Republican strategy development - is step in right direction - Rustem Khamitov

UFA, 20 January 2017. /Bashinform News Agency, Alexander Smirnov/. According to the Head of Bashkortostan Rustem Khamitov the elaboration of the Socio-Economic Development Strategy is a step in the right direction. He stated this during the public discussion of the priority areas and strategic projects of Bashkortostan until 2030.

Rustem Khamitov stressed that the Strategy was not an end in itself, but an important tool to determine correct direction of future development. He also noted that the Strategy should not present one-sided approach to the current state of Bashkortostan and underestimate the potential of leading industrial enterprises.

“Our republic is a powerful, big entity of the Russian Federation, one of the support regions of the country. Speaking of strategy, we should certainly move away from ideal concepts, we should be realistic. It’s all well when the speakers marked three main directions today - small business, tourism and agricultural production”, said the Head of Bashkortostan. “Nevertheless, we realize that in five to ten years, the share of our petroleum, petrochemical and chemical sector will be quite high.”

Speaking about the development of tourism, the Head of the Republic said that during the New-Year holidays 110 thousand people had benefited the services of hotels, hostels, resorts, ski resorts. This is more than two times higher than the last year (44 thousand people).

According to Rustem Khamitov, the development of agriculture involves working in the competitive environment that requires additional competencies.

“Agricultural production - is a powerful instrument, tool, driver for our republican society. 38 percent of our population lives in rural areas. We are obliged to work there in a different way, based on other options, other concepts. We understand that we need to develop rural areas“, said Rustem Khamitov.

Assessing the work done by the experts, Rustem Khamitov noted that in a number of areas more ambitious goals should be set.