To think anew, to work inventively
(Speech made by the President of Chuvash
Republic Nikolai Fyodorov in the National Council (Parliament) on December 28,
2005)
Õèñåïëě äåïóòàòñåì, õàêëă åíòåøěìěðñåì!
Dear deputies, dear compatriots,
In some context breaking traditions, I have
decided to make my speech in the National Council and to address the people of
Chuvashia not at the beginning of the year, but literally prior to the new
calendar year. Here the qualitatively new thing is in the fact
that in a number of issues everyone - not only those sitting in this hall, but
literally – every citizen living in the republic, irrespective of gender,
status and other social distinctions, should enter the new year, realizing that
this year should become a stage one in the life of Chuvashia. Because the
forthcoming 2006 is the most significant year for the entire Russian state, it
is the year of the reform of the local self-government system, by and large
called to change consciousness of citizens in understanding their personal
responsibility for everything that surrounds them. For the republic it is the year of the beginning of
implementation of the second stage of the Strategy of socioeconomic development
of Chuvashia till 2010, the year for implementing priority national projects
declared by the President of Russia, the year that will demand concentration of
all our forces and a joint effective work of all levels of the authority and
each inhabitant of Chuvashia – who really love their land and want not
verbally, but performing, let it be small, but practically to help the Native
land. As in the year coming in four days there will be no day for shakedown, I
have come to the conclusion that it is necessary to make the Speech today.
Traditionally, I shall dwell on some results of the expiring year.
2005 was noted by many remarkable events in the life of our republic.
These were celebrating the 60th anniversary of the Great Victory,
completion of a number of not only big, but historically important projects and
facilities of socio-cultural, infrastructural and production purposes, as well
as elections of heads of districts, towns, settlements and deputies of the
qualitatively new local self-government bodies.
Estimating the socioeconomic indices of the expiring
year (January-November), it is necessary to mark relatively high rates of
growth of housing construction (123.3% against 105.9% in Russia), investments
into fixed capital (111.1% against 110.2%), retail trade turnover (116.1%
against 111.8%).
The rates of the growth of the volumes in industrial
production were formed at the all-Russian level. The situation in the agrarian
sector is being stabilized. The index of production in big and medium agricultural
organisations was 106.6%; about 70% of agricultural enterprises operated
profitably.
It is especially necessary to point out the parameters describing
practical positive processes in the life of the inhabitants of Chuvashia: the
growth of real disposable cash incomes of the population was 111% (in Russia –
109%); unemployment decreased by 7.8%. Inflation was less than in Russia (107%
against 110%).
The city of Cheboxary, the town of Kanash, Morgaushskii, Cheboxarskii,
and Yadrinskii districts have achieved the best economic results among towns
and districts of the republic.
Lawmaking has a systemic and scheduled character. This year, the
National Council of Chuvash Republic enacted more than 70 laws directed to development of business activity, solving
high priority social issues and implementation of new principles of local
self-government organisation.
Alexey Leonidovich Kudrin, Minister of finance of Russia,
has characterized Chuvashia as the region having the most transparent system of
financial administration and qualitative management of finances. And according
to the research conducted by the influential “Kommersant.Vlast” magazine,
Chuvashia ranked the fourth in the rating among 89 entities of Russia in the
quality of life, having conceded only to St.-Petersburg, Moscow, and Tatarstan.
First of all, experts estimated not the rate of wages, but such qualitative
parameters as life expectancy, infant mortality, commissioning of per capita
housing, construction of schools, wage arrears, expenditures of the population
for housing and public utility services, and morbidity of the population.
Besides, experts marked that these data reflect not only the current situation,
but prediction of the nearest future as well.
In the Year of parks and gardens, we have together
laid down a new tradition – in spring and in summer to have a day of Tree in
the republic. More than two million trees and shrubberies have already been
planted, more than 500 new parks, squares, avenues and memorable establishments
have been laid out. The practices of the day of tree bear in themselves both
practical, and philosophical meaning - in fact, it is the work on
redevelopment, planting of greenery, protection of environment and ecology, as
well as a holiday of unification, renewal and cleanup.
Strategy of
development:
the first stage
(2003-2005) has been completed
One cannot but be satisfied with the fact that the
system of strategic planning laid in the basis of the activity of the Chuvash
government from the very first days of its work yields tangible results.
Today, I can speak about the successful completion of
the first stage of implementation of the major manifestos in organisation of
our vital activity - the Strategy of socioeconomic development of Chuvash
Republic till 2010 that had been approved by you, dear deputies, by the law as
the Complex programme of socioeconomic development. The goals we had put before
ourselves at this stage have been achieved.
The expected results of 2005 basically correspond to
the aims of the Strategy. The parameters for growth of investments to fixed
capital (2005 estimated to 2002 – 145.8%, according to the plan - 126%), the
volumes of retail commodity turnover (143.5%, according to the plan – 126.5%)
have been considerably overfulfilled, the rates of growth of the gross regional
product (121%, according to the plan – 120.8%) have been maintained. The major
result is steady increase of the standard of living of the population that
corresponds to the aims of the Strategy. There is an advancing growth of cash
incomes and wages of the population in comparison with price rise we planned to
bring the size of wages in 2005 to 3,965 rubles, but, in fact, in
January-November it made more than 5,000 rubles, thus average monthly wages in
2005 compared with 2002 increased 2.1 times (according to the Strategy - 1.6
times). The parameters of the first stage of the Strategy of the socioeconomic
development of the republic have been not only fulfilled, but, mainly,
overfulfilled, with the only exception that not only gives rise to concern, but
demands additional measures. This is an essential underrun in the growth of
agricultural production volumes put in the Strategy (2005 estimated to 2002 -
102.5%, according to the plan – 115.8%). Animal husbandry, as however in the
entire country, being here the most topical problem. That is why the measures
offered by the President of Russia to support animal husbandry hold out not
only hope, but give our leaders, who are responsible for development of this
branch, a chance to mend the situation.
It is important to note that conditions for
implementation of highly effective and socially significant investment
projects, forming growing-points, have been created in the republic. Mechanisms
of the state support of priority investment projects have been worked out.
Nowadays, 133 investment projects totally worth about 30 billion rubles
are being implemented in Chuvashia. The biggest of them are as follows:
development of the territory of the Cheboxary river port, construction of a
biotechnological enterprise in Shumerlinskii district, reconstruction of
biological treatment facilities for the cities of Cheboxary and Novocheboxarsk,
construction of housing for development of hypothecation using the credits
provided by Raiffaisenbank. According to the Agreement signed between the
“Russian railways” and “Promtractor” joint-stock companies and the Cabinet of
Chuvashia capacities for manufacture of perspective models of freight cars are
created in the Kanash car-repair factory.
