OREANDA-NEWS.  Dmitry Medvedev: Good afternoon.

The first issue deals with support for non-oil and gas exports. The structure of these exports requires serious modernisation. This is also explained by major changes on our traditional oil and gas and energy markets. The current situation on these markets is not very stable. We need to increase the share of high-tech and science-intensive products, to develop entire new segments and, of course, to create a system of incentives and support for foreign trade operations.

Successful work in this area is impossible without large-scale state involvement.

First of all, I am referring to access to long-term and relatively cheap loans as well as insurance and guarantees for export contracts.

Dmitry Medvedev: "Last year, Vnesheconombank provided guarantees worth 120 billion roubles. This made it possible to export Russian industrial goods worth over 600 billion roubles. To be honest, this volume is, of course, rather small. This year, there are plans to channel an additional 100 billion roubles into state guarantees."
Last year, Vnesheconombank provided guarantees worth 120 billion roubles. This made it possible to export Russian industrial goods worth over 600 billion roubles. To be honest, this volume is, of course, rather small. This year, there are plans to channel an additional 100 billion roubles into state guarantees. We realise that these sums are not sufficient for effective export support, and that the pattern of this work should be changed. I have discussed this issue at a meeting of the Vnesheconombank Supervisory Council. There are other mechanisms, including the Export Insurance Agency of Russia that has just started operating. In the first year of its work, the agency has implemented 60 projects worth 74 billion roubles.

We have created a mechanism for providing financial support from the Vnesheconombank and its subsidiaries for high-tech exports. This mechanism should be used. We should create favourable conditions for issuing loans to foreign buyers of Russian goods and services in line with market interest rates. Non-financial mechanisms for supporting foreign trade operations continue to develop.

The activities of Russian foreign trade delegations should become more purposeful. These trade delegations have lived through different times, but they should become really effective because otherwise no one will need them. Our missions at international economic organisations should also work efficiently.

I would like to repeat once again what I have just said. We are much inferior to other countries, both advanced and developing countries like us, in terms of the level of support for exporters and properly functioning financial instruments.

There is work ahead for all of those involved in this sphere. To make the support procedures simpler and more transparent, work should be conducted within the framework of the roadmap that we have developed and its results should be assessed by the business community. As a result, a new reading of the roadmap has been drafted and this document will also be considered later today.

What else does the Vnesheconombank have to focus on? It has to focus on supporting small- and medium-sized businesses and beginner entrepreneurs, who plan to produce hi-tech products and are interested in foreign markets. These clients should be offered specialised products – by specialised products I am referring to available credits that take into account their specific circumstances, including risks inherent in this type of business. We will listen to reports on this theme. 

We will also have to approve the main parameters of Rostelekom’s investment programme. Last December, the company adopted a four-year development strategy that envisages its being transformed from a traditional fixed-line operator – and basically it is what it has been doing up till now – to a multiple provider of most different telecommunications services.

Dmitry Medvedev: "An absolute majority of populated localities, including small ones with few residents, should be provided with wideband Internet access and an opportunity to enjoy modern communications services. Of course, this should be implemented step by step and while taking into account economic logic. By 2018, 80% of households should have wideband Internet access."
Its business is inseparably linked with the carrying out of Government orders in the telecommunications sphere. Rostelekom assures public access to electronic government services. It is responsible for the execution of a number of state programmes, such as e-government, healthcare, education, security, and housing and utilities. And, of course, the company should continue performing this social function.

One of our priorities is eliminating the digital inequality in this country. An absolute majority of populated localities, including small ones with few residents, should be provided with wideband Internet access and an opportunity to enjoy modern communications services. Of course, this should be implemented step by step and while taking into account economic logic. By 2018, 80% of households should have wideband Internet access (today’s figure is slightly over 50%).

This year’s volume of investments under the investment programme will exceed 57 billion roubles, without investments into mobile business. Before 2018, a total of 270-odd billion roubles should be allocated for this activity.

We will have to consider yet another draft law of significant importance for a lot of Russians even though seemingly it is not so grand. I am referring to the bill aimed at cutting air ticket prices. This concerns the situation where a passenger returns a ticket for a refund not later than 24 hours before departure. Under the former rules (valid to this day) he or she is refunded in full. This has been so ever since the Soviet period. Thus, an air company includes all of the return risks in the ticket price and each passenger has to pay the price regardless of whether a ticket is returned or not.

The new bill differentiates this practice after a model accepted the world over. Two types of tariff are offered: a tariff taking into account the return risks and a nonreturnable tariff ruling out these risks. I hope that this measure will help to resolve a number of problems. Passengers will be able to make a choice either for a returnable tariff that secures a refund or a cheaper nonreturnable tariff if they are sure to fly. Russian air companies, in this case, will be put on an equal competitive footing with foreign air companies. This is also due to promote the development of so-called “low-costers”. Using low-cost tariffs is a generally accepted international practice and I hope that in this country, too, it will be of a civilised character.