KAZAN, August 26 (RIA Novosti) - The State Council of Russia has proved to be one of the country's most influential state and political institutions, President Vladimir Putin said Friday.
"The State Council has been a place for dialogue between the federal and regional authorities and a national tribune to discuss the most pressing issues of domestic and foreign policy," Putin said while opening a State Council session in the capital of Tatarstan.
"The State Council has become an enlarged government, which drafts national approaches to solving the most complex problems," Putin said, adding that skeptical attitudes prevailing at the start of the State Council's work were no more.
Putin said the State Council should draft breakthrough strategic ideas.
"The State Council should draft breakthrough strategic ideas that would open new prospects for the country and unite society," Putin said.
"This will require qualitatively new approaches to the State Council's work and special attention should be paid to information and analysis work," Putin said.
He said the implementation of the State Council's decisions should be constantly monitored.
