MOSCOW, December 8. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin believes that the government should step up efforts to foster an environment where the country’s businesses can thrive.
"There are always many issues that require our special attention, but there are two big ones at the moment. These are measures to increase labor productivity in the real sector and in the social sector. And it's clear that businesses are working, well, it seems to be fine. But we also need to create conditions," Putin told the Council for Strategic Development.
"The business community is working hard and striving to improve efficiency, but it needs to be helped at the administrative level," and even more so in the social sphere. "A lot depends on us here. Methodologies are often designed in such a way that entire social sectors are excluded altogether because of these indicators."
Putin said the government "has agreed to do its part of the work in this regard, and agreed to create competence centers within ministries. The Agriculture Ministry does not have one yet, I believe. Nor do the Finance Ministry, the Ministry of Energy, for some reason," Putin pointed out the gap.
The president also called it egregious that 68% of universities are not under the jurisdiction of the Education and Science Ministry and are generally excluded from the system of evaluations. "I would ask you to pay attention to this. Colleagues from ministries and agencies are sitting here. You're asking for specialized universities to be under your purview. It's not just about having them under our influence, we should work there," the head of state said.