<…>
President of Russia Dmitry Medvedev: The modernisation strategy and principles that I have outlined are fully in keeping with what I just said. I want to say a few words now about the new opportunities that modernisation creates for doing business with success in Russia, despite certain difficulties. I will list ten points for brevity’s sake.
First, I recently launched a programme to privatise major state assets, the biggest of its kind in recent years. I issued an executive order that has seen the list of strategic enterprises in Russia cut five-fold. Shares worth a total of tens of billions of dollars in leading banking, infrastructure and energy sector companies will be privatised over the next three years. Budget revenue is not an aim in itself for us, though it is important of course, but the main thing is to make the companies more efficient and improve the competition environment for conducting business in our country. It is for this reason that we have got leading global banks involved in managing this privatisation.
Second, we will soon establish a special sovereign fund that will share the risks with foreign investors by carrying out joint investment in economic modernisation projects in Russia.
Third, we expect to gain much from developing our country’s financial sector. I therefore want to say once again before you here today that we will not introduce new taxes in the financial sector, but on the contrary, have abolished starting from January 1 this year the tax on sale of securities when carrying out long-term investment. We take a somewhat different line to our partners, including in the G20, on this issue.
We will not introduce new restrictions on financial activity but will do all we can to give financial institutions the broadest range of opportunities. This is the goal of our project to develop Moscow as an international financial centre that will become not just the nucleus of Russia’s financial system but also a catalyst for developing financial markets throughout the post-USSR region, and in Central and Eastern Europe too, I hope. We have already taken the first practical steps in this direction.
I hope, in particular, that starting this year we will see foreign companies borrowing and raising capital on the Russian ruble market. This project, which has global significance, is one of the main instruments for integrating Russia into the global economy. Let me add that we strive to make our judicial system more effective for finance sector companies that will operate in the Moscow financial centre.
Fourth, we are developing big new markets with common regulation that will offer investors an attractive environment. Russia has long since been ready to join the WTO. I hope that we will finally complete this process this year. My partners have all promised me this. The next step will be for Russia to join the OECD. Finally, we are also in the process of building a common economic space with the European Union based on the principles of indivisible security and the free movement of people, capital and goods, and a common set of technical standards.
We recently established the Customs Union with Belarus and Kazakhstan and are moving fast towards putting in place with these countries a common economic space along similar lines to the EU model. These are all important developments. They do not contradict each other, rather, I hope that they will complement and help each other. Ultimately, we advance towards creating a common market stretching from the Atlantic to the Pacific, a vast market in which everyone will benefit.
Fifth, we are continuing our active efforts to develop new possibilities for innovative business and venture investment. I initiated a law that allows universities to set up enterprises using intellectual property. This law is already in force now and around 1,000 such companies have already been registered. This year, legislation making venture financing easier to carry out will also take effect.
The Skolkovo Innovation Centre is our biggest project in this area. Dozens of businesses, big and small, registered in various location throughout Russia, will take part in this project this year and will all enjoy special incentives. I am sure that we will see the emergence of new global brands coming out of Russia over the coming years, and the involvement of foreign business, innovative foreign business, in these efforts will boost our chances.
Sixth, the large-scale energy efficiency programme we have launched opens up new business opportunities. I have set clear quantitative targets, and pilot projects are now underway in many Russian regions. All new projects must measure up to the latest energy efficiency demands. These standards have either already been set or will take effect soon.
Given Russia’s important place in the energy sector it is essential too to make this sector one of the main driving forces behind innovation. This is why we seek to advance our modernisation through promoting global partnerships based on exchange of assets. Besides, these partnerships will be one of the key factors in the energy security that we declared five years ago at the G8 summit in St Petersburg. Big deals were signed in this sector today in Davos, as in other places a while ago, and I hope too that the new alliances Rosneft oil company is forming represent the step from words to action in this area.
Seventh, we will make full use of technology transfers to modernise our industry. Joint ventures and technology exchanges are important in all sectors, including the defence sector, and I am sure that they will create a new level of trust in the world’s common security, and this is why we welcome the decision to establish the Russian-French consortium to build Mistral helicopter carriers.
Eighth, we are carrying out an extensive programme to develop broadband internet throughout the whole of Russia, and are ready to offer the chance to conduct any lawful business making use of it. The most important public sector project that I too am working on in this area is to integrate banking and public services using universal payment cards. Development of electronic payment systems, public procurements and services will create a more convenient environment for ordinary people and for business too, not to mention that it will also be an effective instrument in fighting corruption in Russia.
Ninth, we realise that successful modernisation will be the product of tens of millions of personal success stories, the success of our own citizens and the hundreds of thousands of successful business stories from entrepreneurs and specialists from around the whole world. The source of any country’s strength and ability to be a global economic leader in the modern world is talented and educated people with knowledge, imagination, and a thirst for creation.
I hope that within the next decade thousands of young scientists, engineers, civil servants, and professionals in other areas will receive masters degrees and doctorates from the world’s top universities and then go on to take key jobs in Russian business and public administration, education and science. Our task is to make Russia a more attractive place for the world’s brightest minds. I think it is a realistic goal for us to attract thousands of the world’s best scientists and engineers to come and work in Russia. We need this influx of foreign specialists above all to learn best practices and create a fertile environment for our own specialists’ creative activity. This is why we are ready to take the unilateral step of granting automatic recognition to diplomas and degrees from the world’s top universities, and we are working on this now. I note too that we have simplified the immigration rules for highly qualified specialists coming to Russia. This was something that businesspeople wanted me to do, and I have done it.
Tenth, we have begun carrying out big infrastructure projects, especially as we have been chosen to host major international sports events. This is not just our sports fans’ desire, but is a real opportunity to modernise our infrastructure, and it was precisely our goal to make our infrastructure more convenient for our people, for business, and for trade. These projects will all be carried out on a public-private partnership basis. They will help us to develop individual regions and will also give people from around the world the chance to see Russia and realise that despite the current difficulties, Russia is an open country that has already become a part of the global community.
Forgive me for perhaps boring you with this list, but I hope that these ten points I have named could be discussed in more depth at the sessions devoted to our country’s modernisation tomorrow, together with the Russian Government members present here.
<…>