Russia needs a decade of sustainable development, without experiments based on often unjustified liberalism, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said in his annual address to parliament on Wednesday.
"The country needs a decade of sustainable and calm development," he said in an apparent reference to the economic reforms of the turbulent 1990s.
Putin said the government and a group of experts were completing a Strategy-2020 plan, which focuses on ways of finding new growth reserves and setting the right priorities.
"Modernization - or in other words, consistent and quality development - is above all investment in a person, in his or her talents and abilities, in creating conditions for personal development and initiative, and in a better quality of life," Putin said.
The premier said this was the prerequisite for rapid economic growth and technological breakthroughs.
The premier also spoke of the need to secure peace inside the country and block any attempts to split Russian society. The premier was speaking in the wake of protests and coups that have swept the Middle East and North Africa in the past few months.
"Every year of such [sustainable] development must bring real, tangible improvement in people's lives and to the majority of Russian families," he said.
MOSCOW, April 20 (RIA Novosti)
