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The Legislative Duma of Tomsk Oblast
Brief outline of the speech of Boris Maltsev,
Speaker of the Tomsk Oblast State Duma, at the XXXVI Duma Session The Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games have been making the headlines in the media, internet topics and politicians’ speeches. Unfortunately, these Olympic Games were frustrating rather than encouraging as they used to be before. The achievements of the Russian athletes exceeded even the most pessimistic expectations. The Russians are trying to understand the causes of poor performance of our athletes at the 2010 Olympic Games and sometimes come to the most absurd conclusions. I hope that we are able to learn from this experience.
And it is obvious now that all spheres of our life need modernization. National sport today is a vivid depiction of the political and economic reality in the country. For that reason one of the most important events in Russia and indeed a landmark event for Tomsk was the session of the Commission for Modernization and Technological Development of the Russian Economy presided by the President Dmitry Medvedev. The fact that Tomsk was chosen as the venue for this session means that the Russian government and business elite recognize Tomsk as a city with good potential in the field of innovations. We have universities and research institutes; we have successful innovative companies and a technical innovation zone. Just one small thing is lacking: develop this potential with the money of the big business. This is why Dmitry Medvedev came to Tomsk; and the Governor Viktor Kress is now in Moscow for the same purpose.
Of course the visit of the Russian President to Tomsk is a very important political and historical event. Let us recall the 200th anniversary of Tomsk Guberniya or Tomsk Oblast. Had we ever enjoyed a visit of the Tsar or the General Secretary of the CPSU? And now over a decade – two Russian Presidents came to our region. As for this year – it brought to Tomsk not only the President but also Vice Prime Ministers, Ministers and the largest businessmen in Russia and in the world. For two centuries nothing like this had happen in Tomsk Oblast, and not likely to happen within the next couple of centuries. The Tomsk authorities, scientists, researchers and business people are now facing grand challenges. Development of innovations requires new buildings for universities and other educational institutions, creation of business incubators and enhancement of the technical and innovation zone. We are already working hard on it and we will continue working with our best efforts. However, the moment will come when the investments return. Today, even if the best R&D product cannot be sold, it should be cited. Not only within the country but everywhere in the world. Do any of our research institutes have a relevant program or at least an action plan to accomplish such a task?
The second step at a new stage of development is creation of new technologies, new globally competitive products. And here we have to agree with the Russian Minister of Finance Aleksey Kudrin that in comparison with other countries we do not invest much into fundamental science but even that little money do not return, those investments have minimum efficiency.
I wish we did not stick so faithfully to the popular Tomsk mottos “we have more students, PhDs, doctors and associated professors than anyone”. I do not intend to offend those who seek inspiration in the statements of our grandeur.
We were praised by the national government and at the same time they set new tasks and new mottos for the region such as “Tomsk has the most patented inventions per 1 researcher. Tomsk has the most enterprises with a labor capacity per person 50,000 USD annually. Each year at least 4-5 inventions in Tomsk turn into large-scale production.” To achieve those goals we will have to commercialize the innovations and synthesize research efforts, business operations, and the federal and regional budgets. A good example of commercialization was shown by OOO Ze Poly Tomsk; their first fully implemented project was a fluoride technology to obtain solar silicon. The Taiwan business has invested 500m USD. And the manufacturing facility to be constructed will give 8 times bigger return.
That was an example of the 4-5 facilities that we should create annually. Finally, we should upgrade our biggest industrial facilities such as the Siberian Chemical Plant, Tomsk Petrochemical Plant, OAO Sibelectromotor, OAO Manotom manufacturing pressure instruments, etc. Tomsk Electromechanical Plant was the first to rebuild its facilities and we should ensure that its experience is spread throughout the region. The whole Russia dreams of entering global markets with high-tech civil products, and we, Tomsk citizens, can, and must, make this dream come true.
… still, crowds of Tomsk Oblast citizens are poor. Various allowances – for paying bills, transport fares, buying medicines, etc. – are currently paid to 280,000 people. To my mind, those people are poor. In 2004 we together adopted the Poverty Management Strategy for Tomsk Oblast. Then, in 2008, there was the Welfare Concept for Tomsk Oblast until2010. But despite all our efforts poverty remains. We, actually, made some progress: official data says that in 2006 poverty in the region was 14.6% and by 2009 13.9%, which meant that almost 7,000 people had risen above the poverty line. However, today 151,000 people still are among the poor. Those are people with incomes below the cost of living.
But we should not be upset. Even in the USA with their reputation as the richest country in the world, the social progress is not so encouraging: 47 million people in the US today are not covered with health insurance and hardly have access to basic health care.
Any company, be it large, medium or small, needs money. Money in our region, same as in the whole world, is controlled by banks. And banks have set the rules that protect the rich. Everything is for the rich – credit cards, big and small loans, hundreds of financial products which make life easier for the rich; and poor people never have access there. In Russia (and in Tomsk Oblast as well) 60% of the population do not have bank deposits, do not interact with banks at all. For banks those 60% do not exist. And what should do dozens of thousands of people who do not have a modest car, well, forget the car, those who do not even have a dwelling? What about dozens of thousands of Tomsk citizens, men, women, children whose basic needs are not satisfied? How can we clear the way to the economy of Tomsk for that part of our population and make them competitive at the free market?
Poverty exists only because it is allowed to exist. As I said earlier, the traditional banking system is only interested in the clients with money. Many people in Tomsk Oblast do not have access to financial resources and have to live in need. Why do not banks give loans to poor people? Because poor people are not creditworthy, they cannot offer a security, they do not have a credit record and many are not even able to provide all the required documentation. Loans to such people are against all banking rules, rules that bankers have set, not the society. In fact, the right for a loan should be one of the human rights, in the same way as the right to life. It is absolutely inefficient to manage poverty with budget allowances only.
But are banks able to serve the mankind at all? It was not a coincidence that a whole delegation of the world’s largest banks came to Davos to defend their interests and shield themselves against the statements such as the French President Nicolas Sarcozy made speaking about the global financial crisis, “... everything was given to financial capital, everything, and almost nothing to labor... how can we make the economy again serve the mankind?”
To get rid of poverty we must remove the institutional barriers that we ourselves put around the poor. We should make the banks cancel the absurd rules and laws which treat poor people as nobodies.
The poverty management strategies, programs and laws currently in force in the region are not able to cope with that. That is why we need drastic amendments to the federal and regional laws and plans; we also need to review membership of the committee who was assigned that task. We must pursue a new anti-poverty paradigm – from budget charity to new economic environment intended to make life easier for the poor.
On the agenda
Unfortunately, I have to acknowledge once again that the agenda of the session is not once again groundbreaking. We are obviously in the crisis. We are obviously even more handicapped in our legislative activity by the Federation. But we must not surrender without a fight! In our legislative activity we must always seek answer to the questions: In what way do our Oblast laws improve the living standards of the population? How do they protect right and legitimate interests of our citizens?
And in the meantime the most ‘interesting’ items on the agenda are questions drawn up for ‘A Governor’s Hour’ about the forthcoming unprecedented flood which has already scared everyone, and the review of critical comments and proposals voiced by the deputies at the Duma sessions.
I appeal first to myself and then to the Duma Committees and the Oblast Administration to give it all a serious thought.
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