At a meeting with members of Government, Vladimir Putin said he was in favour of simplifying procedures for registering small businesses, calling the current situation in the sphere “a mockery of people and common sense”.
In response to a report by Deputy Prime Minster Alexander Zhukov on the implementation of the Presidential Programme of Management Personnel for 2004–2005, the President said that everyone who opens a new business and registers a new enterprise “should be given a medal for bravery”. The government and regional authorities are still unable to create conditions for small and middle business to develop in Russia, Mr Putin said.
The President proposed the Government together with the Federation Council and the regions to establish general framework regulations. Otherwise “this confusion will continue”, the President stressed.