Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on April 20 addressed the lower house of the Russian parliament, the State Duma.
Following are quotes from Putin's speech:
About healthcare
"Over 30% of the country's medical institutions are hazardous or in need of major repairs, despite everything that has already been done under the national project. Many hospitals and polyclinics do not have the necessary equipment to provide the kind of medical help that meets modern requirements. That's why we will allocate 300 billion rubles [$10 billion] during the next two years to sort out all of the country's medical institutions"
"This year, we should work gradually to prepare and make decisions, and starting next year, begin large-scale changes in the medical sphere"
About the economy
"Since July last year, the Russian economy has been demonstrating ever more confident signs of recovery"
"In 2010, the GDP should grow by 3.1%. Preliminary results of the first quarter of 2010 are encouraging as industrial growth is at 5.8% and real income of the population has increased by 7.4%"
"These figures tell us that the recession of the Russian economy is over. Moreover, we have a good starting point to move forward"
"We have the lowest rate of inflation in 18 years, 8.8% [2009]. It is a significant achievement for us. It continues to slow, so we need to stop this tendency and achieve at least a level of 5-6%"
"The basic conditions for future development are responsible macroeconomic policies and a balanced budget. We can't afford to live with a constant budget deficit of 6% [of GDP]. Otherwise, we'll find ourselves in a debt trap"
"Perhaps the main thing is the qualitative development of sectors oriented to people"
About business startups
"It is too early to speak about authentic entrepreneurial freedom in Russia"
"How can there be freedom when not so long ago we had 500 kinds of licensable activity, 78% of the products sold in Russia were subject to obligatory licensing"
About freedom of enterprise
"It is difficult to speak about freedom of enterprise when some market sectors are practically closed to it and are artificially monopolized by state companies"
"I believe any proposal on the acquisition of new assets, both for state ownership and ownership by state companies must undergo special treatment ... to avoid total re-nationalization"
About exports
"If there is not basic order at customs, any efforts to advance innovative Russian products and other modern goods on the world market will not have the desired effect"
MOSCOW, April 20 (RIA Novosti)
