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Russian PM announces integration of development institutions into five centers

The cabinet has analyzed the activities of the main 40 working development institutions

Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin Alexander Astafyev/POOL/TASS

Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin

© Alexander Astafyev/POOL/TASS

MOSCOW, November 23. /TASS/. Russia’s government will carry out optimization of development institutions, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said at a meeting with deputy prime ministers on Monday.

"At the instruction of the president, the government will carry out optimization of development institutions to enable them to fully meet the goal of reaching national development targets set by President’s decree," he said.

that were established to solve particular tasks - support of innovations, SMEs, export, regional development, housing construction and industry, PM said, adding that absolutely concrete actions were required from them, which yielded notable results at some point.

"However, new challenges appeared in the past several years that require substantial adjustment of their work and future plans. Our analysis showed that the activities of those institutions is poorly connected with new national development targets," Mishustin noted. Moreover, they lack single management mechanisms and have considerable overlap of functions with federal executive bodies and commercial organizations, he added. "A large investment block will be formed on the basis of VEB.RF, with SME Corporation, Russian Export Center, EXIAR, Rusnano and four funds falling under its management," PM said, adding that among them are the Skolkovo Foundation, the Fund for Assistance to Small Innovative Enterprises, the Fund for Infrastructure and Educational Programs, and Industrial Development Fund.

The government also plans to liquidate eight development institutions, with their functions redistributed among VEB.RF and federal executive authorities, and consolidate a number of such institutions integrating them with other having similar functions. "All that will allow reducing duplicate functions and forming five large development institutions," the prime minister noted, adding that the move will "help making development institutions more efficient and refocus them on achieving national development targets approved by the president’s decree."

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