The program contains some innovation elements, in particular, the sections devoted to the poverty elimination and the accumulation of the so-called human potential in Russia. To attain these goals, Russia should carry out full-scale reforms in education and healthcare in the near future, the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade believes.
The blueprint for social and economic development up to 2008 and the projected indicators of the country's development up to 2015 were considered at the government session in late December 2004. Afterwards, the document was sent for completion to be subsequently submitted to the government before February 1, 2005.
According to Andrei Sharonov, the deputy minister of economic development and trade, the program was not submitted in time because of "some debate with the Finance Ministry", as he put it.
According to him, the Finance Ministry wanted the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade to include the cost of institutional reforms in the program. The Ministry of Economic Development and Trade, however, ruled out the possibility of any cheating in regard to the cost of global reforms.
