Dmitry Medvedev: It’s high time to raise Russia to the new step of civilization”

“Its high time to raise Russia to the new step of civilization” – Russian President Dmitry Medvedev stated at the beginning of his speech in Kremlin, announcing the annual message to the Russian Federal Assembly. In his opinion, Russia needs the all-sided modernization in the XXI century.

“Our oil and gas production complexes, providing the lion’s share of the budget intakes, the nuclear missiles, guaranteeing our defense, industrial and communal infrastructure – all that was mainly created still by the Soviet specialists” – he said – “It is high time for younger generation to utter its own word and it will be the first in our history experience of the modernization, based on the values and institutes of democracy. Instead of the primitive raw material economy we’ll create the “clever” economics, able to produce the unique knowledge, new goods and technologies, useful for people. Instead of the archaic society, where the leaders think and solve for all of us, we’ll become the society of clever, free and responsible people”.

President of Russia pointed to the main problems of our economics, aggravated by the crisis. “Russian business still prefers to sell the goods, manufactured by other countries and the competitiveness of Russian economics is disgracefully low. We failed to get rid of the primitive economic structures, of degrading raw material dependency and failed to re-orientate our production to the real needs of people. The habit to live due to the export still hampers our innovational development”. At the same time the wide-scaled program of anti-crisis measures, activating earlier accumulated reserves, has helped to stabilize the situation in the middle of 2009.

Dmitry Medvedev ordered the Government to introduce the plan of concrete actions for recovery of the Russian financial system. “We have to learn a lesson from the past period, because while the oil prices were growing up we had the illusions that the structural reforms could wait for a while. We can’t hesitate any more and have to start modernization of the technological and production spheres”. In opinion of Russian President this step means survival in the modern world.

Dmitry Medvedev called social aid for people, facing difficulties in everyday life, the key priority and said that “social obligations of the state before them are fulfilled and will be fulfilled completely”.

President of Russia promised to raise pensions in Russia a least 1,5 times for the nearest three years and to make the incomes of pensioners at the level of the subsistence wage by 2010. One more task, set forth by Dmitry Medvedev, is provision of all veterans of the Great Patriotic War with flats. ”The federal budget-2009 allocates 46 billion rubles for that and it will help to improve living conditions of more than 34 thousand veterans”.

One more task is to approve the program for development of Russian mono-towns in the nearest months, or more exactly, in six months. Doles have to be increased 1,5 times.

“We have to start modernization of the state sector”- Dmitry Medvedev said – “The share of the state doesn’t fall lower than 40% and in the period of the crisis the role of the state in economics grows up again but there is nothing good in it from the point of view of our future prospects”.

Russia has all chances to make its agriculture one of the leaders of economic growth for the years ahead and thus to improve the life of Russian agrarians. “We will continue the support of our villages in the future too” – President of Russia said.

The state won’t help the inefficient enterprises, President of Russia stated. The inefficient enterprises have either to pass the procedure of financial recovery or leave the market. “Development of production occurs only if the real competition is present and we have to make the free access to cheap and high-quality Russian goods and the main challenge for the Russian companies is to start learning how to produce such goods” – M-r Medvedev underscored.

President RF ordered Russian Government to introduce new terchnologies, including the electronic technologies of auctions in sphere of infrastructure, in 2010 and to introduce new road-building and other infrastructural objects’ technologies in accordance with the international standards.

Dmitry Medvedev reported that natural growth of population was observed in August 2009 in Russia for the first time for the last 15 years, though he admitted that “the growth is still insufficient”. The work in this direction will be continued, he said.

Introduction of electronic technologies has to become a powerful instrument in struggle with corruption. At least 60% of state services should be provided in electronic forms in two years.

Development of the strategic IT in Russia is one more prior challenge and the potential of the super-computers – the computer systems, connected with the high-speed data transference channels – has to be activated in a full volume.

The system of Russian education faces serious modernization too.

At the end of his speech Dmitry Medvedev said: “We are one blood with those who had won the Great Patriotic War, so we are all the successors of the winners and this is why I believe in new Russia. We have to remember and respect our past and to work hard for our future”.