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Govt approves draft state program for Far East development

The financing of the program will exceed 10 trillion roubles, which will include state financing, loan capital and private investments

MOSCOW, March 22 (Itar-Tass) – The Russian government has approved the draft state program for the social and economic development of the Far East and the Baikal region, which was considered at a session of the Cabinet of Ministers on Thursday, the official government site reports on Friday.

The heads of the Ministry for the Development of Far East, the Finance Ministry and the Ministry for Economic Development and concerned agencies of executive power must present before March 26 offers on the financing of the program.

The state program includes two federal targeted programs – program for economic and social development of the Far East and the Baikal region up till 2018 and program for social and economic development of the Kuril Islands for the period up to 2015, as well as 11 subprograms.

At the government session, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev offered to approve the state program as a whole, stressing that its main aim is “a systematic development of a crucial part of our country at a higher pace”.

He said the financing of the program will exceed 10  trillion roubles, which will include state financing, loan capital and private investments.

The prime minister also made an offer to think about creating an offshore zone in the Far East, where part of the money could move from Cyprus gripped by a financial crisis. At the same time, the Cabinet of Ministers prepares changes into the Tax Code that envisage tax preferences for new projects.