Ilsur Metshin about the Address of the President of the Russian Federation

The address was multifaceted, it lasted twice as long as usual. I heard the main thing that is consonant with my aspirations both as a resident and as a mayor. First of all, the main goal remains the same: increasing the welfare of our population. This requires an effective economy, strong business, clear and fair rules of interaction. The current tasks are set to increase non-energy exports, introduce a system of remote regulation of enterprises in order to avoid a huge number of inspections, reduce mortgage rates, the transition to environmentally friendly technologies.

Second of all, for the first time in 20 years of my work as the mayor, I heard the President's Address that refers to cities as a separate very important subject. Moreover, the development of cities, in fact, has been called the national idea! The President promised to allocate twice as many funds for the program on spatial development of Russia in the coming years.

Together with other mayors at our venues like United Cities and Local Governments, we have talked about this for a long time. By 2050, over 80% of the population will live in cities around the world. We need to think now what kind of environment will be in the cities. We don’t have much left. What is 30 years? We will not notice how they will fly by.

It is important that the President outlined the need to double spending on health care, launching a state program to support not just the life expectancy, but the life quality. We are forming and, thank God, we are developing the prototype of such a program: the social project “Zhiznelub” for pensioners.

All these ideas were thought through. We meet with the population and get feedback. And now what we timidly started to do something and are doing now sounds like the main reference point for the next presidential term.