Meeting with President of Iran Hassan Rouhani and President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan
Vladimir Putin took part in the third trilateral meeting of the heads of state, guarantors of the Astana process for facilitating the Syrian peace settlement.
September 7, 2018
15:15
Tehran
Meeting with President of Iran Hassan Rouhani and President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The Presidents of Russia, Iran and Turkey discussed issues related to long-term normalisation of the situation in Syria, in particular, a set of additional measures to finally eradicate the stronghold of international terrorism, promote the political settlement process and solve humanitarian issues, including the creation of necessary conditions for the return of refugees and internally displaced persons.
Following the summit, Vladimir Putin, Hassan Rouhani and Recep Tayyip Erdogan adopted a Joint Statement. They also gave a joint news conference.
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Speech at the meeting with President of Iran Hassan Rouhani and President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan
President of Russia Vladimir Putin: President Rouhani, President Erdogan, colleagues,
First, I would like to thank Mr Rouhani for the invitation to hold our trilateral meeting here in Tehran to discuss further joint steps by Turkey, Iran and Russia related to Syria.
Let me note that the decisions made at the previous summits of the states–guarantors of the Astana process are being successfully implemented.
We have made substantive progress in providing long-term normalisation in Syria. The stronghold of terrorism has almost been eradicated. More than 95 percent of Syrian territory has been liberated, 141 residential areas.
Currently, the remaining extremist groups are concentrated in the de-escalation zone in Idlib province.
Terrorists are making attempts to torpedo the ceasefire, and, moreover, to prepare and carry out various provocations, including those that involve chemical weapons.
Nevertheless, the successful implementation of our joint agreements has allowed us to make great strides towards a political settlement. We have taken concrete steps on intra-Syrian reconciliation, above all on site.
We can say with confidence that all the opportunities have been created for Syrians to determine the future of their country themselves.
In this context, I propose discussing further plans to implement step by step the decisions of the Syrian National Dialogue Congress held in Sochi this January. First of all, I am referring to establishing and launching the Constitutional Committee in Geneva, under of the auspices of the United Nations.
To achieve stable normalization it is necessary to facilitate the improvement of the socio-economic and humanitarian situation in Syria. Peaceful life is being gradually restored, security is being enhanced and civilian employment is growing on the territories returned to Syrian government control.
In this context, Russia proposed an initiative on international assistance in the return of the refugees and internally displaced persons to Syria. We are pleased to say that this initiative enjoys support from our Iranian and Turkish partners.
I would like to mention that along with the Centre for Refugee Reception, Allocation and Accommodation in Damascus, Moscow has established Interdepartmental Coordinating Headquarters. In addition, checkpoints have been opened on the border with Jordan and Lebanon. Over 15,000 people have returned home in a month and a half.
Russia is directly helping Syria on a regular basis by delivering food, medicines and other cargo to areas that were the hardest hit by military actions.
Overall it would be useful to be consistent in our joint actions in the humanitarian area so as to help Syria rise from ruins, restore its industry, agriculture and infrastructure, thereby making it possible for the Syrians to return home in large numbers.
Colleagues, let me repeat, that due to the painstaking efforts of Russia, Iran and Turkey, Syria is seeing impressive progress. I am confident that today’s talks will be productive, while the adopted decisions will make a tangible contribution to ensuring a final settlement in the Syrian Arab Republic.
Thank you for your attention.
Moscow Financial Forum
6 September 2018 16:00 Manege Central Exhibition Hall, Moscow
Dmitry Medvedev gave a speech at the plenary session of the forum titled “Finances for Development: A New Platform for Stable and Balanced Relationships”
The Moscow Financial Forum is a unique platform for the professional discussion of Russia's financial policy. The mission of the Forum is to search for solutions that will make the Russian economy more competitive.
The Moscow Financial Forum was first held in the capital on September 23, 2016; since then, it has become a tradition for financial analysts to hold annual meetings in September to discuss topical issues and search for effective ways to tackle the financial issues facing the Russian economy.
This year the discussion will focus on mechanisms to achieve the targets set in the Executive Order on National Goals and Strategic Objectives of the Russian Federation until 2024, signed by the President in May of this year.
Excerpts from Dmitry Medvedev’s remarks at the forum’s plenary session:
Moscow Financial Forum
Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen.
I cordially greet everyone here at the Moscow Financial Forum. This is already the third forum and it is gradually becoming a prestigious venue for exchanging views on finances and the economy in general. The timing of the forum – on the eve of Moscow’s birthday – has also become a good tradition. This proximity allows us not only to discuss serious financial issues but also to see and feel the atmosphere of the pre-holiday capital.
We recently hosted the world’s football fans. I don’t doubt that many here watched the FIFA World Cup and saw how Moscow welcomed its guests. Naturally, we would like this atmosphere to take shape at the forum and prevail in finances even though finances are typically much harder to deal with than football.
This is a financial forum but the theme of this plenary session is much broader. This makes sense because today’s challenges are linked not only with money transfer issues but also with the economy in general that is affected by changes in global politics, trade, market conditions, and international competition. As you know, these changes aren’t always positive. It is in these conditions that we are supposed to make Russia one of the world’s top five economies. This goal was set in the President’s May Executive Order. This goal needs to be achieved through financial, tax and budgetary policy, among other things. We have created a solid foundation for further development over the past few years. Despite economic pressure, the sanctions and the various crises that have been shattering the global economy since 2008, we have restored growth in our economy. Let’s be straight –our growth rates are not at all great, but development is no longer accompanied by the accumulation of imbalances and external vulnerabilities like before, as on the scale it was before.