There are a lot of examples of successful investments into perfection of
production. Introduction of new technologies in the “Cheboxary aggregate works”
Jsc allows to use pig-iron and steel practically of all grades, to increase the
capacities of the factory in discharging hot metal by 40%, to reduce the cost
price and to raise the quality of castings by 25%, to reduce considerably
harmful discharges into the atmosphere of the city. Start of the new German
forming line in the “Promtractor-Promlit” Jsc substantially increases the
output of high-quality moulding, including railway one. At the “Khimprom” Jsc
new technologies have allowed to optimize power consumption, to reduce the
quantity of wastewater, to raise the safety of production, and to increase the
export production by 10%. The investments to the “Cheboxary integrated poultry
farm” Plc promoted introduction of goose- and duck-breeding technology, and in
the long term - development of deep processing of poultry farming products and
entrance to the all-Russian, European and Asian markets.
At the expense of budgetary finances in 2003-2005 we put into service
more than 1.8 million m² of habitation, 17 comprehensive schools, the
Presidential prenatal centre, three outpatient-polyclinic institutions for 550
visits a shift, almost 300 general practitioner (GP) offices, 150 model
libraries, about 6,500 km of gas networks; we gasified about 100,000 houses/
flats. The first stages of the passenger mooring embankment in the Cheboxary
river port, a home for the old and disabled people in the settlement of Atrat,
an educational building of the Chuvash state pedagogical university, a sports
stadium in the settlement of Kugesi, sewage purification works in Yadrin and
Kozlovka, and new water pipelines have been constructed. We have completed the
reconstruction of the Chuvash national museum, the State Russian drama theatre,
railway stations in Cheboxary and Shumerlya, the building of the Republican
centre of social adaptation. Hard surface highways with the total extent of 105
km and a number of other facilities were put into operation.
Realization of the republican target programme “Supply of the population
of Chuvash Republic with qualitative drinking water in 2005-2008” has begun; to
finance it this year, according to my decree, we planned to direct 500 million
rubles from the budget, but we managed to attract more – 524.3 million rubles.
During the first year more than 120 km of water supply systems were put into
operation, a big volume of prospecting and design work was carried out.
In order to fulfill successfully the second stage of the Strategy, and
not to reduce the rates of development and the investment attraction, I will
underline one of the tasks important for business representatives of Chuvashia
– without solving it reputable partners and banks will not deal with many of
you.
To provide the future of our enterprises and further increase of the
potential of the “non-primary” republic, it is vitally important to update
their coming to the capital market in order to attract additional investments
for development. We have already a positive example of the “Promtractor” Jsc
that has sold this year its corporate bonds worth 1.5 billion rubles at the
stock market. But the majority of companies is not ready yet to work in a new
way, because they do not have an effective system of management, there is no
transparency in their financial position, and they do not have efficient
mechanisms for protecting interests of their shareholders, either. A low
quality of corporate management influences extremely negatively on the
investment opportunities of enterprises, i.e. on renewal of production
facilities, output expansion, as well as their competitiveness.
We cannot force our businessmen and entrepreneurs introduce new
principles of management and transparency standards. But, disseminating the
experience gained by the most successful enterprises and fining up the
mechanisms of interaction of state institutions and those of private business
accordingly, we are obliged to create such an environment, where first of all
the owners and the management of an enterprise should understand, and that it
is, moreover, profitable to increase its capitalization; and that it should be
profitable to strive for achievement of the world parameters in labour
productivity, and observance of the rules of the best corporate practice. The
work with special rating agencies, banks, functional financial advisors, and
auditing companies may be effective here.
Both the state bodies responsible for proper estimation of all available
assets of an organisation, and any effective owner wishing to build his/ her
interaction with the state should be interested in transparent and adequate
estimation – both the capital, and returns of this capital.
Egregious is the situation, when, for example, a sewing enterprise
having its shops with the total area of 2,500 m² in the centre of
Cheboxary is estimated at three million rubles. Or when a big plant in
Novocheboxarsk, located on the territory of 50 hectares, estimates all its basic
funds at 70 million rubles. The owners have underestimated their cost
approximately ten times. Everybody knows the current markets prices of real
estate that, by the way, also reflect the potential interest of foreign
investors in the economy of the republic. One should take an advantage of such
an interest today. The Cabinet must take these factors into account in
interacting with private enterprises and the more so in rendering state support
to them.
There should be clear rules of interaction between the authorities and
business. If there is no transparency in the activity of an enterprise, the
state should not help it. If there is no professional and, in a good sense,
aggressive activity in the capital market, one cannot expect a corresponding
support from us. If there is no honest and proper capitalization of assets,
this means that your activity is harmful to both the enterprise, and the
republic. A good and honest name of the enterprise, as that of a good man, is a
huge capital in itself. It creates a significant part of the brand of the
products turned out. Brand image and reputation are the most important and
powerful tools in the competitive market campaign.
At the second stage of implementation of the Strategy, we must expect an
active introduction of enterprises to the capital market, increase of
investments into the economy accompanied by the increase of incomes of both the
population, and the budgets. Chuvashia made the activity of the authorities and
the system of public finances transparent, now it is up to the enterprises to
do the same. They have to make their activity transparent. Our recommendations
and even demands to enter the capital market by means of using the most
up-to-date, accessible and cheap tools, including the issue of corporate
securities and shares by public offering, are to be persevering enough, because
the fact of such an emission itself will make an enterprise become transparent
in accordance with the requirements of the financial market and those of
legislation. And this will not only create qualitatively more favourable
conditions for attraction of investments, including foreign ones –
international banks, investment foundations and, of course, strategic
investors, but it will also contribute to an adequate estimation of the
republican potential for its most effective use and development.
National
projects
One
should pay attention to the fact that the directions and planned results,
specified in the Strategy of socioeconomic development of Chuvashia till 2010,
totally correspond to priority national projects declared by the President of
Russia. Therefore, both the Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Mikhail
Efimovich Fradkov, and the Plenipotentiary representative of the President of
the Russian Federation in the Volga federal district Alexandr Vladimirovich
Konovalov have noted that Chuvashia is in a favourable starting position. Many
arrangements, stipulated by these priority national projects, have already been
realized in Chuvashia for a few years.
