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Opening remarks at the expanded meeting

President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Good afternoon, colleagues.

As you are aware, the Presidential Executive Order on national development goals was signed on May 7. These goals represent the critically important long-term priorities and the fundamental objectives facing our society and the state.

Our top priorities include – we go over them all the time – saving the people, improving people’s health and the well-being of the Russian families, providing more opportunities for each person to unlock their gifts and talents and to become successful. They also include creating a comfortable and safe living environment and improving the environmental situation in urban and rural areas.

Without a doubt, our national goals include improving economic sustainability and achieving groundbreaking industrial dynamics that primarily rely on strengthening Russia’s technological sovereignty, training skilled personnel, and making wide-scale use of breakthrough digital solutions.

Specific benchmarks and objectives have been set across these areas to 2030 and further to 2036. Many of them were mentioned in the Address to the Federal Assembly in February.

I would like to repeat that the main and substantive work to achieve national goals is not carried out in offices. We always discuss this: it is being done locally in the Russian regions, cities and towns. This means that the efforts of regional and municipal teams, entrepreneurs, public associations, and citizen initiatives play a decisive role.

Considering the above, the fact that today’s meeting of the Strategic Development Council is being held jointly with the State Council commissions and our colleagues from the constituent entities of the Federation makes perfect sense. I had the chance to talk with some of our colleagues from the Presidential Executive Office this morning, and I am aware of the fact that you discussed ways to achieve the national goals in the most effective manner and to establish efficient interaction between government bodies at all levels during the round table discussions yesterday.

I expect regional leaders and chairs of the relevant State Council commissions report on the outcomes of these discussions and present their recommendations to the Government before the national projects get finalised.

I would like our colleagues to scrutinise the proposals put forward by the constituent entities of the Federation and to encourage the ministries to maximise the involvement of the regions, civil society, and businesses in the efforts to draft new national projects. Importantly, this should come in the form of actual efforts, rather than perfunctory motions.

Ito reiterate, we are talking not about the projects that are run by individual agencies, but about ambitious and interconnected programmes that address common and systemic problems that matter for every citizen of our country.

By the end of the summer, the national projects should be drafted and aligned. We are all aware of the fact that the main objectives of the country’s future are largely addressed on the contact line. We should keep that in mind. All of us – everyone in this audience and all of your teams on the ground – must work exactly the way our military work on the front line. We must work at all times and work hard, being fully cognisant of the current period in Russia’s history. We should be based on this understanding when we set our goals and objectives and develop our approaches to today’s work.

Everything must be coordinated between various agencies and governments of all levels, and submitted for consideration by the Strategic Development Council. Of course, the financial part must be worked through thoroughly. As a reminder, we have extended the financial planning horizon from three to six years precisely with this purpose in mind.

Sure enough, more initiatives will be added to the projects in the future, and life will make its own adjustments. This is how things work in real life. But we can say already now that investing in national projects will be the core, the weightiest part of the development budget at the federal and regional levels, and thus a key area of focus for all levels of government.

I am convinced that despite the objective difficulties that someone beyond our borders is trying to create for us, and despite the current challenges, we nevertheless have all the capabilities, resources, and personnel to implement the existing plans and to ensure steady, long-term, and comprehensive development of Russia, our territories, regions, and urban and rural areas.

Once again, I would like to note that we will be assessing the outcomes of the national projects not by the number of activities that have been carried out, or by the amount of spending, but by our successes in achieving national development goals, and actual improvements in people’s lives and, of course, by how people themselves assess the improvements. I would like the participants of this meeting to operate based on these critically important considerations.

Let’s get to work.

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Vladimir Putin: Colleagues,

Above all, I would like to thank you for your good work and substantive reports. I would like the Government to take note of the initiatives that were put forward by regional leaders and chairs of the relevant State Council commissions, as well as the proposals drafted during the workshop yesterday.

I made it clear in my opening remarks earlier that we need to take these initiatives and proposals into account when we get to drafting the national projects this summer. To this end, I propose making slight adjustments to the State Council commissions’ activities and to expand the powers and authority of their chairs, who will join the national project committees as deputy heads.

I would like the Government to transfer the drafted national projects to the State Council commissions within the next two months for them to be reviewed by the constituent entities of the Federation. Third, we need to make the budget limits that the regions will receive under the national projects and budget loans available to the respective regions soon.

We are fully aware of the importance of doing so for the constituent entities of the Federation to be able to launch their respective budget cycles as early as possible and to draw up the necessary plans. By September 1, we should have the national projects fully coordinated with the regions and the State Council. We will then submit them to the Strategic Development Council for consideration.

Here is what I would like to add in this regard. As I earlier said, the demand for technology, equipment, materials, work, and services under the national projects is large. Importantly, this demand should benefit our producers, including the manufacturing industry, the construction sector, and other industries, and become a powerful incentive for their long-term growth. I have said it many times before, and I will say it again, and I would like the Government and all agencies to keep a close eye on it.

Of course, when working on the national projects, it is important to provide targeted support to the structural changes across all spheres. We should plan the overhaul of schools to make sure that the new learning environment and new classrooms and classroom equipment boost the quality of education and make advanced technology part of school education. We covered this today

In closing, not to pile up, but I want you to pay attention to the following: we all know, or at least we should know, what time we are living in and what historical phase Russia is going through. Since we are aware of this, everyone must work as if we are on the front line. Everyone must act as mobilised personnel, and this is the only way for us to achieve the goals we set for ourselves.

This is the only way for us to work in current circumstances. It is important to establish close cooperation ties between all authorities and everyone involved in implementing national projects. The effectiveness of our work will depend on this cooperation and, as I just said, this is the only way for us to achieve the goals we set for ourselves, the goals that the country needs.

Thank you all once again for your work and I hope we will continue to work like that in the coming months and years.

Thank you very much.