Vladimir Putin spoke at a plenary session of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs congress.March 14, 2019
14:40
Moscow
At a plenary session of Congress of Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs.
The Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs congress is taking place during the Russian Business Week (March 11–15), which focuses on new proposals regarding the topical areas of interaction between businesses and the state.
After the plenary session, the President met with members of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs’ Bureau.
* * *
President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Good afternoon, colleagues,
I am delighted to welcome all the participants and guests of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs congress.
This congress is taking place at a time when we are starting to work on national projects and implement infrastructure development plans. Once again, I would like to stress what I have said many times and will say again today. Businesses are direct and essential participants of these projects. I hope that our partnership will be productive and that the goals that we set for ourselves will become targets for investing funds, human resources and the business enthusiasm and talent of Russian entrepreneurs. I have no doubt about it. With your competitiveness comes progress for the entire country, new jobs and a higher quality of life for Russian citizens.
Today I suggest that we particularly focus on the tasks that we need to address this year. We will discuss issues that concern you as well as your initiatives to eliminate barriers and create additional real stimuli for businesses. We can see that major Russian companies want to invest in national development programmes and to be closely involved in the national agenda. I want to point out that the participants of a working meeting chaired by Mr Shokhin [President of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs] and Mr Siluanov [First Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister] discussed almost 1,000 such initiatives. Some 250 investment requests worth a total of 12.1 trillion rubles have been developed based on these initiatives.
This concerns investments in areas of social importance vital for the dynamic growth of the national economy and the country as a whole, including in industry, high technology, transport, communications, the environment and tourism. These are large-scale and long-term projects with broad horizons, which should produce a major synergic effect.
At a plenary session of Congress of Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs.
Therefore, I consider it essential to ensure the stability of rules during their implementation and to develop practical measures for lowering investor risks. All these provisions must be incorporated in the law on encouraging and protecting investments. Also, I would like to point out that we need to take additional decisions on the system of special investment contracts so as to enhance the effectiveness of this tool for boosting the development of unique breakthrough technologies in Russia.
I know that our colleagues in the Government have not yet coordinated their position on the draft law on encouraging and protecting investments. Of course, it is a fundamentally new and complicated document in a number of ways, which calls for a thorough analysis of all the details. However, we must accelerate work on this document without sacrificing quality, and we must complete this work as soon as possible, taking into account the positions of businesses and business associations and the proposals that will certainly be put forth today.
Another major issue, about which I spoke in detail in my Address, if you remember, is the environment and the shared responsibility of the state, society and business for the environment and for our ecological well-being.
You know that this year we have launched the full-scale mandatory process of our enterprises’ transition to the best available technology and new environmental standards. This should reduce environmental damage, improve the environment in our largest industrial centres and encourage in-depth industrial modernisation.
I would like to point out again that we must be guided above all by the interests of the people. I am sure you are well aware that it is unacceptable to delay the departure from obsolete technologies or try to moderate environmental laws, including the draft law on emission quotas. If we permit this, we will be unable to formulate and implement new solutions; we will continue to mark time, lagging ever further behind other countries in the quality of life and, certainly, in economic efficiency.
Therefore, I suggest that today we focus on the persisting problems in this sphere. They do exist, and we know about this. We must discuss and take coordinated decisions on the regulatory and any other obstacles that are hindering the transition of our industry to the best available technologies and strict environmental standards.
And another area that I would like to mention separately. A secure residential construction financing system using so-called escrow accounts should go on stream from July 1. That is, the prospective property owners’ contributions will not go to the developer directly, as before, but will be channelled into a special account at the bank and transferred only in exchange for apartments. Construction companies will need to attract larger bank loans using project financing arrangements.
At a plenary session of Congress of Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs.
We all understand that this is a new tool for the industry, and we must all work together so as not to reduce, but consistently increase the pace of housing construction. That is, based on the new financing plan. So a clear and transparent interaction between banks and companies, as well as incentives for banks to finance residential projects is of paramount importance. And of course, there should be clear sources for financing social and utilities infrastructure. I would ask representatives of the construction industry – we have already spoken many times about this, met with many colleagues at different levels, and I also held relevant meetings – but if there are questions, I am urging you to raise these and other relevant issues today as well.
Colleagues, exactly five years ago, at the RSPP congress, business associations and the Agency for Strategic Initiatives launched an important project – the National Investment Climate Ranking. This has provided an incentive for management teams in the regions to change their approaches, to provide support to business leaders who are ready to invest in creating jobs, expanding and updating their facilities.
