Translated material
School of capitalism
The President invited businessmen to become teachers
In the era of “equidistance,” business now uses the annual meetings of representatives of the business community with the president not so much to propose something, but to “catch signals.” Now the main signal is an invitation to private capital to finance government tasks, formalized in national projects. Moreover, the state itself is increasingly involved in business.The businessmen coming out after yesterday's meeting with the president did not hide their satisfaction. Although the entrepreneurs agreed in advance to discuss only one topic - the national project in the field of education, they managed to learn a lot of useful information on other issues that were even more important to them.
Thus, the president promised to abolish the joint liability of banks to participants in shared construction, agreed that it is necessary to give small businesses the opportunity to buy out municipal space they rent, and expressed confidence that the rate for the purchase of land for industrial enterprises will not be higher than 2.5% . In response, the head of state heard about the readiness of business to invest $100 million in the creation of a Russian business school, help with the development of a system of social educational loans, and conduct an independent rating of higher educational institutions.
Vladimir Putin’s statement on the negotiations on Russia’s accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) came as a surprise to everyone. He said that the United States (in fact, this is the last country with which Russia has not yet managed to complete negotiations - Ed. ) is “artificially bringing us back during the negotiation process.” According to him, “we received a list that required additional approval, which we considered long ago.” In this regard, the head of state again recalled Russia’s position - to join only on acceptable terms. “Today there is no question for us whether to join or not to join the WTO. But I think that now it is more important for us on what conditions to join,” the president said, commenting on the speech of Severstal Group CEO Alexei Mordashov. He told the audience that it was now important to focus on how best to use the result of this introduction. Addressing Mr. Mordashov, Vladimir Putin recalled that in addition to those industries that are interested in joining the WTO, there are other industries that expect informed decisions from the country’s leadership.
As Minister of Economic Development and Trade German Gref explained to reporters, several weeks ago Russia actually received a letter from the US President, “where some new conditions and new misunderstandings were formulated.” According to him, at the next round of negotiations between Russia and the United States on the WTO held in Geneva on Tuesday, some of these differences were resolved. “We remain optimistic that we will be able to complete negotiations as soon as possible,” the minister said. According to the President of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, Alexander Shokhin, the opening of envelopes with previously reached agreements is evidence that the following position has prevailed in the United States: “Russia must be carried through the July G8 summit not only without WTO membership, but also without a concluded agreement with the main partner on this issue."
As Anatoly Karachinsky, president of the IBS group of companies, who heads the education reform group at the RSPP, told reporters, all participants in the discussion agreed that there are two main problems - the quality of education in general and the accessibility of quality education in particular. According to Mr. Karachinsky, he hires two thousand people a year for his companies, but he would gladly hire four thousand, but there is no one. “We have returned to the era of shortages,” noted Anatoly Karachinsky, “only if before there were goods in short supply, now people are in short supply.” To solve the first problem, business proposes to develop professional standards and an independent ranking of universities, as well as create a national agency for the development of professional qualifications; to solve the second, to develop a system of educational loans. President Putin suggested another way - for businessmen themselves to retrain as teachers. Then they will definitely teach the youth what they themselves need. In addition, business proposes to introduce a “multi-institution” system in order to be able to participate on an equal basis with the state in the management of educational institutions.
A lively discussion took place on the issue of abolishing duties on technological equipment. The President pleased those gathered with the message that a government decree had been signed on the abolition of duties on almost 800 items for a period of nine months. The business was pleased with the quantity, because the entire range includes 1,200 items, but the period seemed insufficient to them. However, the president did not agree with them. “In nine months, even a person is born, and a contract can be concluded if there is a need,” he said. As the chairman of Delovaya Rossiya, Boris Titov, explained to Vremya Novostei, if we are talking about the need to conclude a contract within nine months, this period is really enough. But if you need to get to customs in time, then the government decree will not help...
Who met whom
The meeting was attended by 24 representatives of Russian business: President of OPORA Sergei Borisov, President of Transneft Semyon Vainshtok, Chairman of the Board of Directors of SUAL-Holding Viktor Vekselberg, Head of the Troika Dialog group of companies Ruben Vardanyan, Chairman of the Board of Directors of RUSAL Oleg Deripaska, President AFK Sistema Vladimir Yevtushenkov, President-Chairman of the Board of Sberbank Andrey Kazmin, President of the IBS Group of Companies Anatoly Karachinsky, President of the Odintsovo Confectionery Factory Andrey Korkunov, President-Chairman of the Board of Vneshtorgbank Andrey Kostin, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Novolipetsk Iron and Steel Works Vladimir Lisin, Chairman of the Board of Gazprom " Alexey Miller, General Director of Severstal Group Alexey Mordashov, Head of the Interros Holding Vladimir Potanin, President of the Association of Russian Banks Garegin Tosunyan, President of the Association of Regional Banks Alexander Murychev, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Alfa Group Mikhail Fridman, President of the Trade Chamber of Industry Evgeny Primakov, head of RAO "UES" of Russia Anatoly Chubais, president of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs Alexander Shokhin, chairman of Business Russia Boris Titov, chairman of the board of directors of OJSC Energy Machine-Building Alliance Evgeny Tugolukov, president of the Industrial Investors group of companies Sergey Generalov, president of the holding “Russian vegetable garden” Vladislav Korochkin.
Present on the presidential side were head of the administration Sergei Sobyanin, First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, deputy head of the administration - presidential aide Vladislav Surkov, presidential aide Igor Shuvalov, and Minister of Education and Science Andrei Fursenko.