Dmitry Medvedev: The Program of Support for the Regions Will Be Continued

On July 21, 2015 the Prime Minister of Russia Dmitry Medvedev met with the members of the regional department of the “United Russia” Party at the Novosibirsk Expo Centre International Exhibition Complex.

The meeting in Novosibirsk was held during the working trip of the Russian Prime Minister and Chairman of the “United Russia” Party to Siberia, which had been started with his visit to the Omsk Region. The Prime Minister’s trip includes three regions, where large election campaigns are to be held on September 13.

The meeting with the members of the regional department was held in the “Question-Answer” format, traditional for the Party.    

According to Dmitry Medvedev, “having meetings in such a format is not only right for the Party, but it’s also important, since “The United Russia” as the governing party is responsible for practically all the processes going on in Russia, you all know that. Such a position imposes a lot of obligations on the Party, and there are plenty of problems that you and I must keep keep an eye on”.

The participants of the meeting not only raised the questions and problems that the Party is facing today, but also the ones that are relevant to the whole of Russia.

First of all, the question of continuing the support of the regions was discussed (in 2015 Moscow allocated about 310 billion rubles to regions of Russia).

The Chairman of the Party Dmitry Medvedev noted that the current situation with regions of Russia is not at all simple and that providing help to them is crucial today:

Very many regions - almost all of them, frankly speaking, are having problems with their income basis formation, since our economic growth is not increasing this year, it’s decreasing, unfortunately. There are regions (I’m not speaking about the Novosibirsk Region) that are currently going through hard times. So we need to make decisions about providing the targeted aid to these regions just to help these regions cope with their problems in this uneasy period, fulfill all of their social obligations and, of course, keep developing their economies as much as possible, investing money in the industrial and agricultural sector. So we are not wrapping up this program, it will be continued.   

Besides the question about supporting the regions, the meeting also included the discussion of possible visa exemptions for other countries on the mutual basis, support programs for the disabled, agricultural problems, and problems in the housing and utilities sector.

The participants of the meeting also spoke about the tasks we face in the sphere of education. Dmitry Medvedev criticized the three-shift education system used in some schools:

We have a huge amount of schools that require reconstruction, honestly, they must be closed, and new schools must be built. The problem of studying in several shifts is also very difficult. Children study in three shifts in some regions, which actually cannot be called proper education. We will need to think about transforming the kindergarten support program into the school support program. I’ve already assigned this task to my colleagues in the government. Some of them shrugged at the thought of it but started their work on the assignment.

At the end of the meeting Dmitry Medvedev wished the members of the Party “to be absolutely sincere and honest, while giving our people hope for the future”.

More detailed information about the meeting is available at the official website of the “UNITED RUSSIA” Party.