Meeting with deputy prime ministers on current issues

Agenda: launching of the third stage of modernisation of BAM and Trans-Siberian Railway, the concept for developing auto-tourism in Russia, and the results of nationwide competition of projects aimed at creating a comfortable urban environment.

Mikhail Mishustin's opening remarks

Dmitry Chernyshenko's report on implementing the concept for developing auto-tourism in Russia

Marat Khusnullin's report on the results of the nationwide voting for improvement projects

Excerpts from the transcript:

Mikhail Mishustin: Good afternoon, colleagues.

These days we are marking the 50^th anniversary of the launch of the Baikal-Amur Mainline construction.

I would like to sincerely congratulate all of the veteran BAM builders - engineers, workers, and volunteers. Many of them recently attended a meeting with the President who spoke at length about the importance of this transport corridor. Even today, BAM railway is of key importance for the connectivity across our regions, the development of Siberia and Russia's Far East, and in general, for Russia's economic sovereignty.

The Government has decided to expand major transport corridors, primarily the Eastern Operating Domain, which is essential to strengthening trade ties with friendly countries.

The President highlighted the growing freight traffic along the BAM and Trans-Siberian Railway. This means export earnings and budget revenues, and accordingly, additional resources for addressing social issues.

In my report at the State Duma, I noted that the carrying capacity of this corridor reached 170 million tonnes last year. We plan to increase it by another 100 million tonnes over the next nine years.

For this purpose, we continue to implement the investment project to develop the Baikal-Amur and Trans-Siberian railways.

Under the President's instruction, the Government has approved the third phase of the project until 2035, its total costs exceeding 3.7 trillion roubles.

The project involves building additional tracks, junctions, tunnels, and bridges, including those across the Amur River. Rail connections to seaports will be added, and many stations and platforms will be modernised.

The expansion of the Eastern Operating Domain capacity will create new opportunities for industrial companies, especially in the mining and manufacturing sectors. It will also help to increase freight traffic and reduce overall journey time. Order volumes will increase and new jobs will be created. Areas adjacent to the railways will be improved, too.

The planned changes will improve the quality of life of people in Siberia and the Far East, which is very important.

One more question.

In his Address to the Federal Assembly, the President set a goal to nearly double the domestic tourist flows by the end of the decade, to 140 million people a year.

We have a lot of natural sights, historical and cultural landmarks, and simply nice destinations for family vacations, which are often best reached by driving.

Such travels should be made comfortable and convenient, not only in terms of major motorways, but also when it comes to small access roads to tourist sites. Travelers need access to conveniences such as fuel stations, mobile connectivity, well-equipped car parks, small hotels and motels.

Under the President's instruction, the Government has developed a Concept for Developing Auto-Tourism in Russia, aimed at combining the efforts at different levels of government and business and synchronising the development of the diverse infrastructure I mentioned.

Mr Chernyshenko, I would like to ask you to tell us more about these plans.

: Mr Mishustin,

Auto tourism is one of the cheapest and most popular types of tourism, especially for families. Many remember travelling out of town or to the sea with their parents, which left us with bright impressions.

According to a VTsIOM poll, over a third of Russian citizens made auto trips in the past five years. As many as 49 percent of them say the best feature is the freedom of movement, 27 percent said it helped save money, and 22 percent mentioned the comfort and convenience of auto travel.

The number of domestic trips is growing every year. In 2023, our citizens made 78 million trips or 21 percent more than in 2022, when the figure increased by 15 percent year on year. In short, we see positive dynamics. Auto tourism accounts for a third of these trips.

The contribution of tourism to GDP is growing. It amounted to 2.8 percent last year. We are creating tourism infrastructure to fulfil the President's instruction on increasing the number of trips to 140 million and the share of tourism in GDP to 5 percent by 2030. New spheres of tourism are being created, like auto tourism. The Concept for the Development of Auto Tourism in Russia until 2035, which has been drafted and approved by the Government, is based on a comprehensive approach, which should increase the number of car and bus tours from 27 million to 47 million in 2030.

However, this calls for addressing several key issues, beginning with the development of roadside services, including multifeature areas comprising petrol stations, motels, roadside catering, shops, vehicle maintenance services, children's playgrounds and other comfortable facilities for recreation. It also includes the provision of quality mobile telephony, internet connection, and digital services, as well as the renovation, upgrading and tourist attractions. As we know, our motorways run across scenic countryside, for example, the Chuya Highway (Route R256) or the spiral roads in the southern regions and the North Caucasus. Viewing points will be established on all of them.

The project involves the establishment of tourist information centres, tourism services, such as car rentals, and campsites for comfortable travel by all kinds of transport, from bus and camper vans to cars and bikes.

As a result, we will create a network of accessible national interregional auto tourism routes. The potential number of auto tourists is scheduled to increase from 22 million to 44 million in 2030.