For
successful implementation of the national project in the sphere of education
already during the previous years our republic created necessary
organisational-legal conditions, a modern educational-material basis of
schools, has accumulated experience of the innovational activity of educational
institutions and that of the best managerial and educational practices. We
began working at this project from the elaboration and implementation of the
republican programme “New school” in 1996, because we were very much sure that
only creation of the 21st century school might become the main
accelerator of the long-term systemic transformations both in the economy, and
the society. We need education not in general, but accessibility of the
qualitative education for everybody. During these years we restructured 207
schools. 178 basic schools were fitted out with the most up-to-date equipment,
and provided with highly qualified teachers. We bought 198 buses to take more
than 9,000 children to these schools. The created socio-cultural-educational
complexes have decreased a negative attitude of the population to restructuring
and have become centres of spiritual culture of rural inhabitants.
There
is an essential breakthrough in introduction of the effective mechanisms in
using continuously developing educational resources of the Internet and
organisation of on-line network interaction of all participants of the
educational process. Nowadays, one modern computer falls within 28
schoolchildren, this index in Russia being twice less. 85% of schools have an
access to the Internet, 54% of secondary schools have their own sites. The
Republican centre for distance education has been established, corresponding
resource centres function in the towns and districts.
Effective
work with talented children is an important element of the system supporting
the innovational programmes of schools and teachers. This year, more than
82,000 schoolchildren (51%) took part in various intellectual competitions of
all levels. 10 children became winners and prize-winners of all-Russians
Olympiads; Andrey Andreyev, a 10th grader of lyceum No.44, for the
first time won a gold medal at the International natural science Olympiad.
More
than 1,000 presidential scholarships have been established in the republic,
there is also a system of presidential grants for encouragement of the
innovational activity of young teachers, students, and the youth.
Additionally
I signed a decree on support and development of the innovational, creative and
spiritual potential of the educational system. This decree has introduced
annual grants for 30 teachers worth 10,000 rubles each, and for 20 educational
institutions – 200,000 rubles each.
Considerable
work has been done for strengthening the material and technical basis of
schools. There is a Republican union of education trustees, more than half of
schools have trustee councils, and there are managing councils as well. But
they should be created everywhere.
In
2006, it is necessary to complete the transfer of all educational institutions
to financial self-dependence and to ensure implementation of the principle
“money follows the students”. With this aim in mind, local self-government
bodies should carry out the entire complex of the organisational work to
complete transfer of schools, preschool institutions to the normative budget
financing, having simultaneously solved the issues connected with the
introduction of normative standards for maintenance cost, taking into account
energy saving.
It
is necessary to improve the system of labour remuneration of teachers directed
to increase of the quality of education, but not to the number of classes held.
The
issues of upbringing of the younger generation should be more important than
all the rest. We must not only distribute mechanically additional payment for
classroom management, but we should on principle reconsider the methodology of
organisation of upbringing at school, laying stress on its transformation into
the centre for development of spirituality and culture.
We
have to establish a corresponding technological infrastructure, including the
republican educational portal that will unite all levels of educational
institutions and guarantee a free access of the participants of the educational
process to all available Russian and international electronic educational
resources.
* * *
The
measures undertaken during the last years on creation of specialised medical
centres, on reorganisation of the medical service system in the countryside
have taken tangible effects in public health of Chuvashia. After
introduction of the family medicine service, the volumes of outpatient services
have increased considerably, and qualitative medical service became as close as
possible to the residence and work of the rural population.
Modern
medical technologies in cardiosurgery, traumatology, neurosurgery and oncology
have received further development. The second stage of the Presidential
prenatal centre opened in 2005 and furnished with the latest world standard
equipment completed the formation of the unified vertical system for rendering
medical aid to mothers and infants. In Chuvashia, survivability of premature
infants has increased 2.5 times, and birth of infants with inheritable
pathology has decreased by almost third; there has been no case of maternal
mortality, and the parameters of infant and prenatal mortality are the lowest
in Russia.
One
of the basic directions of the priority national project in the field of public
health is the additional prophylactic medical examination of the working
population. Here, we have gained our own experience, too. The health improving
measures in four classes of diseases taken during the last three years have led
to the decrease of the primary invalidism from cardio-vascular diseases by
19.3%, from hypertonic diseases – by 14.6%, respiratory diseases – twice, and
the number of diabetes complications have decreased by 30%. The index of
oncological diseases neglect has decreased 1.5 times. We should be proud of
such tendencies in the healthcare of the population.
In 2006,
the work of the emergency call service will be changed fundamentally, i.e.
besides renewal of the vehicle fleet and medical equipment, this service will
get the dispatcher control (that has no equivalent in Russia) based on the
modern telecommunication technologies. This will allow to unite functionally
the isolated departments of emergency call service.
About
60 million rubles are stipulated for these purposes within the framework of the
World Bank project attracted by us based on the results of the all-Russian
competitive tendering. Besides, now within the framework of the national
project in the sphere of public health, we plan to get ambulances worth more
than 37 million rubles.
The
measures undertaken will allow us during two years to achieve the decrease of
short-term and long-lasting disablement by 10%, as well as the increase of
further life expectancy in Chuvashia from 66.1 till 66.5 years. And if we bear
in mind the fact that the President of Russia Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, who
trusts us and lays his account on us, ordered yesterday in the Kremlin the
Government of the Russian Federation to support the proposition of Chuvash
Republic authorities in construction of the federal centre of high medical
technologies in the capital of Chuvashia, for which all the regions had
competed, our duty is to achieve more in the healthcare of the nation!
* * *
Chuvashia
steadily increases the volumes of housing construction, thus the annual
rates of housing construction are more than 15%. In input of per capita housing
our republic leaves behind all regions of the Volga federal district, including
Tatarstan and Bashkortostan, as well as such rich regions as Moscow and Tyumen
oblast.
Implementing
its own mortgage housing credit lending programmes, Chuvash Republic has been
remaining one of the leaders in the Russian Federation in this sphere already
for some years. In 2004-2005, for development of housing construction for the
first time credit resources of European banks have been attracted under our
guarantees.
Currently,
within the limits of this project two houses with the total floor area of
33,000 m² have been constructed in Novocheboxarsk. There is an aim not
only to attract foreign investments into the development of housing
construction, but to implement the pilot project in construction of
inexpensive, quickly-raised habitation with small flats for social purpose
housing.
This
year, the President of Russia has set the task to increase by 2008 the volume
of housing construction by 30%. We have earlier set the task on growth of
housing construction volumes by 50%, it being almost one million square meters
of habitation a year.
* * *
Support
of agriculture and agricultural commodity producers has been
and remains the basic content of our Strategy of development. Measures to be
implemented in the nearest future for accelerated development of animal
husbandry and for encouragement of the development of small forms of economic
management have been determined in the priority national project “Development of
agricultural complex”. The above-mentioned directions completely correspond not
only to the specific tasks, but to powers of the newly formed local
self-government bodies as well.
