“Focus on fulfilling the president’s message”: Mishustin and Medvedev meet with government members

The new prime minister, Mikhail Mishustin, and his predecessor, Dmitry Medvedev, met with members of the Russian government.

On Friday morning, Mishustin arrived at the Government House on Krasnopresnenskaya Embankment in Moscow. He and Medvedev talked face to face in the prime minister’s office for an hour.

After that, a meeting was held with members of the government in full force. The former cabinet is retired, but continues to fulfill its duties.

Recall, on January 15, Russian President Vladimir Putin submitted to the State Duma the candidacy of ex-head of the Federal Tax Service of Russia Mikhail Mishustin for the post of prime minister. Deputies approved the relevant decision on January 16.

Medvedev expressed hope for the “proper work” of the ministers until a new government is formed. At the same time, he pointed out that the changes taking place in the state are not something special.

“It should be so in such situations, they are natural for any country and are not something special. They mark those or other changes that are taking place in the country, whether it is constitutional changes or some other, ”said the former prime minister.

Speaking about his work in the government, Medvedev called this activity one of the most difficult, noting that citizens of the country always evaluate it critically. According to him, the Cabinet has achieved some success, but not all plans have been implemented.

“I’ll tell you straight: a lot has worked, something hasn’t worked out. But, indeed, it doesn’t happen that everything turns out all at once, because there are very ambitious goals, very complex and very important for our country, ”Medvedev said, adding that members of the Cabinet worked“ exclusively in good faith. ”

The ex-prime minister wished the new government and its head “maximum success” in achieving their goals. In turn, the new head of government asked members of the government to continue work.

• January 17, 2020. Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin (fifth left) and Deputy Chairman of the Security Council Dmitry Medvedev (sixth left) are meeting with members of the Russian government at the Government House.
• © Dmitry Astakhov / RIA News

“I want to say that today, in accordance with the presidential decree, everyone continues to fulfill their duties. I ask you not to back down from this, ”he said.

In addition, Mishustin noted the importance of implementing the provisions outlined by Russian President Vladimir Putin during a message to the Federal Assembly on January 15.

“The most important thing for today is to focus on fulfilling the provisions of the president’s message to the Federal Assembly, which we all deal with,” Mishustin said.

Recall that in a message to the Federal Assembly, Putin paid particular attention to issues of material well-being, demography and health, and also proposed a number of amendments to the Constitution.

Mishustin on areas of work

A day earlier, the new Prime Minister addressed the State Duma deputies and presented a report "On the program of the main directions of the future government." Mishustin paid great attention to the words of the president as part of the message to the Federal Assembly.

“I understand well that the message that was made yesterday should be perceived primarily as a program of social justice based on our traditional values, addressed to people, their most pressing problems,” the prime minister said, speaking to the deputies.

According to him, the main areas of work will be "caring for children, about the family, about the growth of their prosperity and improving the quality of life." As Mishustin noted, “macroeconomic stability and a surplus budget” provide financial opportunities for the implementation of all the tasks set by the president.

It is noted that in the next four years, these tasks will need to be allocated about 4 trillion rubles, of which 450 billion will be allocated for 2020.

The prime minister paid attention to the issue of increasing real incomes of citizens by launching a “new investment cycle”. To do this, according to Mishustin, it is necessary to adopt a package of bills on the protection and promotion of investment and achieve their widespread work, as well as continue to remove excessive administrative barriers.

The head of government noted the importance of targeted social assistance, indicating that the automatic distribution of benefits currently in use makes it difficult to monitor their spending.

In addition, he called for improving the entrepreneurial climate, mentioning in this regard the return of trust between government and business. In addition, Mishustin talked about the digitalization of the real sector through the national project “Digital Economy”.

“Russia has wonderful solutions and its platforms, it is very important in this sense to help our smart guys who create these digital platforms, and help with export, determining where we can push and where to develop,” he said.

It should be noted that one of the first orders of Mishustin as prime minister was the appointment to his former post - the position of the head of the Federal Tax Service - Daniil Egorov. Since 2001, Egorov worked in the structures of the Ministry of Taxes and Levies, and then - the Federal Tax Service. In 2011, he became deputy head of the Federal Tax Service.