Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- On 23 December, under the chairmanship of Vladimir Putin, a joint meeting of the State Council and the Council for Strategic Development and National Projects was held, at which the Unified Plan to achieve Russia’s national goals until 2030 was considered, the tasks for the implementation of national projects were adjusted, new criteria for assessing the work of governors discussed.

Opening the meeting, Vladimir Putin noted the importance of organizing systematic work and coordinated efforts at all levels of government and regions to implement the development agenda and achieve national goals, breakthrough, qualitative changes in all key areas of the country’s development.

It was emphasized that the State Council, with its renewed composition and powers, is called upon to become a "think tank" for developing and using the best practices for the development of the economy and social sphere. The importance of not only organizational innovations was emphasized, but also the quality, efficiency of government bodies at all levels to improve people’s lives and achieve national development goals.

The main part of the meeting was devoted to national goals, for the achievement of which the government prepared a Unified Plan. More than 39 trillion rubles will be allocated for the implementation of the plan in the next three years.

Experts note that the Russian authorities are setting themselves very ambitious goals. Among them is ensuring sustainable population growth by 2030. In 2019, the population decline in the Russian Federation amounted to 260 thousand people, despite the increase in life expectancy. The spread of the coronavirus has further complicated the mortality situation.

To improve living conditions, it is planned to direct resources to the development of culture and education. By the end of 2024, it is planned to create more than 1 million new places in schools.

In addition, the national goals call for improving the living conditions of at least 5 million families annually. By 2030, more than 1 billion square meters should be built. meters of housing - 26% of the total housing stock in Russia.

Deputy Prime Minister M. Khusnullin raised before the President the issue of filling the acute shortage of builders by organizing a point entry for migrants from the near abroad. In turn, Vladimir Putin expressed his readiness to work out the issue with his colleagues.

The problem of unreasonable growth in housing prices caused by the rise in prices for building materials was raised.

The problem of expensive tickets for residents of distant regions of the country far from the center was especially noted. Vladimir Putin recalled the importance of creating an accessible transport and passenger infrastructure linking the vast territory of the Russian Federation.

The topic of ecology was also touched upon. The authorities are aimed at eliminating hazardous objects of accumulated environmental harm and ecological improvement of water bodies.

To achieve sustainable economic growth of at least 3% per year, the government intends to ensure the following conditions:

a) to increase the volume of investments by 21% by 2024, and by 70% by 2030; b) support the development of non-resource non-energy exports; c) provide support for small and medium-sized businesses.

During the meeting, issues of the development of the digital economy, distance education and public services were also raised.

About 18 specialized commissions of the State Council are empowered, together with the heads of local authorities, to raise issues on the most sensitive and acute issues on the ground.

Among them, experts single out a commission headed by Deputy Chief of Staff of the President S. Kiriyenko, which will assess the effectiveness of the work of regional authorities. Thus, he was charged with resolving conflicts between governors and the government, evaluating work and monitoring correspondence between commissions and working groups of the State Council. This makes S. Kiriyenko a public figure, only slightly inferior in scale to the country’s prime minister.

The Russian elite is aware of the upcoming challenges and is striving to launch, under the control of the strengthened State Council, the implementation of national projects previously suspended due to the pandemic aimed at systemic transformation of the economy and social sphere of the Russian Federation.

According to experts, the empowerment of the State Council with the functions of representing the regions marks the beginning of a new policy, in which the regional elites will be qualitatively integrated into the system of state administration. This allows it to become a weighty and effective state structure through which the regions will be able to convey their opinions to the Kremlin, which they could not do on the platform of the Federation Council.