Our
republic has prepared the investment projects on development of hog- and meat
cattle breeding that stipulate the purchase of pedigreed animals and modern
technologies, the formation of integrated structures for fodder production, as
well as production and processing of raw materials; particular participants of
the projects have been determined; and organisational work on finalising
credits for their implementation is being conducted. Besides, reconstruction of
dairy cattle and hog breeding farms will be conducted with the attraction of
investment credits worth about 850 million rubles.
To
develop small forms of management in agriculture, a complex of measures is
stipulated on strengthening the material-technical and financial bases of its
small-scale sector by means of creating consumer cooperatives on storage, sale
and processing of products and raw materials, first of all, fruit and
vegetables.
The
duty of local authorities is to support peasants, to help them to adapt to
market conditions. At the local level it is necessary to support considerably
not only collective farms and farming enterprises, but also part-time farming
facilities by organising procurement of agricultural production, assistance in
obtaining of soft seasonal loans, and also for purchase of pedigreed animals,
elite seeds and machinery.
Within the framework of implementation of the national project,
subsidization of interest rates of attracted credits is guaranteed not only for
agricultural enterprises. Crediting part-time farming facilities will begin
already from January 1. Practically each peasant has an opportunity to attract
credit resources up to 300,000 rubles, and the state will subsidize the
interest rate to the extent of full refinancing pay. The duty of the heads of
districts and settlements is to conduct a persevering explanatory and effective
organisational work among the population. It is here that you have new and
additional levers for development of the agroindustrial sector of Chuvashia.
The state is ready to support the agricultural production with additional
financial resources, but it is necessary to organise practical work at the
local level – in this case the budget of your settlement will have an
opportunity for the further development, too. One of the main tasks of local
authorities is to develop small business, to support part-time farm facilities,
and to assist people in development of their business.
I am speaking with full responsibility that I put the task not simply
reaching the control parameters stipulated by the national projects, we are
obliged to expand the frameworks of these projects and to achieve the results
that will allow Chuvashia to be the leader in these spheres.
Implementation of the programme of public service reforming of Chuvash
Republic will be finished in 2005. Today, one can confidently say that we have
managed to form an efficient management system at the level of the republic.
Though, certainly, it is necessary to continue perfection of the management
system and to strengthen the republican authority with highly skilled staff,
especially young specialists.
The work of the republic with the federal authority is at a very worthy
level, too. The main parameter of good interaction of the federation entity and
the federal centre is participation in federal programmes and investment
projects. From this point of view, our republic is always among the popular and
advanced ones. Because we are trusted in. We are trusted in conscientiousness,
qualification; and they specially give accent to the quality of government in
Chuvashia. Repeatedly the state bodies of Chuvash Republic in this part
received a high estimation of the President, Prime Minister of the Russian
Federation and federal ministers.
There may be an effective management system only when all the levels of
the authority - federal, republican and local - work harmoniously.
The local authority inseparable from the state, but independently
obliged to the people and directly connected with the population, is the major
support of sociopolitical stability in the society.
Organisation of the new system of local authority is not so much
administrative, as public and economic necessity. Unfortunately, many of us
have got used to dependency; there is an opinion in our consciousness that
topical issues of a particular settlement are to be solved only in the
district, in Cheboxary or in Moscow. The new system of organisation of local
authority should break up this situation. In fact, the settlement level is
created predicated on the assumption that it is one of the most effective tools
for solving issues of the daily life of people. Therefore, a priority task of
local authority is establishing constant and all-round practical interaction
with citizens and formation their practical responsibility for everything that
takes place on the territory of their settlement. Transfer of the majority of
powers on maintenance and development of the public infrastructure to the local
level should decrease expenditures; and independence of municipal budgets should
stimulate the initiative at the local level and the socioeconomic development
of territories. These tasks are the key ones also for realization of the second
stage of the Strategy of socioeconomic development of the republic.
We have not postponed the introduction of the Federal law “On the
general principles of organisation of the local self-government in the Russian
Federation” consciously. Chuvash Republic has made a thoroughly calculated
choice. The Chuvash proverb says: “Ïĕð êóíà þëíă ěç ïèí
êóíà þëàòü”, i.e.”If you postpone something for one day, it will be left for
three years”.
We have prepared the necessary normative basis for normal functioning of
local self-government bodies in Chuvashia. The National Council and the Cabinet
of Chuvash Republic have done a huge volume of legislative work. We have
elected new local self-government bodies. Heads and representative bodies of
all 317 municipal formations have been elected, including those elected in 291
newly formed rural and town settlements. 569 deputies of districts and town
districts, 3,378 deputies of settlements have received mandates of trust. We
believe that there is a force equalling to more than 4,000 persons – active and
not indifferent to their native land - patriots of Chuvashia! They are an
additional force for creation of effective work of constantly functioning
deputy commissions at the level of settlements on redevelopment and keeping up
the sanitation-and-epidemiologic and ecological norms, on struggle against home
brew and drunkenness, i.e. against poisoning of people and against domestic
crimes. Such commissions should work together with district militia officers,
representatives of district administrations, tax, pollution control and other
supervisory services.
We have also consciously decided to strengthen the role of heads of
municipal formations, transferring to them powers of the head of
administration. All municipalities of the republic have adopted this variant.
Due to the amendments introduced into the Federal law, a head of rural
settlement is simultaneously both the chairman of the Assembly of deputies and
the head of the local administration. As a result, in Chuvash Republic there is
a really responsible authority obliged to and, as a whole, capable to solve
complex issues of local character.
Only few regions have chosen our way, when representative bodies and
heads of all municipal bodies are elected at general elections by direct vote.
The majority of entities of the Russian Federation, including almost all
regions of the Volga federal district, have chosen a mixed model - deputies of
all levels are elected directly and they elect heads from their staff.
In our republic, a nationally elected head of a municipal formation
bears direct personal responsibility to the people who have voted for him/ her.
Much, if not all, today depends on this central figure. By the way, speaking
about the staff, i.e. about the respectable heads of settlements sitting in
this hall. I have ordered the Cabinet to provide the total computerization and
access to the Internet of 291 settlement administrations on terms of
co-financing with district administrations within a month. If there is someone
among you who is incompetent with computer and Internet, you are to learn
during January, using the public access centres and model libraries created
everywhere. Otherwise, you, as a head, will not be able to fulfill your
official functions.