It is important that work on improving the business environment continues. I know that on the sidelines of this congress, the leading business associations and the Agency for Strategic Initiatives signed an agreement on organising the work of a special information platform, which was also discussed in the Address, as you must have noted. With the help of this platform, I hope entrepreneurs will have an additional opportunity to report the facts about any illegal pressure, attempts to seize property, and so on. The heads of law enforcement agencies have already been instructed to provide you with the necessary assistance, to engage in this work and use the emerging mechanism to improve their activities.
I expect that thanks to this cooperation, a major step will be taken to improve the investment climate and increase the transparency of the business environment, so that the conditions for small, medium-sized and large businesses’ entrepreneurial initiatives are in line with the large-scale strategic goals our country faces.
Thank you.
Meeting with Gazprom CEO Alexei MillerChair of the Gazprom Management Board reported to the President on the company’s performance in 2018 and plans for 2019. The discussion also focused on connecting Russian regions to the gas supply network.
March 12, 2019
13:30
The Kremlin, Moscow
With Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller.
President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Mr Miller, let us begin with the results of the previous year. Do you have the final reports?
Gazprom Management Board Chairman
Alexei Miller: We have completed management accounting. In 2018, Gazprom produced 497.6 billion cubic metres of gas. This is 5.7 percent or 26.6 billion cubic metres more than in 2017.
At the same time, gas consumption in the domestic market increased. We supplied 12.8 billion cubic metres more gas than in 2017, which represents an increase of 5.5 percent. The supply to households and utility companies increased by 4.3 percent, to electric energy facilities by 9.5 percent, to agricultural chemicals facilities by 13 percent, and metal production by 18.5 percent. The volume of gas exports to far abroad has also grown. We set yet another record for gas exports, reaching 201.8 billion cubic metres, which is 3.8 percent or 7.4 billion cubic metres more than in 2017.
In particular, it should be emphasised that our main partner and client, Germany, significantly increased its gas consumption. Germany’s Russian gas consumption grew by 9.5 percent year-on-year meaning we supplied 58.5 billion cubic metres in 2018. This is more than the capacity of Nord Stream alone.
Without doubt, it should be noted that the upward trend in demand for Russian gas continues; therefore, in the medium term we expect that the volume of gas supplies to the European market will grow even more.
At a meeting with Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller.
As of the end of 2018, the share of Russian pipeline gas in the European market stood at 36.7 percent.
Of course, one of Gazprom’s priorities is to ensure sufficient supplies for the autumn and winter period. By the beginning of that period, we had pumped 72.27 billion cubic metres of gas into underground storage facilities, which allowed us to safely withdraw 812.5 million cubic metres of gas every day, the largest volume ever. Overall, at the beginning of the reporting period, the company had increased the daily withdrawal of gas from underground storage facilities by 31 percent over the past eight years. We plan to withdraw 843.3 million cubic metres daily in the autumn and winter period of 2019–2020.
Last year we launched production at the Bovanenkovo field, our largest deposit in Yamal. Mr President, you know the specifications of this field very well. Its gas reserves amount to 4.9 trillion cubic meters. We plan to produce gas at the field until 2124. Production has reached the target of 115 billion cubic metres per year. In winter, we can produce 317 million cubic metres of gas a day at the field.
We have created new facilities to transport gas from the Yamal Peninsula. We have built the Ukhta-Torzhok 2 gas pipeline within the framework of the northern gas shipment corridor, which is becoming the leading facility for the delivery and distribution of gas to consumers in Russia and also for export.
Last year we completed two lines of the TurkStream underwater pipeline ahead of schedule. Construction was finished in November. One more major event was the launch of the LNG regasification terminal in Kaliningrad Region at the end of 2018.
Vladimir Putin: How is work rpogressing on the Power of Siberia project?
Meeting with Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller.
Alexei Miller: We are ahead of schedule. Gas deliveries to China from the Chayandinskoye field will begin on December 1. We will start exporting gas to China as soon as the field becomes operational. It will be a landmark event, for we will enter a huge gas market. Gas consumption in China increased by 17.5 percent last year. China is the fastest growing natural gas market in the world, offering huge opportunities to Russian gas producers.
This year, we will launch the Turkish Stream and its two branches will receive 31.5 billion cubic metres of gas. We plan to extend the Northern corridor of gas transportation facilities from Gryazovets to the Slavyanskaya compressor plant. This will allow for gas deliveries to Nord Stream 2 and to the consumers in Leningrad Region.
