"Before the end of the year we are to complete the conversion of government performance to program-targeted results, and then every citizen should be given the answer on what his money goes," the premier said.
According to the premier, the work of every ministry, service and agency should be tied up with target figures and budget capabilities.
"This is not planning as it was known in the Soviet days. We set guidelines for the ministries to work in conditions of market possibilities and do not curb their initiative," Mr. Fradkov said.
"We are open to society, and everybody should know what the government works on, which tasks it sets itself, and how it copes with its duties," the premier said.
According to him, this is particularly important in the light of the goals set by the president: to improve the living standards of the population, to double GDP, and to ensure the security and defense of the country at a time when the country is integrating into the world economy.
Mikhail Fradkov noted that over the past three months the inter-departmental commission headed by Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Zhukov has made "innovative steps" in converting the work of the government to program-targeted methods.
"Their aim is to achieve clear results, with the role of every ministry, service and agency defined in reaching the aims and objectives posed," the premier said. To do this, he said, special federal and departmental budget programs will be drawn up. Volumes of financing will be linked to the size of allocations from the federal budget, Mr. Fradkov added.
The premier indicated that conversion to the new methods is another step within the administrative reform to enhance the efficiency of performance of the entire system of federal executive bodies.
According to Mikhail Fradkov, the government's work will be assessed from the results of budget planning reform. "The work of the ministries will not be built on volumes of budget spending and the number of measures implemented, a sort of imitation of go-getting, but on the fulfillment of systemic indices," the premier said.
He complained that the reform of budget planning would not be completed until a draft budget for 2005 was approved. "But we are already conceptualizing how to combine these processes with putting together a draft budget for 2006," Mr. Fradkov said.