Exercising of some powers of local self-government bodies requires the
presence of not only qualified and skilled specialists in administrations of
settlements, as well as smoothly running mechanisms of interaction, therefore
we have stipulated a transition period, during which the most complex functions
of local self-government bodies, as an exceptional case, can be transferred
from the settlement level to that of a municipal district.
You should all strive for such a situation, when the local
self-government performs its duties mainly at the expense of its own income. We
will demand this and use financial incentives for the heads who are able to
provide this. Those days are gone, when heads of rural administrations,
shifting responsibility, addressed district and republican authorities to solve
the most urgent problems. Now, the heads of settlements and deputies of representative
bodies should work jointly and strive for fulfilling the aims put. Not in vain,
specific income sources are registered in the settlement budgets. One can say
that the new law significantly “cuts” the administrative power and gives more
powers to the self-organisation of the population.
Our republican law stipulates a very wide support of self-government
bodies, including forming the Republican fund of financial support of municipal
districts (town okrugs) for levelling the fiscal capacity of municipal
formations, the Republican fund of financial support of settlements for
levelling the fiscal capacity of settlements, the Republican fund of
compensations – for financing the powers delegated by the state power bodies of
Chuvash Republic, the Republican fund of co-financing of social expenditures –
for encouragement of priority expenditures and support of reforms in the social
sphere, and the Republican fund of municipal development – for support and
encouragement of the public infrastructure development. But you yourselves are
obliged to develop the tax potential of a settlement, and that of a district!
And this is not only organisation of work on tax collection. The main thing
here is an active reward of entrepreneurial initiative, development of producing
units and services.
Small and medium business is a support of the national economy in all
developed countries. And it can be seen at the local level what can and should
be done in this direction. What does the evaluation show? The programmes of
support of small business have been approved only in Kanashskii,
Krasnoarmeiskii, Krasnochetaiskii, Morgaushskii, Tsivilskii, Yantikovskii
districts, and in the city of Cheboxary, and in the town of Shumerlya. During
11 months of 2005, the total support for the sum of 9.3 million rubles from the
republican budget in the form of interest rate subsidies on credits was
obtained by 119 small business enterprises, among which 59% are businessmen of
Cheboxary and Novocheboxarsk. Batyrevskii, Vurnarskii, and Yadrinskii districts
have been developing their taxation base systemically over the course of the
last years. But the remaining municipalities, according to statistics, are
either having a rest, or waiting for manna? But there are examples that are
very simple to implement and effective for the economy of any district. For
example, in Vurnarskii district a half of the municipal order is implemented by
small business enterprises, this allowing to build up the local budget
revenues, because they pay almost all taxes to the district budget.
Small business provides a guaranteed receipt of taxes
in budgets of all levels. By the way, during nine months of 2005, the total sum
of the taxes obtained from small business enterprises increased by 37.7%.
Besides, the parameters of small business development attest to its social role
in the economy, in fact, it creates new workplaces. You should consider small
business as an important factor for effective employment of the population, it
being especially important in the countryside, for increase of legal and common
culture, revival of national crafts, etc.
In spite of the fact that taxation, change and cancelling of local taxes
and receipts of a settlement are powers of municipal bodies, I strongly
recommend to refrain from ill-considered tax experiments. Introduction of new
taxes and receipts at the local level demands a careful economic study.
The important mechanism of financial support of municipal formations
from the republican budget will be the principle of co-financing. In practice
it means that financing of municipal projects from the means of the republican
budget will be mainly carried out on joint launchings. And the more is the
municipal formation capable to inject in the project, the greater can be the
financial participation of the republic. Such principle will allow avoiding a
dependant position of municipal bodies and will serve as stimulus for
development of economic activity and the initiative of local authorities. Once
again I draw the attention of the self-government heads of all levels to the
major principle of our interaction: the support volume from the republican
budget for solving the problems of your territory will directly depend on the
results of your socioeconomic management, i.e. on how you increase the volumes
of the agricultural production, those of housing construction and
entrepreneurship, on how your redevelopment is improving, etc.
The municipal property is an economic basis of local self-government,
and all local self-government bodies should set teeth for its rational and
effective use. It is necessary to solve faster the task of property complexes
transfer from one level of local self-government to another one. Urgent and
laborious work on taking inventory and registration of property rights is required
for this purpose.
I wish to warn the heads of municipal formations against excessive
striving to create municipal unitary enterprises and other similar
organisations. Also I would like to warn against an excessive activity,
calculated improperly on fallout, on sale of municipal property facilities. The
perspective form of property management can be its transfer to a long-term
rent, but only to attested and effective commercial operating organisations and
individual businessmen. Such form will allow to provide management of municipal
property on the basis of market principles, safety of municipal property
facilities, as well as to avoid unwanted costs.
In rural settlements the main resource is land. Preservation of its
fertility, competent and rational use of land is the guarantee of successful
development. In the republic there are abandoned lands, and it is local
self-government bodies that are obliged to create necessary conditions to
cultivate them, bring income to a land user and the budget. Today, we ascertain
an extremely inefficient use of land resources of agricultural designation.
According to their monitoring, the spacing of arable land and pastures in the
republic decreases annually by 500-1,000 hectares because of expansion of
ravines, that is equivalent to closing-down of one large farm. Solving of this
problem is a top-priority task of local self-government bodies.
Another major task of local self-government bodies is the formation of
land cadastre on the basis of the cadastre of Chuvash Republic and registration
of all necessary documents for the right of possession and disposal of
municipal lands.
To regulate the system of granting plots for construction, according to
the Town-planning code, the administrations of municipal districts, city okrugs,
and settlements should form general and situational layouts, develop rules,
techniques, cost indices, as well as inform widely builders, and all population
about it.
Providing transparency in fulfilling the local budget is problem number
one. Each inhabitant of a municipal formation should know on what purpose
people’s money is spent. Discussion of the most important documents at public
hearings with the participation of all interested persons, where everyone has
the right to express his/ her opinion, should be a norm. Fiscal discipline
stipulates not only discussion of projects of the budget and reports on its
execution at public hearings, but also quarterly publication of the execution
course of the local budget.
So, nowadays, the new law gives an impetus to independent activity of
the people living in settlements. But in order to let an initiative appear
nevertheless underneath, at the same settlement level, the citizens should have
at least an idea about the fact that it is necessary to live within one’s
means, as in the family, and to strive for earning, if there is need to solve a
common problem.
The federal law establishes a wide list of issues attributed to the
competence of local self-government bodies of settlements. And it is
comprehensive not only in financial, but also in the organisational part.
I
would like to dwell on some of the issues in greater detail. We, together with
the population, will strictly demand effective solving of these issues from
each head of local self-government.
