Subjects on the agenda included balancing regional budgets, resettling people out of dilapidated housing and providing hi-tech medical services.
Mr Putin began the meeting by introducing Oleg Belaventsev, the new Presidential Plenipotentiary Envoy to the Crimean Federal District, who was appointed on March 21, 2014.
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President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Good afternoon, colleagues.
Before we start work, I want to introduce the recently appointed Presidential Plenipotentiary Envoy to the Crimean Federal District, Oleg Belaventsev. Let’s wish Mr Belaventsev success. There is plenty of work to do there, and some of it will not be of a routine nature because we are in the process of integrating two new constituent entities into the Russian Federation’s legal and social systems. There are many issues to sort out so as to raise pensions and wages and bring them up to Russian levels in keeping with the timetable that the Russian Government proposed. I know that the work is already underway and some decisions are already being implemented. We need to make sure that all of the decisions made are implemented in full and within the set deadlines.
Today, we have a number of topical issues to discuss. They include balancing the regional budgets, resettling people out of dilapidated housing and giving people in the regions better access to hi-tech medicine.
As far as balancing budgets is concerned, there are some issues here, and even some problems, of which we are all well aware. It is enough to say that, in accordance with the May 2012 executive orders, an additional 326 billion rubles were allocated to the regions last year in order to raise public sector wages. This additional 326 billion rubles exceeds by far the extra revenues in the regions, and this does create some added problems to be sure, but these are not problems that cannot be resolved. All it means is that we must proceed from the real circumstances and make balanced and timely decisions in order to achieve our objectives.
Let’s discuss all of these issues now. I will end my opening remarks here and give the floor to you, and then we can have a free discussion and look for solutions together with our colleagues from the Government.
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