President of Russia Dmitry Medvedev: Good afternoon,
Colleagues, this is not the first time that we have got together to discuss small business development. We had a big discussion on this matter in Tobolsk and we came up with a number of ideas. Today I would like us to finalize everything and settle on our priorities. I want to sign a decree that will set out the measures for developing small business, above all measures to do away with excessive administrative barriers.
You know what I am talking about. These measures include, first, limiting the number of inspections to one every three years. Unscheduled inspections would take place by special decision or be approved by the prosecutor’s office. The measures also include abolishing the Interior Ministry officials’ so-called extra-procedural right to carry out inspections of small businesses, a transition to a notification-based registration procedure for small businesses, large-scale introduction of compulsory liability insurance for small businesses instead of licenses, and a number of other measures making life easier for small businesses.
I also propose that we discuss separately issues concerning the rental by small businesses of premises for their activities, land issues and the problem of getting connected to all the infrastructure networks. These are all issues that, at the economic level, are hampering the development of small business in the country. I remind you that it is our goal to have 60–70 percent of the country’s active population engaged in business activity by 2020.
These are big tasks. Today, we should make the decisions we have been talking about over this last time.