Redevelopment
of settlements is one of the most important missions of local
self-government in particular. After all, cleanness and order mostly depend not
on money, but on the strength of genuine love for the native land, on respect
of own human dignity. It is necessary to create such conditions that would
provide well-management both around a separate house, and street, as well as
resting places of the population, and territories of enterprises. Each
inhabitant should be proud of his/ her village or town.
When
in 2001 the Decree “On the further development of the public infrastructure in
Chuvash Republic” was approved, the appearance of many localities changed
noticeably. Suffice it to say, our capital Cheboxary and the town of Kanash
became winners of the All-Russia competition “the most developed city of
Russia”. Minister of economic development of the Russian Federation German Gref
during his recent visit to Chuvashia has put Cheboxary on redevelopment
alongside Moscow and St.-Petersburg. This is not only recognition of a federal
public person, but that of the man who has seen and knows much. But we have a
more significant objective - to make the entire territory of Chuvash Republic
an example for Russia.
It
is time to put things in order in streets of small towns, settlements, and
villages. There are almost everywhere a lot of illegally constructed garages
and economic entities, a lot of illegal storage of construction materials on
the lands of general use both in towns, and in villages. Narrowing traffic ways
and operation of heavy tractors in impassability transform streets of
localities into an untrafficable obstacle. Where the authority works, and the
citizens are interested in preservation of streets, traffic is temporarily
limited. Alas, these are only individual facts, but the citizens mainly think
that “an uncle from the district” will come and rake out the rubbish they had
thrown out. Therefore, the heads of newly formed rural and city settlements
have a top-priority task - to clean the streets of settlements from dirt and
rubbish, actively involving all inhabitants in both subbotniks, and public
works stipulated by the federal law.
There
is no need to go far to gain such an experience: competition is annually held
in Morgaushskii district on the best locality and a model individual facility.
Headmen of localities mobilize people for cleaning the territory, streets,
accomplishment of cemeteries, repair of ponds, etc. The results of the
competition are summarised by the district commission. Three best villages and
one best private house from every 19 rural administrations are defined. The
winners get money. A part of the prize-winning sum is allocated, based on the
decision of the Assembly of deputies, to the head of the winning locality. The
issue on how many days a year each adult should work on redevelopment of the
village is solved on gatherings of citizens. Why is this not done in all
districts and towns? Not in vain there is a proverb: “Õàëăõïà âĕðñåí,
õàïõà óçìà ïóëàòü” – “If you blow together, you may open the gate”.
Driving
through many localities of Chuvashia one notices, how much prettier Cheboxary,
Novocheboxarsk, Kanash, Shumerlya, Vurnary, Yadrin, Shemursha, Yalchiki and
many other places have become recently. However, visiting Alikovskii district,
there is a feeling that the time has stopped here. Settlements are not
redeveloped. In The year of parks and gardens practically nothing has been
done! In this respect the village of Alikovo is the most untended district
centre of Chuvashia.
Tsivilskii
district is one of the municipal formations having a significant tax potential
due to the developed transport infrastructure, close position to the capital of
the republic, and presence of steadily functioning enterprises. On its
territory there are two research institutes engaged in serious elaboration in
the field of agricultural development, but both agriculture, and economy lag
behind. Why is it so?
Tsivilsk is located in a beautiful place on the crossroads of federal
highways, where thousands of people pass through daily, and what do they see?
Dirt, rubbish, and ramshackled fences. What kind of investor will choose to
invest in such a district? At the same time both the head of the district, and
that of the town of Tsivilsk are doing quite decently, regularly receiving
salary and premiums from the budget, but performing their direct official
duties very poorly.
But
the head of Shemurshinskii district has organised the work of institutions,
enterprises, organisations and all inhabitants of the district centre in such a
way that weekly subbotniks on cleaning the territory became a standard practice
in the life of Shemursha inhabitants. As a result, during the last years the
district centre continues smartening up, and I can term it the cleanest
district centre of Chuvashia. The experience gained by the territorial public
self-management bodies of the city of Novocheboxarsk and street committees of
the town of Kanash are noteworthy.
In Chuvashia, one always estimated business qualities of a person on the
condition of his personal household - if the house is sightly, there is a kempt
garden, a clean house territory, it means that a respectworthy owner lives here
and that one can deal with him. The same rule is in force in relation of any
settlement. A reference point here is Chuvashia itself - being a grant region
of Russia, due to many initiatives, as well as to active participation in
implementing pilot projects, we have achieved a high credit rating.
International financial institutions, without participation of the
federal centre, are ready to lend money to us, can secure, and act as
guarantors. Yes, we are not rich for the moment, but we are well-managed,
clean, fair, transparent, therefore we are attractive for development of
business and getting investments – this is one of the most important rules of
success for all of us. Therefore, now it is necessary for both heads and
deputies, and everyone to transfer this valuable experience gained by the
republic to the level of all municipal formations.
The
most complex for today remains the problem of roads inside localities.
Now, maintenance and construction of roads and engineering constructions in
localities come within the terms of locality reference. Here there are problems
of maintenance of the traffic ways of streets and roads leading to the federal,
republican and district highways, as well as those connecting the residential
streets with industrial facilities, and recreational places. Thus, at the first
stage it is unessential to make asphalt covering, it is quite comprehensible to
use pitch-grouted macadam, and sometimes it is enough to lift a road cloth. And
self-government bodies should strictly control movement of vehicles along traffic
ways of streets and inner-settlement roads depending on weather and the season.
Certainly, without the assistance rendered by the district or the
republic, we cannot cardinally solve the problem of roads, therefore we are
ready to unite our efforts and, first of all, with those heads of settlements
who are able to organise the inhabitants for it and to define their share of
financial participation. It is possible both at the level of districts, by
corresponding agreements, and at the level of the republic, by directing the
investments being defined at competitions with the conditions of co-financing
and participation of the inhabitants of settlements.
In the construction branch we have set an ambitious objective for
ourselves - to step up housing construction and to bring the volumes of
habitation commissioning to one million square meters a year. Without an active
participation of local self-government bodies it will be difficult to achieve
the desirable result. They are obliged to create conditions for housing
construction, providing development of general plans for territory development,
allotment of land plots, development of the municipal infrastructure; they
should involve reliable investors and builders, stimulate purchase of flats by
means of mortgage housing loans, as well as construction of individual houses.
