Address by Oksana Kozlovskaya at the 8th Session
of the Legislative Duma of Tomsk Oblast(April 26, 2012)
The Duma Speaker opened her address with news of international scale: In April, Skolkovo Foundation and Expert RA Rating Agency published a study of innovation centers around the world.
“Tomsk was included in Top-35 of the most effective innovation centers along with the Silicon Valley, Cambridge, Bangalore, and other world famous science and technology parks. Experts from more than 50 innovation centers around the world answered the questions on about a thousand of places of the kind. Tomsk was the
only location representing Russia.
This recognition is very important for Tomsk. It indicates that the region had chosen a right development path and taken a right decision to create a world class center of education, research, and innovations.
It took us 10 years to win this recognition. In the language of business, this adds significant value to the region’s image and increases the region’s recognition and attractiveness for investors looking for possibilities in the areas such as education and high technologies. To keep this leadership we must be proactive. The bar has been raised and we now must consistently work on improving the quality of our human resources, updating the social policy of the region, developing the social sphere, and raising business to new levels of social responsibility. I am sure, you all agree that high development standards of what we call “life environment” is an essential component of the life of the modern individual.”
The Duma will be considering the Social Code of Tomsk Oblast soon. The Social Code is a collection of more than 30 regional framework laws on social commitments in the budget. The Social Code is only the first step towards a fundamentally new social policy which will be based on the Agreement on Public Accord.
The majority of the modern population has developed fundamentally new social demands. The people – the middle class which has exceeded 20% of the population in Russia – become more and more frustrated about the quality and availability of social services.
The middle class is setting high social standards in education, housing, incomes, financial culture, etc. which are gradually adopted by the entire society.
There are three key areas of work on the current agenda:
1. Target orientation of social assistance actions
2. Develop business activity in the social sphere
3. More socially responsible business
Oksana Kozlovskaya outlined the key messages of her address:
– Launch public discussions of the Agreement on Public Accord which will become the basis of the long-term development strategy for the social sphere of Tomsk Oblast
– Launch the collaborative work of the government, business, and people in the Oblast
About the agenda
1. Report of the Ombudsman for Human Rights of Tomsk Oblast. That is a fundamentally new chapter in the history of the region and it requires a very serious approach.
2. Amendments to the law on possibilities for private farmers to purchase agricultural machinery and equipment.
3. Information on public officials’ incomes and the status of the deputies’ income monitoring commission. This has been a subject of active discussions in the society lately.
During “A Governor’s Hour” the head of Rospotrebnadzor’s Regional Office will report on the performance of the regulatory bodies that supervise the safety of food production facilities and quality of food products.
There are 40 items on the Duma’s agenda today.
Closing her speech, Oksana Kozlovskaya invited the deputies to observe a minute of silence in tribute to the memory of the people who took part in the liquidation of the consequences of the Chernobyl disaster on April 26, 1986. In Tomsk Oblast, there are 1,347 people directly affected by the disaster and 187 people have already died.
