The discussion focussed on the Agency’s work in 2015 and its targets for the current year, particularly the implementation of the National Technology Initiative, development of the professional training system on the basis of international standards and ways of improving the business climate.
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President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Good afternoon, colleagues.
I would like to begin by thanking you for your work last year. You put forth a number of interesting ideas, some system-wide projects, and managed to get business circles, experts and civil society representatives interested in them, as well as working very efficiently with the authorities. You have established cooperation with such new institutions as the Industry Development Fund, the Russian Export Centre and the corporation for the development of small and medium-sized businesses. I must say that such broad cooperation helps you achieve practical results in the interests of the country’s economy.
Last year with your active involvement we practically implemented the roadmaps of the National Entrepreneurial Initiative and significantly amended the legal and normative base. The National Investment Climate Rating has become an objective mechanism for assessing the application of law in supporting businesses in the regions of the Russian Federation.
It is important that you have established monitoring by entrepreneurs over the quality of compliance with the normative acts that are being adopted, primarily on a regional and municipal level. I am convinced that the results of such inspections should be made public and this will help further improve the business climate and, importantly, will become an effective mechanism for preventing corruption.
I would like to note the significant contribution made by the Agency to the development of the professional training system using international standards. I believe it was very important to win the right to hold the international professional skills competition in Kazan in 2019, which, as I have said, will serve as a strong impetus for the development of the entire system of professional training and for raising the prestige of blue-collar jobs.
I expect that in the new year your Agency will take an active part in implementing our common strategic goals set out in my Address to the Federal Assembly.
Here is what I would like to highlight.
First: a very important condition for the country’s dynamic development is, of course, greater freedom for doing business, for entrepreneurship. I would like to repeat that many barriers in the federal legislation have been lifted. It is of principal importance now to ensure the proper application of the decisions made and norms established, primarily in the regions, and to spread the best practices of dealing with entrepreneurs nationwide.
The Agency’s task is to assist in creating in the regions truly efficient, up-to-date and thinking management teams that will understand the requirements of businesses and see entrepreneurs as their key partners in developing the country’s economy and the economies of the regions of the Russian Federation.
I would like to ask the Agency to create, as we have already said and have just discussed with Andrei Belousov [Aide to the President], and develop a centre for exchange in best practices of state administration and investment climate creation. I know you have agreed to do this using the Academy of National Economy and Public Administration, as a regular seminar, so to speak. You must try to launch the mechanism and to make sure it truly works.
Second. You have launched a serious, important project – the National Technology Initiative. Jointly with experts, the academic community and businesses you have drawn up targeted measures to develop certain specific areas. It is now important to meet the deadlines and to consolidate resources, including those of the development institutions.
Next. Yesterday at a meeting with Government members, we had a detailed discussion of the development of up-to-date professional standards and their use for the introduction of new training systems. Here we should be guided by the latest international requirements.
In this connection, we should further enhance the role of work and engineering skills competitions and contests as key instruments in assessing the quality of the national professional training system.
The Address to the Federal Assembly dealt with the need to create a national system of such competitions as Young Professionals, which would involve contests for younger people, aged 10 to 17. I would like to hear your opinion on this, your ideas and proposals. I would like to know how you are working on the development of a new model of additional education for school students.
Let us deal with all this in detail.
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