"National projects should encourage Russian business"

Russian President Vladimir Putin said that business plays an crucial role in solving Russia's strategic tasks. According to him, business initiative creates jobs, thus increasing salaries and incomes of millions of our citizens.

Speaking at a business forum in Moscow, the head of state noted that the more dynamic and strong companies, both in traditional and emerging industries, we have, the more stable economic growth would be. "And first of all we need it to make the country richer,to improve the quality of life in our country," he said.

In addition, Putin stressed that national projects are designed to provide a breakthrough in Russia's development. "They should encourage Russian business as well," RIA Novosti cited the president as saying.

The professor at the department of the stock market and investments at the Higher School of Economics, Alexander Abramov, speaking to Vestnik Kavkaza, noted that the president's statement made at the Business Russia forum, which is a lobbying organization for medium and small-size businesses, first of all stresses the need for medium business to take part in national projects, not just for large corporations.

"At the same time, it should be understood that the statement is not directly related to the projects, there are only 13 of them, but if we consider the 'Infrastructure' project, then  infrastructure projects require private investment and contractors. Medium business can participate trough contracts and co-investment in such projects as 'Healthcare', 'Demography' and 'Education'. The president’s statement also reflect the fact that, judging by the discussions at this year’s Gaidar Forum, the low level of private business participation in national projects worry their developers, but there is still no radical change in a situation," he explained.

The vice-rector of the Academy of Labour and Social Relations Alexander Safonov told about the most interesting for business national projects. "First of all, this is the 'Digital Economy' national project. As we know, most of the startups which are large, global companies now started with small IT groups (Google, Facebook, Apple), therefore, indeed, creating an intellectual base to improve various kind of technological processes is a big interest for small and medium businesses," he noted in the first place.

"In addition, human capital plays an important role in 'Healthcare' - which means it will have a room for small businesses. In general, national projects are designed in such a way that some are more conducive to the development of small business and others  - of large. In this context, there is a need to create a favorable environment for the cultivation of small and medium-sized companies. Without such a platform for launching a large business, we will not develop our economy. The whole world business history shows the impossibility of serious innovative development without the participation of small and medium-sized businesses," Alexander Safonov concluded.