Over 50 measures to boost business activity in Russia unfulfilled, PM says

(Interfax – MOSCOW, September 23, 2013) Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev criticized the pace at which the road maps to increase business and investment activity in Russia are being implemented, as nearly half of their measures have not been carried out on time.

“We can’t in any case be happy with the pace of implementation of these road maps. Of the 173 measures for which the deadlines have arrived, about half have been carried out, about 40 are being carried out and 52 have not been carried out, which is certainly bad,” Medvedev said at a cabinet meeting on Monday.

He said “this means that not only agencies are somehow not positioning themselves or working badly, but also that some instruments are not working or are too complicated.”

“They need to be brought in line with realities,” Medvedev said. He said the road maps, even though they were drawn up with input from businesses, are “not dogma and there should constantly be a mechanism for updating them.”

The Economic Development Ministry and Agency for Strategic Initiatives should constantly be doing such monitoring, Medvedev said.

He recalled that nine road maps with a total of 620 measures were developed under Russia’s National Entrepreneurial Initiative.

“Recall that the content of these maps was formulated by businesses themselves, in which lies their particular value. And the assessment of the results of their implementation should be based on the views of the business community,” Medvedev said, adding that “very often businesses and the government see the effect of made decisions differently.”