Rustem Khamitov attended a session of the State Council of the Russian Federation

UFA, 25 December 2014. /Bashinform News Agency, Iliya Spiridonov/. On December 24, in Moscow the President of Bashkortostan Rustem Khamitov took part in a joint session of the State Council and the Presidential Council for Culture and Art on the implementation of the state cultural policy.

Opening the meeting, the Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the coming to an end year of culture was marked by a variety of important events and activities, «including, first and foremost, in the Russian regions, where this topic got particular attention».

The Russian President announced that he had signed an Executive Order approving the Basics of the State Cultural Policy. According to the President, the document “reflects the attitude to culture as a mission, as a public good and historical legacy, as a system of values and moral ideals.”

In his speech, Putin also touched upon the issues pertaining to ensuring freedom of art, preserving and using material and non-material heritage of the peoples of Russia in education and enlightenment, on development of the Russian and national languages, literature, and creation of information environment favourable for character building.

Vladimir Putin named local lore and domestic tourism among the promising areas of culture development at the regional level.

Commenting on the statement of Vladimir Putin, the head of Bashkortostan Rustem Khamitov said that the completion of the Year of Culture did not mean cessation of work in this direction.

In his interview to reporters Rustem Khamitov said that in 2015 - the Year of Literature, much attention would be paid to creating conditions for development of libraries, support of literary work, promotion of literary pieces, publishing books and "everything that accompanies literary activity".

Today in Bashkortostan there are over 4.2 thousand cultural institutions. Total number of culture and art sphere employees is 15.2 thousand people. Our republic ranks first among the subjects of the Russian Federation by number of cultural and leisure, library facilities, children's art schools.

In 2014, spending on culture in total consolidated budget RB increased by 6 percent to 7.2 billion rubles. More than 96.6 million rubles were allocated from the federal budget.

This year a new storage facility at M. Nesterov’s Bashkir State Art Museum was commissioned, the State Concert Hall "Bashkortostan" started functioning after renovation. It is planned to open the Bashkir Opera and Ballet Theatre and Congress Hall. The construction of socio-cultural centres and houses of culture in Ishimbai, Iglino, Ufa, Baltachevo, Beloretsk, Karmaskaly regions, reconstruction of leisure facilities in Birsk and Belokatay region are nearing completion.