – he can do so from home by e-mail, by sending the required documents by e-mail and in turn receive the documents confirming registration, also by e-mail. This, of course, substantially simplifies and reduces the time required to render this public service.

Vladimir Putin: Alright. Thank you. Hopefully, this liberalisation will help people solve these administrative issues. In terms of public health, we have drafted a certain document and have signed a second executive order. This is about the government procurement of medicines for people suffering from rare diseases. Funds amounting to more than 30 billion roubles have been allocated for these purposes – 30.1 billion. There is a draft decree approving the list of vital and essential medicines in 2011. In the first case, this applies to the year 2011. Ms Golikova, please comment.

Tatiana Golikova: Mr Putin, colleagues. The first order that was signed was in conjunction with the fact that we have, since 2008, as part of the law on the federal budget, subsidised the provision of medicines to those people who suffer from malignant neoplasms of lymphoid, haematopoietic and related tissues, haemophilia, cystic fibrosis and some other diseases. These deseases were classified separately in 2008 due to the fact that they are quite expensive to treat and cannot be provided for in the context of authority conventionally delegated to the regions of the Russian Federation.

I must mention that since 2008, we have been keeping a register of these patients. We have full data, with surnames on who they are and how they are prescribed these medicines. This process is completely controlled, as evidenced by the fact that by 2010 in the bidding process – and these purchases are made centrally – we were able to save 3.5 billion roubles, which was later reallocated for other purposes.

But at the same time, I want to note that if in January 2009, when we received the first compilation of the register, there were 56,000 names on it, now, as of November 1, 2010, this number has increased by 60%. This again attests to the work being done by medical organisations to identify patients suffering from these diseases.

At the same time I want to say that, according to monitored data from the Federal Service for the Supervision of Public Health and Social Development, as of October 25, we do not have delayed prescriptions for these medicines at the level of pharmacies, and the average price now stands at 62.8 roubles per prescription, and to date, more than 400,000 medicines have been released. The executive order that was signed initially – we had just proposed for it to be signed by the government, – is associated with the fact that we concluded, in essence, a two-year contract to supply these medicines. This will be the first such experience. Let's see what the result will be. We will already have data on the outcome of the auction in December of this year.

Regarding the other document – the approval of the list of vital and essential medicines in 2011, it had been drafted in accordance with the old formulation of the law on medicines, because the new law came into force on 1 September. And the list of medicines shows that relative to the baseline list, which we approved at the end of last year, 16 medicines have been eliminated because they are either not registered in the Russian Federation or they are not imported to the Russian Federation. At the same time, we included 41 new medicines. And all the discussions which were conducted in order to create this list were collegial in nature. A special commission of leading experts was established at the Ministry of Health. Then the list was published on the Internet. And we further processed it and then added comments, which came to us on the ministry's website.

As a result, now, as of 2011, the list of essential medicines will include 528 international non-proprietary items. Last year there were 503, more precisely, not last year, but in 2010. This is somewhere around one-third of trade names that are registered in the Russian Federation.

 State registration of prices will be made for these medicines in accordance with the decision that you signed not to long ago.

I also want to say that out of the 528 international non-proprietary items, 84 items (i.e. 15.9%) are produced exclusively by Russian producers, 166 (or 31.4%) are produced exclusively by foreign manufacturers and 278 titles (52.7%) are produced in cooperation with foreign firms.

We have observed, similarly to last year, a steady trend of our medicines gradually gaining ground on the list of vital and essential medicines, approaching 60% of the total medicines included on this list.

Vladimir Putin: Alright. Thank you. Let's move on to the agenda of our meeting today. Among the issues, I want to highlight a few. First is an amendment to the Penal Code.

We have done much in recent years to humanise the penal system, granting clemency for minor offences that are not a serious threat to the public. And, of course, we act fairly. But there are times when you need to act differently, when you need to enhance punishment. Today, we proposed to make such a move – to criminalise the repeated sale of alcohol to minors. Unfortunately, one tends to let such actions go unpunished and many believe that it is a trifle, not worthy of attention. This is wrong. This situation must change. The vast majority of retailers understand the need to protect the emotional and physical health of minors, and I am sure they will never consciously violate the law. The prospect of sitting in the dock should serve as a serious deterrent to those who are willing to profit from selling alcohol to children and teenagers. The penalties for this are not so severe, but it's still a criminal offence, and the maximum penalty is confinement to a correctional facility for one year and revocation of the right to work in the retail sector for three years.

Another issue on our agenda is linked to the implementation of the modernisation programme – single-industry towns. We will consider proposals for state support totalling 2.7 billion roubles for seven single-industry cities. These funds are allocated for the renovation of transport and utility infrastructure to support business projects and tourism in the towns of Chusovoi, Gavrilov-Yam, Kovdor, Revda, Gukovo, Baikal and Leninsk-Kuznetsky.

Specific projects were identified as per the requests of the single-industry cities themselves, and these are to help in solving the most pressing challenges to their sustainable development. I ask the Regional Development Ministry to continue monitoring the situation in single-industry cities and keep the issues of their development under constant supervision.

I would like to add that at a future government meeting, we will revisit this issue and consider offering support to another series of single-industry towns and to take stock of our work in this endeavour for 2010.

Colleagues,

Many of you may have noticed: yesterday in Moscow’s School No. 1060, we met with representatives of the education community, school administration and the unions. We discussed approaches to the new federal targeted programme for the development of education in 2011-2015. We plan to approve the draft of the programme today.

The programme provides tools and resources to implement the president's “Our New School” initiative. This entails a major increase in social status for teachers and the quality of teaching itself. The programme will create more than 100 special sites for internships, where teachers will learn advanced techniques and programmes of instruction. And we are planning that for the next five years, training courses will be held for more than 80,000 teachers. As I said yesterday inter-regional centres will be established on the basis of our core leading pedagogical universities. There should be such a centre in each federal district.

Serious money will be allocated to support gifted children, including the organisation of school competitions, sports competitions, as well as the creation of centres for talented youth in the federal universities and distance learning schools at research universities. The country's leading universities – Moscow State University, the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, Bauman Moscow State Technical University and others – are actively working with prospective students – their future students. This experience must, of course, be distributed as widely as possible.

Next. The programme will continue to update the material and technical base of federal universities, building and renovating educational buildings, libraries, sports complexes, and, of course, dormitories, of which there are not enough.

Over 300 new vocational training programmes will also be developed and implemented, especially for those occupations that are most in demand today and in the near future will be in demand in the labour market, and which determine the technological prospects of the Russian economy.

For example, these would include the training of advanced engineering and research personnel in the fields of energy efficiency, nuclear technology, information technology, telecommunications, biochemistry, pharmacology and so on.

A total of 137 billion roubles is planned to be allocated for the activities of the federal education development programme, including 53 billion from the federal budget and 67 billion roubles – from the budgets of constituent entities of the Federation, which, as you know, we also support and will continue to support. Extra-budgetary resources will provide 17 billion roubles.

Let's get to work.