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Medvedev to present state-of-the-nation address on Dec 22

The address is the main program document in which the president specifies primary problems and ways of their solution

GORKI, December 13 (Itar-Tass) —— President Dmitry Medvedev will present a state-of-the-nation address at the Federal Assembly on December 22.

“I would like to inform you that I will present the state-of-the-nation address on December 22,” he told leaders of the parliamentary parties on Tuesday.

That would be the fourth state-of-the-nation address presented by Medvedev in his presidential capacity. Traditionally, the president will dwell on fundamental areas of the foreign and domestic policy of the near future and important decisions.

The address is the main program document in which the president specifies primary problems and ways of their solution. The first ever presidential state-of-the-nation in Russia was presented on February 24, 1994. The address is presented at the St. George Hall of the Grand Kremlin Palace and lasts for about an hour.

In the previous years, Medvedev presented the state-of-the-nation addresses in November. This time the address was delayed due to the State Duma election. In the end of November the president said he would deliver the state-of-the-nation address after the formation of a new State Duma on results of the December 4 election. “A new parliament is a new parliament. It will work for five years, and we must establish contact immediately, especially as we plan to continue our work with the people’s mandate for state governance at the State Duma and in the presidency,” Medvedev told reporters in November.

Medvedev also said that would be his last state-of-the-nation address “in the current prospect” because his presidency would end after the March election and United Russia had nominated Prime Minister Vladimir Putin for president.

So far he plans “to sum up results, to outline prospects and to speak about ways of the modernization of the country, the economy, the society and the political system. It must be a comprehensive outlook,” he said.

Medvedev said he was working on the state-of-the-nation address together with his aides, governmental experts and members of the “Big Government.”

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