Government meeting

Agenda: Compensation for cancelled tours to Middle Eastern countries, the national system for confirming the expected delivery of goods, and budgetary allocations for the continuation of the Russian Post modernisation programme.

Mikhail Mishustin's opening remarks:

Good afternoon, colleagues.

During last week's meeting with the Government, the President emphasised, when discussing Middle Eastern countries, that we must do everything in our power to assist our citizens who find themselves in the conflict zone.

Since the end of February, the airspace above ten countries has been closed. These are the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Israel, Iraq, Iran, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia, and Syria. Many travellers have faced the impossibility of leaving these countries. Airlines have organised evacuation flights.

A directive has been signed to compensate individuals for losses incurred under such circumstances, including from the personal liability fund, provided the tour was purchased through a travel company and the trip was scheduled to take place between 28 February and 31 March of this year.

The relevant documents must be prepared by tour operators. Additionally, the deadline for payments to the fund for the first quarter of this year has been postponed by two months - from 15 April to 15 June. This decision has been made by the Government.

We expect this measure to support the industry and assist tens of thousands of our citizens whose trips have been disrupted.

Now, turning to the agenda.

We continue to create conditions for fostering healthy competition in our country. This is one of the most critical tasks in strengthening economic momentum. It contributes to improving the quality of goods, enhancing their consumer properties, and stimulates the introduction of innovations and the refinement of production processes.

Today, we will review draft laws to launch the national system for confirming the expected delivery of goods.

This system will have two key objectives. First, to enhance the transparency of products entering Russia through the Eurasian Economic Union states - a subject we discussed in detail during the previous strategic session. Second, to equalise the competitive opportunities for enterprises that operate transparently and pay customs duties and taxes in full.

Before importing goods into our country, importers will receive a special code for each consignment. To obtain this, they must make a security payment, which businesses can then reclaim after registering the goods and paying taxes.

We expect the State Duma deputies to support these proposals. They will help stimulate positive economic processes, create conditions to reduce the share of so-called grey schemes, and protect consumers from the delivery of substandard or unsafe products.

Moving on to another topic.

The Government places great emphasis on expanding infrastructure, particularly that which enhances connectivity between regions and the state and is essential for the comfortable lives of our citizens.

During the recent report to the State Duma, we discussed in detail the work of Russian Post. This is a backbone, systemically important company. The challenges it faces were highlighted by State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin. This issue was also raised during a meeting with the United Russia parliamentary party.

Pursuant to the President's instruction, we are exploring various tools to support this company. Modernisation is currently underway. As I mentioned to the deputies, despite resource constraints, a decision has been made to allocate 5 billion roubles to continue the relevant programme.

These funds will enable the renovation and upgrading of over 930 post offices and other postal facilities within three years - particularly those located in rural and hard-to-reach areas. More than 150 of these are scheduled for completion by the end of this year.