Artem Zdunov told the President that the region was working in accordance with the federal agenda, building up its economic potential and industrial production and providing support to participants in the special military operation and their families, as well as to the regions where people’s lives and health were threatened,
The region’s industrial potential is growing and there has been an increase in deliveries to state corporations and in the number of contracts with enterprises that are working on the state defence order. The main traditional industries are heavy machine-building, chemical engineering, railway carriage manufacturing, electrical engineering, agriculture, and the new innovative sector in the region is pharmaceutics. The region has started producing substances for antibiotics and antiviral medicines. It has recently settled the investment issue in this sphere and is planning to establish a federal biotechnology centre and to join the federal programmes Priority 2030 and Advanced Engineering Schools. Over 16 billion rubles have been invested in pharmaceutics over a short period of time.
The manufacturing of fibreoptics is ongoing as per the President’s instructions. One more plant should be built to settle the investment issue in this area as well. The first special economic zone is being established in the republic for the production, in part, of radio navigation and radar equipment.
A federal plasma production centre is being established in accordance with the President’s instruction to modernise blood services.
The investment climate is improving. The region has launched 32 new investment projects worth nearly 100 billion rubles.
The regional head also spoke about attracting professionals to industrial sectors, improving the university and its ties with industrial enterprises, and establishing a second regional intellectual property centre. Last year, Mordovia became one of Russia’s top three regions in terms of education, ranked second when it came to identifying and helping talented people, and was third in terms of the number of awards its residents won at national and international Olympiads.
Artem Zdunov mentioned assistance to those who are serving prison terms, since Mordovia has the largest number of prisons in Russia. More former inmates gain employment in the republic than in any other part of Russia. Employers carefully analyse prisoners’ skills, check them on release and then offer the former inmates jobs. Such people can resume normal lives. The number of employed ex-convicts has increased from 3 percent to 42 percent.
The head of Mordovia also said that agricultural production reached 113 percent last year and that agricultural products accounted for 80 percent of the republic’s exports. Mordovia is one of top five Russian regions in terms of organic farming, which is in high demand in Islamic countries because organic meat and vegetables are similar to halal products.
As per the President’s instructions, the region will start building an intermunicipal plant for deep recycling of waste, or more precisely the utilisation of tailings. The President ordered full conversion to the modern system of waste management and utilisation by 2030. Mordovia will complete the process in 2026.
Replying to the President’s question about remaining challenges, Artem Zdunov mentioned the need to increase incomes, the demographic issue, and worn-out housing and utility systems.