Our foreign national debt has reached another low, and industry is becoming more competitive. Import substitution is taking place in some segments and non-energy exports are growing with confidence, partly due to the more reliable financial sector.
Today, Russian jurisdiction suits the needs of business much better. I understand that there are still some concerns, but nonetheless it is a far more developed jurisdiction. The financial markets received key infrastructure – a single mega-regulator based on the Bank of Russia, as well as the central depositary. Protection from market manipulation through access to insider information has been tightened – a corresponding law was adopted. Money savings protection mechanisms are improving, including for mortgages.
Taxes for new businesses have been lowered, for example, corporate income tax rates for development centres with special status, for special projects. I mean the so-called TASEDs – territories of advanced social and economic development, special investment contracts (SPICs) and others. We moved to a “one stop shop” system for submitting accounting reports to state agencies. We are supporting the development of small- and medium-sized businesses where possible. All this helped us improve our Doing Business rankings to 35th. We shouldn’t get carried away by this, but it is an indicator that shows we’re moving in the right direction and making the right decisions.
We must move ahead. We are currently drafting the guidelines for Government activity for a period until 2024. These guidelines contain all tactical and strategic steps, including those for achieving the national goals outlined in the May executive order. But this document has broader implications. This means, in general, stable development with low inflation and increasing average incomes. This is the ongoing transformation of the economy towards non-raw materials sectors through support for digital technology, innovation development, highly technological infrastructures and other sectors.
Moscow Financial Forum
I will briefly discuss certain aspects of this that I believe to be essential.
First, we intend, of course, to continue working to increase the inflow of investment. Not long ago, we adopted a corresponding plan of action on accelerating investment growth rates. Our target is 25 percent of GDP per year (the current level is 21 percent).
The plan of action includes measures designed to strengthen and improve the investment climate, reduce business costs, expand the introduction of our best practices in the regions, continue to reform control and oversight and decriminalise certain offences by business.
We are also working to create additional conditions for the return of capital from abroad. Special administrative areas will appear (you know, certain decisions were made – these areas include Russky Island in Primorye and Oktyabrsky in the Kaliningrad Region), that will offer an opportunity to transfer business from abroad to our jurisdiction along with maintaining a given status, a corporate structure and a variety of advantages. It is necessary to continue to encourage the creation of long-term money pools in the economy, to launch projects based on syndicated lending. For that we created such an instrument as the factory for project financing.
The second point is: we will involve private investors in various projects more actively, including in infrastructure projects. Not long ago, we set up a Development Fund. It will be filled from budget sources and the size will be defined annually by the budget law. Apart from other goals, it will co-finance certain segments of state programmes. This is a big financial pool that will enable us to include a far broader circle of private companies in our projects and provide the necessary support not only to large companies, but also to relatively small ones. We are also planning to expand the set of public-private partnership tools, simplify the work of concessions and engage existing development institutions in projects more actively in terms of fund raising, attracting private partners and providing the necessary expertise.
Perhaps, it is too early to say exactly what projects will be launched. A comprehensive plan designed to modernise and expand essential infrastructure is currently being prepared and its first phase is nearing completion. The plan will comprise transportation and energy projects. One of the main criteria is the attractiveness of projects for private capital. We will engage representatives of the business community and the regions in this work.
We are also planning to push towards reducing the cost of borrowing (this is indeed very important) in order to create conditions for more robust economic growth. It is necessary to move from neutral to stimulating regulation in lending. Since even despite our successful efforts to keep inflation low (and this is indeed a success), the rates still remain relatively high. We are counting on the active position of the Bank of Russia on this issue.
The third point that I would like to make is taxes. We will continue our course to create stable and predictable tax conditions that will ensure parity between the interests of the public, companies, that is businesses, and the state. This is the logic that we were guided by in our steps to transform the tax system. We realised that big goals were ahead. And this means big expenses. But we tried to minimise the impact of this step on people’s incomes.
Consequently, we decided to raise the base value-added tax rate along with maintaining benefits for socially important goods and certain services. Also, the threshold for a simplified VAT refund procedure will be lowered. The minimum term for an in-house tax audit for VAT returns will be shortened from three to two months. In other words, the money will be returned faster, I believe. Also, the cumulative tariff for insurance payments to extra-budgetary state funds has been fixed at a lower rate (from 34 percent to 30 percent). And, as you know, the tax on movable property has been repealed.
Moreover, we will complete the tax manoeuvre in the oil sector within the next six years.
An important topic is non-tax payments, which, in fact, are nothing but taxes. We are planning to create uniform rules for introducing, changing and levying these. I have repeatedly discussed this topic with business representatives. A special working group is drafting approaches to this reform. We expect the final document to be ready early next year. A bill on including part of these payments in the Tax Code will be prepared shortly. We had a protracted discussion on whether to include or not to include it and eventually decided that part of these payments must be included.
On the whole, the current fiscal burden in Russia is close to the level adopted in the OECD countries. Let me point out that this level will be maintained over the coming six years – this is important. As a matter of fact, we are maintaining the tax moratorium. And we are not planning to change anything.
Colleagues!
Big goals are ahead for all of us. It is impossible to address them without your concise work, without the concise work of the financial system and the financiers themselves. But I am confident that we will work out the right response to existing challenges, partly thanks to the success of every company represented here and the organisations you work in.
8 September is your special day, Financier’s Day. It is a great pleasure for me to congratulate you on this – everyone in this hall, and of course, all who are now working in the financial markets.
I wish you good luck. Thank you for your attention.
