OREANDA-NEWS. September 5, 2011. Vladimir Putin: Good afternoon, colleagues and friends.

I am very pleased to see you here in Cherepovets, which is one of Russia’s largest industrial centres. Today we are holding the eighth and final interregional United Russia conference.

In April 2010, nearly one and a half years ago, we held the first forum of this series in Novosibirsk, followed by more meetings in Kislovodsk, Nizhny Novgorod, Khabarovsk, Bryansk, Volgograd and Yekaterinburg where we discussed current projects and strategic development plans, as well as the most pressing and sensitive problems and concerns shared by people living in our vast country, stretching from the Pacific coast in the east to the Baltic Sea in the west.

We have developed a truly effective feedback mechanism, which allows us to identify problems and come up with specific solutions. As a result of these conferences, we have expanded air travel discount programmes for residents of Siberia and the Far East, and the Kaliningrad exclave. Student allowance for medical interns has been increased; large projects have been initiated to support the national healthcare system, schools and preschool education. The North-Caucasus Federal University is in the process of being established. A special development fund has been put together for the Far East and the Baikal Territory. And this is only a partial list of the decisions taken as a result of our conferences.

The past conferences were platforms where fresh ideas were proposed and improved upon and also – let me stress this – where energetic and dedicated people could prove their worth. Although different, these people had something very important in common – confidence in Russia’s future. They set themselves ambitious goals, pursue their plans without finding excuses, and gradually improve life around them, in their city, town, village, region, or in Russia as a whole.

I am also referring to people who have presented their projects at the conferences. They are now cooperating intensively with the newly established Strategic Initiatives Agency. Every fifth individual were chosen as leaders in the primary popular vote. Just imagine, every fifth person involved!

I believe that these people constitute a good reserve for expanding the United Russia presence in the federal parliament as well as in regional legislatures across Russia.

I’d like to emphasise that anyone who wants to innovate, to attain a goal and achieve success must be given an opportunity to realise their potential as well as our support. United Russia is open to anyone who is ready to advance civil or business initiatives.

There is one more important point that I’ve mentioned many times. I am convinced that if a political party wants popular support, it must understand the people’s concerns, their needs, and make improving their quality of life its priority. It should focus on increasing people’s welfare – not in some abstract way, but specifically in one’s city, village, region or in Russia as a whole. This approach is the foundation of our future plans.

We accept as fact that all Russian regions have enormous growth potential. After discussing it at our interregional conferences, the government approved development strategies for six federal districts: the Siberian, Far Eastern, Volga, North Caucasus, Central and Southern Federal Districts. We plan to adopt similar programmes for the Urals and the Northwestern Federal Districts. The core of the strategy consists of over 200 projects, which are meant to be engines of growth for the Russian regions. Total investment in these projects is estimated at over seven trillion roubles.

The priorities of the federal district strategies as well as the key development projects will certainly be included in our election programme – the People’s Programme – which is to be adopted at the United Russia conference on September 23-24. It will contain the most important concerns as well as substantial proposals for solutions, specific steps to be made and plans to be implemented in each of the Russian regions.

Colleagues,

I would like to touch on the problems of the Northwestern Federal District now.

Veliky Novgorod and Arkhangelsk have served as Russia’s major commercial gateways for centuries, while St Petersburg was designed and built by Peter the Great not only as his new capital but also as a major seaport connecting our country with its European neighbours as well as other countries and continents.

Today, the Northwestern Federal District plays as important a role in the country’s life, promoting Russia’s integration with the global economy. Suffice it to say that in 2010, the northwestern regions, with their logistics potential, accounted for one-third of Russia’s trade. I believe that these regions can be national leaders in transport and modern logistics development, setting high standards in this industry. This is certainly a large and challenging task, where every aspect is equally important: from designing strategic transit routes to building rural roads and road infrastructure.

We are amassing resources for a consistent overhaul of Russia’s road network. The regional road-building fund in the Northwestern Federal District alone is planned at about 140 billion roubles for the next three years. Is this a lot? For comparison, governments at the various levels (from federal to local) have allocated 2.7 trillion roubles for road construction over eight years (from 2002 to 2010). For the next eight years, starting in 2012, they will provide 8.3 trillion roubles for the same purpose, not 2.7 trillion.

It is important to identify some priorities here. Let me remind you that this year alone we have allocated 34 billion roubles for municipal road repairs and local grounds development in all big cities that are regional administrative centres. That amount includes the 3.7 billion roubles provided by the federal budget for municipal road repairs and local grounds development in big cities in the Northwestern Federal District. It would only be right to extend these improvements to smaller cities, regional centres and villages.

Therefore, I suggest that all regions spend a large portion of financing from their road funds on improving city, town and village roads. In fact, we have made a great effort to restore road funds, which were an older practice. We have restored them now, and I have already told you how much money we are planning to accumulate there – over eight trillion roubles in eight years, which is a lot of money. The regional governors themselves have initiated the establishment of these funds, but now some of them have asked permission to use the money on other purposes. But this is not what we have agreed on. I would like to use this opportunity to repeat to my colleagues, the regional governors – the road fund money must be spent on road construction.

On its part, the federal government is committed to overhauling all the federal highways in the next five years: the Russia, Baltia, Kola, Narva, Scandinavia and Kholmogory motorways.