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Presidential economic council to discuss state of business climate, measures to improve it

MOSCOW, December 04, 1:28 /ITAR-TASS/. President Vladimir Putin will hold a session of the Economic Council to the President on Wednesday. Participants in the session are to discuss the state of business climate in Russia and measures to improve it, devoting special attention to the following three aspects: refinement of customs administration, an improvement of entrepreneurial climate in construction, and the accessibility of energy infrastructure, the Kremlin press service reported.

This will be the Council's second session in a body. The first one was held at the end of July 2012. The flower of Russsia's economic science gathered at the Novo-Ogaryovo at that time. Putin invited the leading domestic experts to his residence there so that they would help the President and the government to analyze developments in the world and Russian economies.

"We all shall await recommendations from you about the actions of the State in the economic sphere," the Head of State said then. "Of course, it would be highly useful if you give not just mere recommendations but also suggest some solutions which could be used in practical work," the President explained. He would also want the Expert Council to estimate decisions being made and their effect.

On November 21, Putin also convened the Economic Council Presidium to discuss economic policy priorities for the 2014-15 period with due regard for tendencies and challenges of the development of the world and domestic economies. "It is essential to determine which factors must be taken into account for the economy's reaching out to a path of sustainable growth," Putin pointed out.

The Presidium includes, in particular, presidential administration and government officials, the heads of respective ministries, the governors of a number of regions, as well as the leading officials of the Audit Chamber and the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, representatives of public organizations, executives of banks, and high-level experts.

The President set out it as the main task to carry out an "in-depth expert analysis of strategic guidelines, and proposals on practical steps capable of ensuring a sustainable development of the country, competitiveness in specific fields, including that in the long-term perspective". "It was precisely in this logic that the decision was made to set up the Economic Council's Presidium," Putin pointed out.

The Economic Council was brought into being by a Presidential Decree dated July 16, 2012, for preparing proposals on basic orientations for the socio-economic policy, as well as sustainable development and technological renewal of the economy.

The Council's Presidium was formed on October 31, 2013.

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