The law assigns to local self-government bodies of towns and settlements
the duty both on the organisation of record maintenance, and on providing the
needy citizens, living in towns and settlements and requiring improvement of
housing, with premises. Here it is necessary for us to think over the
organisation, including financing of the construction of houses of the
municipal housing stock, flats that should be provided under the contracts of
social hiring. These problems are not simple, we need a lot of means, and the
success of a particular city, district, and settlement will depend to a great
extent on the activity of local heads and deputies on the development of the
territory. That includes creation of investment appeal, and presence of
transparent procedures on official registration of the documents for granting
land plots and licenses for construction, and the control over activity of
builders and contractors, and a large-scale work on
raising public awareness.
Under
the new federal law, the quality of rendering of the entire complex of
housing-and-municipal services (from heating services to household waste
disposal and organisation of street illumination) is now a parameter of
adequacy or inadequacy of local authorities.
The
branch of housing-and-municipal services experiences main recesses, and it is
the local self-government bodies, as a level of public authority, that are
responsible for the quality of granting these services, and for creation of
comfortable residing for inhabitants.
In
2006, our country passes to new forms of management in granting of services in
blocks of flats by managing companies, and the competent and economically
feasible approach to solving this problem is the task of local self-government
bodies. Here it is necessary to encourage the enterprise initiative, to
transform the enterprises of the housing-and-municipal complex into joint-stock
companies, having divided the functions of the customer and those of the contractor
of granting services, and to create competitive conditions for granting these
services.
I’d
like to draw attention to the necessity of a measured and competent approach to
formation of the tariffs for housing-and-municipal services in municipal
formations. It is necessary to find in each particular case a balance between
problems in prevention of collapse of the enterprises of housing-and-municipal
services and financial opportunities of town and settlement inhabitants. This
issue is vital for any territory and it does not endure populism and
irresponsibility.
There
are a lot of serious problems in operation of municipal engineering networks
and housing fund in settlements, where it is economically unprofitable to
create an adequate enterprise of housing-and-municipal services. In this case
it is necessary to choose the way of cooperation with several settlements.
We
have started realization of the republican target programme on providing the
inhabitants of Chuvashia with qualitative drinking water, having allocated
significant means from the budget - more than 500 million rubles this year and
more than one billion in the next. We have initiatively put this task for the
republican level – to bring qualitative water to consumers at the expense of the
republican budget, and the water supply systems should receive a zealous owner
in the name of municipality.
Organisation
of illumination of streets is the power of local self-government bodies
directly specified in the law. There are norms of illumination established by
construction and sanitary rules specified legally. Please, keep in mind that it
is a more important and fundamental issue, than many people used to think of.
Modern street illumination of settlements is important not only from the point of
view of convenience for the inhabitants of settlements and their safety, but it
also creates good mood. I am not speaking about the influence of celebratory
illumination that can and must appear in all localities. You are obliged to
know that there, where illumination of facades of public buildings and offices
is effectively used, and trees are decorated with garlands, it is not only
pleasant to walk. This improves mood of the people, and this affects positively
the criminogenic situation, labour productivity. And it also creates an
investment appeal of a town, a district and a settlement that is, in turn, a
basis for development of self-government.
Organisation
of transport service for the population in towns, districts and settlements,
creation of conditions for providing the inhabitants with services of
communication, public catering, trade and consumer services, as well as
organisation of ritual services refer to the issues of local character.
To
solve them, the local self-government bodies should aspire to create healthy
competition and provide maximum quality of the services rendered at their
minimal cost; it is necessary to support enterprise initiative in this sphere,
as not only issues of the public infrastructure of settlements are solved here,
but additional incomes of the local budget are formed, too.
I
would put the maintenance of urban and rural cemeteries to the separate moral
height. You are not much of a catch, dear heads of towns and settlements,
deputies, if you are not capable to keep them clean and well-tended. I am
asking the Cabinet to take this issue under control as one of the essential
criteria to estimate the work of the head and deputies at allocation of
investments to towns and settlements from the republican budget.
Development
of physical culture and sports, organisation of leisure and public recreation
of the inhabitants of localities is the task to
be solved effectively at the municipal level. This work demands popularisation
of a healthy way of living. Our aim is an active involvement of citizens,
especially the youth, in mass physical culture and sports. It is necessary to
develop sports traditions, but there are also new examples – one can recollect
the mass scale of the “Cross-country of nations” and “Ski track of Russia”
running held in Chuvashia in 2004 and 2005. Tens of thousands of
non-professionals took part in these competitions.
The
cultural-mass work should revive the practice of universally held rural
“Akatuis” - Days of villages. Not only inhabitants of settlements, but also
guests and natives of these districts take part in these holidays. Agricultural
workers, family dynasties are honoured; the best people in various fields are
defined at these holidays. Such Days should become a symbol of unity of
inhabitants, an action directed to the development of historical traditions and
patriotic education of the youth. A direct duty of local self-government bodies
is an active organisation of such festivals.
Favourable
living conditions of citizens stipulate a duty of local self-government bodies on
protection of the population against extreme situations of natural and man-made
character. Such situations can appear at any moment. Thus, because of
negligence from the part of republican and local power bodies, irresponsibility
of the heads of agricultural enterprises, and official failure of the federal
supervisory and environmental bodies, we have an inadmissible situation with
the maintenance of about 900 animal burials located on the territory of the
districts. Storage places of about hundred of tonnes of pesticides inapplicable
and prohibited to be used long ago, as well as an unknown number of
agricultural chemicals are in the same bad condition. The Cabinet should,
without delay, gather all official decision-makers and take a complex of
measures to prevent an emergency.
Under
the federal law, powers on providing primary measures of fire safety and
realization of measures in civil defense have been transferred to the level of
settlements. Until “red cock pecks”, nobody thinks of the necessity to observe
fire safety. Therefore, here much depends on the head of a settlement. Will he
manage to convince the population to observe the rules, to be insured, to be
organised and operate quickly in case of emergency, to provide arrival of
firemen and fire-fighting vehicles? Once again I draw the attention to the fact
that, under the law, it is the head of a municipal formation who is officially
responsible for solving this problem.
Providing
safe conditions for citizens is a many-sided problem demanding injection of a
certain amount of money from the local budget. The way how to solve this
problem is also in a more dynamic activity of the population – by means of
participation in voluntary people’s guards, making decisions on attraction of
means from the self-taxation of citizens, eradication of an indifferent
attitude to violators of norms and rules, use of opportunities in cooperation
of efforts of several settlements and even districts under agreements. “Òûòìà ïěëñåí ñàõàë òà ïåðåêåòëě ïóëàòü”, the Chuvash say. - “If one can use properly,
even a small quantity will last for a long time”. This proverb is for us. But
another one is also timely - “No pains, no gains”. That is
why in those settlements where there is no creativeness, no activity, and no
initiative - there will not be due results, either.
