Rustem Khamitov: “Municipal formation is not a state structure but an institute of people’s self-government”

“Local self-government just begins to adopt itself to the role it should play in economic and social policy” – the President of Bashkortostan Rustem Khamitov said, speaking at today’s IV congress of municipal formations RB.

“We have to stay in the list of dynamically developing regional leaders and we have all chances to go into the lead in competitive race of territories, first in separate directions and later in a whole. Our Republic is powerful, strong and economically well-developed, so we have to be one of the leaders” – the President RB posed the problem before participants of the congress.

The results of social-economic development of the region were ventilated at the congress. These results help to implement the most ambitious plans.

Rustem Khamitov pointed to the important role of local self-government bodies in implementation of these plans.

“We have to say honestly that our local self-government just begins to adapt itself to the role it should really play in economic and social policy. Our country is still not yet experienced enough in this sphere and there were just separate moments of local self-government. The borderline between local and state authority is de facto very conditional and such understanding of situation still remains rather popular” – the head of the Republic stated.

In opinion of the President RB the society still doesn’t understand that any municipality is not just one more state structure, its continuation at the regional level but a separate self-dependent level of power – an institute of people’s self-government.

One of the main reasons of such situation is financial dependence of municipalities upon the state.

“Because of poor funding our municipalities aren’t able to conduct self-dependent policy on their territories. They can’t keep everything in order, making comfortable conditions for people” – the President RB said.

In order to correct the present situation all regions and towns have worked up the programs of complex development till 2015 and these documents are called to become the plans for increase of financial-economic positions in the regions due to widening of tax base, attraction of investments, development of small and medium business and increase of industrial and agricultural outputs.