Mr Mishustin, the Economic Development Ministry is working jointly with regional authorities and federal executive bodies to draft a detailed programme for the implementation of this concept. It will be submitted to the Government within the time limits set. However, many regions, in particular, the republics of Karelia, Bashkortostan and Chuvashia, the Primorye Territory, and the Moscow, Leningrad, Vladimir and Tver regions, have already launched their own comprehensive projects.

Our aim is to ensure that auto tourism associates with safety, convenience and the availability of relevant services for every Russian citizen.

Mikhail Mishustin: Thank you, Mr Chernyshenko.

It is a fact that tourism has great potential for multiplying our income. The multiplier effect of the tourism business is around 5, that is, there are five jobs in related sectors per one job in tourism.

This is a major reason for attracting investment from those who build the infrastructure and work in accommodation sectors, as well as from travellers.

It is also extremely important to involve all federal entities in this concept, including the outlying regions of our country, where tourists from large cities and megapolises often want to see the most.

I would like to ask you to personally control the situation.

The next issue on our agenda is regional development.

We continue working to make life more comfortable for the people, both in cities and in rural areas.

The President pointed out in his Address to the Federal Assembly that we should more energetically use the mechanisms that allow the people themselves to decide into which facilities and solutions money should be invested in the first place.

One of such instruments, a vital feedback instrument, is the nationwide vote on improvements, when people can use a special online platform to participate in upgrading of their residential area, like renovating a street or building a public garden, park or children's sportsground. The municipal authorities compile the lists of such public areas based on the opinion of their residents.

We can see that people's interest in using this method for improvement is growing. The number of people taking part in such votes is increasing by several million a year.

Mr Khusnullin, the fourth nationwide vote was tallied yesterday. How many people took part in the vote this year? In what regions were they especially active? Pease, you have the floor.

: Mr Prime Minister,

The fourth national online vote to determine which facilities require improvement concluded on April 30. This vote is part of the Comfortable Urban Environment federal project under the Housing and Urban Environment national project.

We launched the first poll in 2021 and it has become an effective tool for Russians to directly participate in making decisions on improving their cities and towns. As you recall, the President instructed us to increase the share of citizens involved in developing the urban environment to 30 percent. The nationwide poll helps us achieve this goal. and significantly contributes to achieving the national goal of improving the quality of the urban environment by 50 percent by 2030.

Around 5,400 facilities across 1,500 municipal entities have been put up for discussion this year. Within a month and a half, as many as 17.2 million people took part in the poll, surpassing last year's figure by 3 million and setting another record.

It is important to note that residents of the Kherson Region have joined the poll for the first time this year. The four new constituent entities are already involved in the selection of territories for improvement.

Last year, 14.2 million Russians cast their votes, preceded by 10.7 million in 2022 and 9.7 million in 2021.

It is evident that the number of citizens concerned about this matter grows every year. As more citizens get involved, this poll becomes increasingly relevant.

The poll reveals people's priority interests. Russians make their choice in favour of parks, promenades, public gardens, streets, squares, courtyards, and other public spaces that, in their opinion, need improvement before anything else. Regarding the territories that have already been selected, citizens now have the opportunity to choose improvement designs, thus having an impact on the appearance of their home cities and towns.

For people's convenience, we have developed a clear, simple and accessible voting procedure. Citizens aged 14 and older voted at za.gorodsreda.ru using the Gosuslugi. Deciding Together feedback platform, Gosuslugi. Deciding Together poll widgets on their municipalities' websites, and via an app provided by volunteers who help with the voting in public areas of the participating municipalities.

Around 215,000 people have volunteered this year. I want to express my immense gratitude to them for their honest and quality work. About 70 percent of citizens voted with the help of the volunteers.

Residents of the Chechen Republic, the Republic of Tyva, the Sverdlovsk Region, the Stavropol Territory, the Tomsk Region, the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Area and the Republic of Bashkortostan were among the most active voters.

The national online vote is a unique format for residents to express their preferences. Ultimately, this leads to the enhancement of territories. This project has demonstrated excellent results. Following the previous votes, we improved about 4,400 territories as chosen by residents. People can see changes. Moreover, these territories open new opportunities and prospects for small and medium-sized businesses. They stimulate further sustainable development, not only in residential areas but also in entire regions.

I would like to express my gratitude to the President and to Mr Mishustin, for supporting this project. I also want to thank everybody who took part in organising the online vote.

Mikhail Mishustin: Thank you, Mr Khusnullin. This work must certainly continue.

As the President instructed, we will extend another project for the improvement of public spaces, the national contest for comfortable city environment projects in the municipalities of the Far Eastern Federal District, until 2030. At the end of each year, we will select about 50 winners in this macroregion. We will continue to allocate 50,000 to 300,000 roubles for their projects.

People need areas for leisure and children's recreation. Thanks to this contest, there will be more recreation areas even in the smallest and most remote areas with population of just over 5,000 people.

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