Government meeting

Agenda: outcomes of the working visit to Pakistan, expanding the project financing programme, support for rural residents and farmers, development of the pharmaceutical industry, support for regional budgets and investment projects in the Far East.

Mikhail Mishustin's opening remarks:

Good afternoon, colleagues,

As the President noted at the July summit in Astana, Russia attaches great significance to partner-like collaboration within the SCO. Yesterday, members of the government delegation completed their working trip to Pakistan that hosted an SCO Heads of Government Council Meeting.

Our colleagues and we conducted a detailed assessment of our work in key areas. We discussed prospects for expanding trade and economic cooperation in the context of current geopolitical realities.

In Islamabad, Russia took theSCO heads of Government Council chairmanship and during our chairmanship we will focus on expanding cooperation in the field of the digital economy, innovations, modern technologies, transport connectivity and, of course, issues of attaining food security and creating project-funding mechanisms.

Colleagues,

It is highly important to facilitate the practical implementation of all agreements, and I am asking you to monitor this process within your remit. The capital of Pakistan also hosted the first trilateral meeting involving heads of government from the People's Republic of China, Mongolia and the Russian Federation. This format allows us to discuss all aspects of our diverse cooperation in great detail and to jointly find effective solutions and answers to our common challenges.

The Government of the Russian Federation prioritises enhanced cooperation with friendly countries, and we will continue this work.

I would like to tell you about a certain decision before we focus on the current meeting's agenda. As instructed by the President, we will provide additional support for the Project Funding Factory. The VEB.RF State Corporation's share in syndicated loans will reach 600 billion roubles.

This will help us expand investment projects' loans to six trillion roubles in high-priority economic sectors. This margin is quite impressive. As of 1 July 2024, this indicator totalled just over 2.2 trillion roubles.

On the whole, the programme is called on to solve the problem of capital shortages. Under this programme, we are building major facilities in the gas chemical industry, the mainline infrastructure, metallurgy and other spheres. They help achieve national goals, as approved by the President, and they facilitate the development of Russian regions and the entire country.

Now to today's agenda of our Government meeting.

Today we will consider the support for our people in the country and further strengthening of the agro-industrial complex.

Last week we discussed these matters at the Golden Autumn forum.

As the President noted, our unconditional priority is to develop rural areas and improve the quality of people's lives. This includes the repair and construction of schools, kindergartens, health centres and clinics and building of up-to-date comfortable housing.

One of the key tools for solving such issues is subsidizing loans for those who live outside cities. It is possible to take part in the rural mortgage programme at a rate, I remind you, of up to three percent. Or you can take out a preferential consumer loan for home improvements, including water and gas supply.

Over the past four years, these opportunities to improve their living conditions have already been enjoyed by more than 160,000 borrowers.

We will keep on providing access to preferential financing for the rural residents, even if the Central Bank interest rate is increased. We will allocate another 6.5 billion roubles or so for these purposes to enable people repay their loans taken earlier without the risk of facing higher interest rates.

The Government will also help agribusiness workers engaged in growing and processing crop and livestock produce. We will give about 17.5 billion roubles more to support preferential lending. This measure will make it possible to subsidise not less than 24,000 borrowers.

We expect that such a step will improve the financial stability of the agricultural sector so that it can successfully achieve food security objectives in the future, providing our citizens, first and foremost, with the widest possible choice of high-quality domestic products.

The next question is about the development of the pharmaceutical industry.

The President emphasized that Russia should have the "technological keys" to all solutions that are necessary to save health and increase human life expectancy.

The Government will allocate almost 600 million roubles to create innovative medicines. In total, at least 41 units of various modern equipment will be purchased for their development. First of all, we are talking about preparations that are in demand for treating and preventing serious diseases, including oncological ones.

The new equipment will help develop a new infrastructure to launch production of such medicines, which is important for practicing state-of-the-art therapy as well as for reducing the dependence of our healthcare on supplies from abroad.

Another item on our agenda has to do with support to our regions.

As per the President's instructions, we will allocate additional financial assistance to six constituent entities worth in total about 9,233 million roubles.

This assistance will go to four republics - the Donetsk and Lugansk republics, Chechnya and Karelia, and the Zaporozhye and Kherson regions.

They will be able to use these resources to balance their budgets in order to finance projects that are important for people's lives, in particular, to help healthcare facilities, housing and utilities, agriculture, and other sectors.

Acting on the President's instructions, we continue to accelerate the development of the social and industrial infrastructure in the Far East and the Arctic, creating new economic growth points and improving the people's quality of life.

It is notable that private businesses are playing a key part in this. To support their investment activity, the state corporation VEB.RF is co-financing the most important initiatives. Private businesses can take out the necessary loans for their implementation at a 2 percent preferential rate.

The Government will additionally allocate 14 billion roubles for a broader use of this instrument. These funds will be used to implement urban development plans in that macroregion and to launch other priority projects.

During a business trip to the Far Eastern Federal District in July, we held in-depth discussions on the renovation of hospitals, schools and cultural facilities and the improvement of promenade areas and children's and sports grounds. We will provide the necessary assistance in this sphere to the Khabarovsk Territory, allocating about 1.5 billion roubles.

The Magadan Region will receive over 300 million roubles. These funds will be used to renovate the Advanced Vocational Training Centre and renovate the yards for the comfortable recreation of residents, including families with children.

The development of park zones will continue in Vladivostok. The city will have more well-appointed and attractive public areas. We will allocate about 500 million roubles for this purpose.

The development of the Northern Sea Route will certainly remain in the focus of our attention. We will earmark about 300 million roubles for regular transportation this year, which will help maintain the uninterrupted operation of that route and the delivery of vital commodities to remote territories, which is extremely important.

Al the budgetary allocations mut be used as efficiently as possible, so that our citizens quickly see and appreciate the results of our work.

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