Boriz Gryzlov, the speaker of parliament's lower chamber, is attending the Far East economic forum in Khabarovsk, near the border with China. The two-day event, which opened today, involves 29 Siberian and Far Eastern regions.
Opening the forum, Gryzlov said next year's financing for Russia's four priority national projects - on housing, agriculture, health care and education - would be increased by about 1.5 times.
"Russia's 2007 draft budget states an increase in financing of four priority national projects by 50.4%," Gryzlov said, adding that the projects always "paid back" and helped to fight inflation. Consumer prices rose 10.9% in 2005 and the government is seeking to keep the rate down to 9% this year.
The speaker said one way to curb inflation was to introduce criminal liability for the overvaluation of prices for energy resources.
"We need extra measures to restrict the increase in tariffs on natural monopolies and prices for energy resources. We need [to establish] criminal liability for their overvaluation," Gryzlov said, adding that it would also help to protect consumer rights and develop production.
Gryzlov, who is also a leader of the pro-Kremlin United Russia party, said transportation tariffs also obstructed the development of the Russian economy and the government should consider how to overcome the gap between the relatively rich west and the poor east of Russia and create favorable conditions for economic development in the country's eastern regions.
"We have to return to the issue of rates for transport," he said. "Today they have virtually become an obstacle for the economy and simply to people making journeys across the country."
Many people cannot afford to spend around $900 on a return airline ticket for an eight-hour flight from the Pacific city of Vladivostok to Moscow, for example, and so have to spend about six days on the train if they want to make the journey.
Russia's Far East, where temperatures can plunge to minus 40 degrees Celsius and below in the winter, has the most difficult working conditions, Gryzlov said, adding that an impulse had to be provided to boost the local economy.
"It is not easy to work here and that is why we will be creating conditions for economic development, which on the whole will be more favorable in comparison with other regions," Gryzlov said.
The region has been suffering from population decline in recent years, as people literally go west in search of work and better living conditions. This has engendered to fears that Chinese migrants could exert an overly strong influence in the area. Russia's Interior Ministry said in March there were between 400,000 and 700,000 illegal Chinese immigrants in Russia's Far East, where about 6.7 million people live in overall, according to the 2002 Census.
The speaker also said that timber processing industry should become a priority over the export of raw timber, which should be processed in Russia and not abroad. He said East Siberia and Far East had the majority of the country's forests but only 2% of all Russian timber processing enterprises were located in the region.
"Not a single cubic meter of forests should be sold abroad without being processed in Russia," he said.
This is not the first time that Gryzlov has called for action to be taken in the timber industry. At a meeting with President Vladimir Putin in July, he proposed banning the export of round timber because economic levers failed to resolve a problem when 50% of Russia's timber was being smuggled abroad. He also called for timber-processing equipment to be purchased so Russia could export manufactured products rather than raw materials.
