Putin proposes a series of new policies to help the development of the Russian Far East push preferential tax policies

　　Putin proposes a series of new policies to help the development of the Russian Far East

The picture shows the landmark "Golden Bridge" in Vladivostok, Russia.

　　□ By Zhang Chunyou, our reporter in Russia

　　With the theme of "New Opportunities in the Far East under World Changes", the "Sixth Eastern Economic Forum", which aims to promote the development of the Far East and Siberia (hereinafter referred to as "Far East Development"), was held in Vladivostok, Russia at the beginning of this month. The city came to an end.

For a long time, the Russian government has spared no effort to solve the two major bottlenecks of capital and human resources shortages faced by the development of the Far East.

At this forum, Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed a series of new policies, including tax incentives, to once again help the development of the Far East.

　　Introduce tax incentives

　　Before the start of this forum, Putin presided over the Far East Federal District Socio-Economic Development Conference in Vladivostok on September 2 and stated that the Far East has great potential and is of great significance to Russia. The Far East Development Plan has achieved significant positive results. , This positive trend must be maintained.

"We must formulate ambitious goals and solve the most unconventional tasks. The completion of these tasks is not only based on immediate practical needs, but based on more long-term strategic prospects," Putin said.

At this forum, Putin once again pointed out that Russia will establish a strong capital and emerging economic attraction center in the Far East to accelerate the implementation of the long-term plan for the development of the Far East.

　　The new policy put forward by Putin mainly includes three aspects: tax incentives, transportation infrastructure construction and maintaining population stability in the region. The most important change is the introduction of preferential tax policies.

In late July this year, Russian Prime Minister Mishustin personally visited the Far East.

In a working meeting with Putin before leaving Moscow, Mishustin stated that he would submit to Putin an economic development plan on the Southern Kuril Islands (known as the "Four Northern Islands" in Japan) based on the results of this inspection.

The tax preferential policies put forward by Putin include the following aspects: First, tax exemption, that is, enterprises registered in the Kuril Islands (including the Southern Kuril Islands) are exempt from major taxes and fees such as property, land and transportation within 10 years, and insurance premiums are reduced or exempted. Preferences; the second is tariff liberalization, that is, the establishment of a free customs zone in the Kuril Islands to facilitate the import and export of goods.

　　VTB said on the 3rd of this month that the total state and private investment required for industrial and infrastructure projects in the Far East and the Arctic will exceed 2.4 trillion rubles (approximately 33.3 billion U.S. dollars).

Although the development potential of large-scale mineral resources is huge, the initial infrastructure costs are also huge, so private investors cannot afford to independently. The most reasonable way is the state-private investment cooperation under the franchise model to ensure that the project is in line with investment while maintaining state-owned attributes. Operating in a way that benefits the interests of the

　　Attract talent and labor

　　The shortage of talents and labor is another major problem in the development of the Russian Far East.

On the one hand, the region lacks the basis for attracting high-quality talents and labor; on the other hand, it faces the real problem of the loss of talents and labor force of the right age.

The trade-offs make this problem more prominent.

This time Putin's proposal to maintain population stability in the Far East can be said to be the most important thing.

　　In order to solve the population problem, in recent years Russia has introduced many measures such as "Mother Fund", "Family Multi-Child Allowance" and "Father Fund", but the trend of negative population growth has not been curbed.

According to data from the Russian Federal Statistical Office, as of January 1 this year, the number of permanent residents in Russia was 146.24 million, a decrease of 510,000 compared with the previous year. It was the second year with the largest decrease in population in the past 15 years. Annual decrease of 560,000.

Although Russian officials have made optimistic predictions on population growth, for example, the population will increase to 150 million by 2036, but there are still pessimistic predictions that the population will be at least 134 million by then.

　　As an economically underdeveloped region, the labor population in the Far East and Siberia is moving to Moscow, St. Petersburg and other central cities, which is directly related to the lack of development potential and imperfect living facilities in the region.

According to the 2019 quality of life rankings in Russia, the top three are Moscow, St. Petersburg and Moscow Oblast, while the highest ranked Kamchatka Krai in the Far East ranks 30th.

　　Putin pointed out at this forum that the quality of life in the Far East should not be lower than the national average.

To this end, Russia will strengthen guarantees in areas such as medical care, postal services, education, and housing.

Russian Deputy Prime Minister and President’s plenipotentiary in the Far Eastern Federal District Trutnev said that the problem of cheap housing in the Far East will be resolved, and the government is allocating a large amount of funds for the development of housing and public services and increasing housing construction.

　　Multiple measures to accelerate development

　　The development of the Far East and Siberia has become Russia's national strategy, which is crucial to Russia's economic recovery and the stability of its status as a major power.

Putin once pointed out that whether Russia can become a world economic power depends to a large extent on the development of the eastern region.

　　Russia has launched a series of measures from the legal and policy levels to accelerate the development of the Far East.

The "Socio-Economic Development Strategy of the Far East and Baikal Region by 2025" issued in 2009 opened the prelude to this round of Far East development.

According to this strategy, the economic development of the Far East will be divided into three stages: the first stage will increase the rate of investment growth above the Russian average level, and start to implement new infrastructure projects and industrial and agricultural projects; the second stage will implement large-scale energy projects and expand passenger and cargo Traffic flow; the third stage is to develop an innovative economy, implement large-scale projects for mining, processing, energy supply, and transportation, and expand Russia's leading position in key scientific research directions.

Since then, the new development policy of the Russian Far East has sprung up, and the development of the Far East has also entered the fast lane.

　　In terms of institution building, Russia also spares no effort.

As early as 2012, Russia established the Ministry of Far East Development, and its authority gradually expanded. In 2019, it became the Ministry of Far East and Arctic Development.

In December last year, according to Mishustin’s proposal, the Russian government reorganized its development institutions on a large scale, with the most significant changes in the Far East.

While retaining the Far East Development Group, the functions of the Far East and Arctic Human Capital Development Agency and the Far East Investment Attraction and Export Support Agency were transferred to the Russian State Development Corporation; the Far East and Arctic Development Fund were merged into the Russian Foreign Trade Economic Bank.

　　Thanks to the aforementioned support policies, the GDP growth rate of the Far East has doubled in recent years, greatly exceeding the national average.

Trutnev pointed out that the industrial production index of the Far East is twice the national average, with a cumulative investment scale of 80 billion US dollars, 417 new enterprises, and 81,000 new jobs.

　　As the country’s priority development direction, Russia has invested heavily in the development of the Far East. Under the influence of a series of stimulus policies, the Far East has shown positive economic development and population growth. However, in the long run, how to solve the problem of insufficient funds, talents and labor is still the work of the government. difficulty.

In addition, issues such as central vertical management, incompatibility between large-scale enterprise operations and local management, all need to be improved and resolved.