The need for systematic work to develop infrastructure, create a favourable business environment and attract investors were among the issues discussed at a session of the State Council on cooperation mechanisms between the executive authorities at federal and regional levels in elaborating comprehensive regional social and economic development programmes.
Opening the session, President Vladimir Putin stressed that strategic development plans are a very complex and important subject. Copying Soviet-era state planning models would be inexpedient and not possible in a market economy, but developing plans and programmes is entirely compatible with a market-based system.
Mr Putin noted that regional social and economic development planning is above all the affair of the regional authorities themselves but said that, at the same time, the federal and regional authorities must pursue common final goals.
The criteria for a regional development programme’s effectiveness should be, above all, industrial output growth and increased consolidated regional budget revenue, and also efficient use of existing financial, material and human resources.
There should be no backward parts of Russia, no backwaters not living in step with the country’s overall plans and development trends in the modern world, the President said, and this is why it is important to be constantly working on increasing investment and raising the level of economic and business freedom in the regions.