Vladimir Putin: Tell me about progress in connecting Russian regions to gas supplies.
Alexei Miller: Mr President, the gasification programme is being carried out in 66 Russian regions involving Gazprom as one party and local officials as the other party. As you know, Gazprom is responsible for gas delivery and the construction of facilities up to the boundaries of residential areas. The local officials are responsible for connecting their facilities to the gas network, constructing local networks and boiler houses and providing consumers with the necessary equipment.
By the end of 2018, more than 2,000 km of gas pipeline were built, which allowed 272 residential areas and 49,000 households to be connected to the gas distribution network. Some 210 boiler houses were built. As of January 1, 2019, the main gas network coverage indicator across the country was 68.6 percent (71.3 percent in cities and 59.4 percent in small towns). As you remember, when you instructed us to more actively implement the programme in rural areas, this indicator in rural areas was 25 percent lower. Without a doubt, there is a huge potential for increasing the rate of gasification. This, of course, primarily depends on local funding. Last year, Gazprom invested 36.7 billion rubles into the gasification programme. And, most importantly, we can increase the funding by 50 percent, even double it, but it is important to synchronise our efforts so that…
Vladimir Putin: The regions could take over.
Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller.
Alexei Miller: Yes, so they could take over. Of course, we can see that the pipelines built by Gazprom are not operating 100 percent. There is no doubt that if the facilities built by Gazprom were supported by respective efforts on behalf of the regions, the level of gasification in the rural areas would already be 65 percent. That is, if the regions could increase their funding of the gasification programme, we could connect many more areas to the gas distribution network.
Vladimir Putin: What is the expected growth of this indicator this year?
Alexei Miller: One percent.
When we started the gasification programme, the rate was around 1.5 percent. Obviously, the cost per project increases because the areas we are dealing with are more and more remote. But every year brings different results. Sometimes we get 0.6 or 0.7 percent per year. In 2019, we expect it to be 1 percent.
Without a doubt we could increase the rate but, in any case, we can see that, within ten years at the most, we can reach the level of gasification that will allow us to say that this matter is completely resolved in Russia. Of course, we could shorten this period because we understand that, in any case, the pipeline gas will not be delivered to all the areas. Some places receive propane-butane or LNG – something that we call localised gasification. In this context, of course, the role of LNG, for example, and localised gasification is becoming more significant at this stage of the gasification programme in the country.
Vladimir Putin: I have a request. Please prepare Gazprom’s proposals on how to increase the gasification rate in the country so that we could synchronise this work with both the Government and the local authorities.
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Greetings to Russian women on International Women’s DayMarch 8, 2019
09:00
The Kremlin, Moscow
Greetings to Russian women on International Women’s Day.
President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Dear women of Russia,
My best greetings on International Women’s Day. This spring day is always full of flowers and gifts, lit up with the joy of our women and your shining smiles. Today all men hurry to express to you their admiration and respect, confess their warmest feelings, say heartfelt thank you to their wives, mothers, grandmothers, daughters and colleagues. We know that your spiritual generosity is truly boundless. Yes, you are endowed with it by nature. But you, dear women, magnify that endowment immensely by your attitude to the people close to you and to your work.
You are reliable workers and responsible leaders, you can see the most minute nuances, professionally and creatively deal with any matter.
It is hard to imagine our history, the progress of our country without the creative contribution of the great women of Russia. In our age you can conquer the highest professional heights.
Reaching success is in the nature of our women. You manage to do everything, both at work and at home. And you remain beautiful, brilliant, charming, the centre of gravity inside the family that knows how to inspire and support, warm and comfort. It is your fate to walk the whole path of creating a new life – giving birth to a child. This great happiness of motherhood, raising children transforms the world, fills it with kindness, tenderness and mercy, reaffirms the traditional values that have always been Russia’s strength.
Our parents are dear to us at any age. But we have special feelings to our mothers: we are grateful to them for their care and unconditional love, for understanding and forgiving us. Many years later we still remember their lessons and instructions, their kind eyes and hands. We are always indebted to you. It concerns each and every one of us, as well as the state as a whole, which is yet to do a lot – primarily for those who give all their efforts to raising children.
Dear women,
We, men, must say frankly that it is not always easy for us to be worthy of you. But we will be striving for that and do everything for the women to feel our strong reliable shoulder, to feel that we always appreciate and love you, and not just on holidays.
Once again my greetings to all women on International Women’s Day. I wish you health and happiness.
