Sergei Sobyanin, the former chief of staff to Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, was sworn in as Moscow mayor on Thursday in a ceremony attended by President Dmitry Medvedev.
"I swear to faithfully and devotedly perform the duties, to serve the city's prosperity and the citizen's well-being," Sobyanin declared.
Speaking in Moscow's City Hall after Sobyanin took the oath of office, Medvedev called on the mayor to improve the business environment in the capital.
"This is a very important task, and unfortunately there are factors that have hampered business activities [in Moscow]," the president said.
Medvedev fired Yury Luzhkov on September 28, saying he had lost confidence in the man who had been Moscow's mayor for 18 years. A series of disagreements between the two had escalated to the point that national television channels aired programs alleging corruption on the part of the Luzhkov and his billionaire wife, real estate developer Yelena Baturina.
"Moscow is not only the political capital of our country, but the center of its business life. It is no coincidence that we have decided that Moscow will be the financial centre of our country," Medvedev said. "And if this works out - and we are working toward this now - the financial centre of Eurasia."
"We need to do everything possible to improve the business climate in Moscow," he stressed.
The president also called on the mayor to raise living standards.
"The new mayor's duty will be not only to maintain the standards that have been reached, but also to raise the living standards of Muscovites and all those who come to our capital to work and live," Medvedev said.
Sobyanin, a Putin loyalist who was appointed the head of the presidential administration in 2005 and served as deputy prime minister and government chief of staff after his boss became prime minister in May 2008, was confirmed as mayor by the Moscow City Duma on Thursday.
Thirty-two lawmakers of the pro-Kremlin United Russia party voted on Thursday to appoint Sobyanin for the city's top position. Two Communist lawmakers were against, and another one was absent from the session.
Putin's praise
Putin said he was sure "Muscovites will not regret their choice" of Sobyanin as Luzhkov's replacement.
Putin scrapped general elections for regional leaders, including the Moscow mayor, during his first term as president, giving the president the final say over nominees.
Medvedev picked Sobyanin from four candidates proposed by the ruling United Russia to replace Luzhkov.
Described in the media as the "dark horse" of Russian politics, Sobyanin served as the governor of the minerals-rich Tyumen region in the early 2000s. After serving as the head of Putin's presidential administration for three years, he ran Medvedev's election campaign in 2008.
He then followed Putin into the government, and the prime minister praised Sobyanin's work as head of the government apparatus. During two and half years in office, Putin said, Sobyanin improved the work of the prime minister's staff and implemented several modernization projects, such as the easing of administrative barriers for business and the introduction of electronic government.
"I have no doubt that Sergei Semyonovich [Sobyanin] will be similarly active and similarly effective in his new position - the very important position of Moscow mayor," the prime minister said during a Cabinet meeting.
Moscow's to-do list
Earlier in the day, Sobyanin outlined his plans for the city of over 10 million at a city council meeting, emphasizing measures to tackle Moscow's infamous traffic jams, new standards in the construction sector and easing bureaucratic hurdles to life in the Russian capital.
"Around 300,000 more cars appear in Moscow every year; the average speed is getting slower and slower. There is a risk that one day the city will just grind to a halt," Sobyanin said.
He vowed to improve the capital's traffic infrastructure by constructing more junctions, parking lots and pedestrian crossings.
Sobyanin also said the lines of the Moscow metro should be extended so that the system can be used by commuters in neighboring towns.
Sobyanin said that in 2011 he would introduce new construction standards meeting energy saving norms.
"Moscow needs new standards in the construction of residential housing and offices. The houses should not be designed according to the old standards," the newly approved mayor said.
However, he also stressed that new construction developments should not harm the capital's historic buildings.
Sobyanin criticized the location of the Moscow City International business center, a pet project of Luzhkov's, saying it had only served to increase Moscow's traffic problems, already among the world's worst.
"I think that Moscow City, built practically in the centre of the city, is a design error. But what is done is done," he said.
Sobyanin promised to hold a total audit of administrative barriers at all levels of society in order to create "a modern investment climate."
"The main problems faced by small and medium-sized businesses are bureaucratic barriers," he said. "The investment climate will change completely if they are eradicated."
Sobyanin vowed to repair Moscow's ailing public and social infrastructure, calling the capital's public utilities "ineffective, non-transparent and corrupt."
He outlined the importance of attracting migrants to Moscow.
"It is necessary to attract migrants to Moscow, to avoid a labor shortage," Sobyanin said, adding that it was also important to ensure that there are also enough jobs for Muscovites.
MOSCOW, October 21 (RIA Novosti)