* * *
Finishing
the talk about the mission assigned to the heads sitting in this hall, and a
big army of deputies elected, I would like to add the following. I believe that
it is not needless to stress that the administrative reform and the reform of
the local self-government in Russia, besides stricter distribution of the
responsibility between all levels of power in the country, introduce new
concepts in our state. On the one hand, these concepts are of economic
character, but, on the other hand, they must change the political attitudes to
the power as such. Everything, I have been talking about, is, in essence, a big
work classified as rendering services to the population in the modern
federal legislation already in accordance with international standards. And the
quality of services rendered becomes the main thing in the work of not only
federal and regional bodies, but in the work of a municipal government as well.
As
Russia is entering the world economy, is developing market institutes, is
strengthening its economic and political competition, the entire system of
management is changing principally. I have already told you how our economic
entities should become transparent under new conditions, in order to develop.
But today there is already a new notion – “municipal management”. Quality
management based on the ISO-9000 standards, the so-called benchmarking, is one
of new technologies of modern management that is successfully applied at the
municipal level.
In
1991, Great Britain published the Charter of a citizen that includes a lot of
factors and indices of the quality of fulfilling their functions by local power
bodies in servicing clients, i.e. citizens. When this charter is used in the
context of the new model of the regional and municipal management, it gives a
basis for construction of corresponding service standards, as well as for
estimation of the activity carried out by the local power bodies. That is why
the municipal services of developed countries have been drastically changed.
The process of perception of new management technologies takes place there;
their officers are busy with reduction of expenses, increase of efficiency;
they have started to take into account environmental changes and increasing
demands of consumers for the services of municipal structures.
In
Russia, this tendency is gaining momentum, because the system of state and
municipal government is transformed from the command-and-control methods into
the economic and socio-psychological ones. And any public estimations, ratings,
and public tenders make the process of the regional and municipal government
more transparent and more effective. This, on the one hand, may serve as an obstacle
against corruption and bureaucracy and, on the other hand, can create an
investment-appeal image of the territory of a municipal formation.
Dear
deputies, dear compatriots,
Many people in our country used to blame in their troubles and
misfortunes anybody, but not themselves. But the objective reality, and the
life itself prove that the result we have is the result of our own ideas, acts,
our actions and inaction, it is the result of observance and non-observance of
the main panhuman precepts.
We mark with bitterness that our society today is sick of the phenomena
that our people did not have earlier. These are children abandoned by their
dishonest parents, homeless children, children-orphans who did not find a place
by their natives and relatives. At all times, in the most difficult time
kinsfolk, relatives or even non-relatives, as we used to say earlier – the
entire community, took on responsibilities for support and education of
disadvantaged children. But what do we do today to stop this misfortune, this
pain? I am not speaking about the state in this case; I am speaking about the
society, about all citizens – about their indifference or participation in
someone else’s fate, so much the fate of a small man. Thank God, we have
positive examples, too. The Ivanovs - Valery Valentinovich and Liliya
Stepanovna from Tsivilsk, having three children, have adopted three more
children. Such a family is an example of mercy and kindness, high spirituality,
an example of genuine civil service.
Despite of the fact that this topic is not included in
the articles of the law on local self-government, I am convinced that, to a
large extent, spirituality and civic consciousness, and the fundamentals of the
civil society are formed in those small public entities and territories, a kind
of mini-civilisations, - new institutes called self-governed settlements.
Spirituality is the basis for accumulation of strength and power of people,
i.e. the basis for its worthy future. Implementation of our historic plans and
projects requires not only intensive working, but very deep creative and
non-trivial decisions. In order to let the people understand and adopt them, so
that they bring success to the entire republic, we need a fundamental, strong
basis, this being the best traditions and abutments of people, its internal
self-organising and invincible moral and spiritual force. That is why, after
long and painful doubts over the destiny of people of Chuvashia, I have decided
to declare the new 2006 as the Year of Spiritual enlightenment, and I signed a
corresponding decree today.
I do hope that the topic, raised by us in the
consciousness of the inhabitants of the republic in the Year of the youth and
healthy way of living, the topic of preservation and development of culture,
will be more actively developed in a number of state, municipal and public
projects in the following year. I am speaking about Culture written with a
capital letter, about Culture in the widest sense – culture of behaviour and
speech, culture of the quality of commodities produced by our business, about
culture of everyday life and culture of meals, about culture of preservation of
health and environment, about political culture and culture of mentality, on
what everything initially depends in the life of a human being!
It is impossible to achieve advancement materially
without a significant advancement in transformation of mentality, without
preservation and growth of spirituality in people, without their spiritual
enlightenment! Such a conclusion was made by the best people of our planet,
denouncing even collapse of modern civilisation, if the humanity does not
recollect itself. Maybe, an individual man of genius develops progress, but it
is quite explicit that civilisation is preserved only by collective efforts.
Evaluating the socioeconomic development of Russia, the majority of researchers
call the technocratic approach pardonably as the main reason of failures and
mistakes. A mechanic transfer of even the best norms and practices of developed
democratic countries into the sociocultural realities of Russia did not have
the same effect as in the West. And, moreover, in the opinion of experts, this
ill-being was caused not so much by economic, as moral ruin. The distemper
touched the main thing – the spirit of the Russian people. The demolition of
the spiritual basis of the society and the years-long uncertainty turned into
the tool of destruction.
But I would like to stress that even a high level of
living under the conditions of the lack of spirituality does not bring
happiness, what is more, it puts both a human being, and civilisation to the
brink of catastrophe. The same West shows us: where the Soul and the Morals are
forgotten in the chase for mercantile material well-being, there is an end of
stability and material prosperity.
Chuvashia is both historically, and geographically,
and ethnically located at the junction of civilisations. Improving the level of
the material life of our citizens, we must realize that, after all, the main
thing and the basis of our happiness and harmony is spirituality. Only the
strength of our spirituality will preserve our ethnos, our people, protect its
natural cradle, provide sound offsprings for the future. I would like to remind
all who gathered here that the word “respublika” translated from the Latin
language means “public affair”. And, as my people say, “Ìèð õěcěð ïóëìàñòü”
– The society cannot be sterile. If all of us who live in our small republic,
feel personal and collective responsibility for everything that takes place
here (by the way, development of a genuine local self-government is essentially
directed to achievement of such a result), then we do not only have hope, but a
very good chance to guarantee both for ourselves, and our children and
grandchildren a worthy future.
Thank you for your attention.
(Ñ) Translated from Russian by Vladimir
Shashkov, Luiza Mikhailova and Inna Dolgushina on January 16, 2006.