At the end of his working trip to the Murmansk Region, Russian President Vladimir Putin held a meeting with Governor Andrey Chibis. The head of the region noted that despite the challenges of recent years, including the pandemic and the current sanctions restrictions, the Kola Arctic is showing steady growth in a number of economic indicators.
"If we take a four–year period, then we have a GRP growth of 19.8 percent, and industrial production growth above 10 percent, and investment growth is very significant - 16 percent, and 900 billion rubles have been invested in just four years. One of the projects is an anchor resident of the territory of advanced development of NOVATEK, and we have launched the launch of a gas liquefaction platform," the governor listed.
Andrey Chibis stressed that an important task is to establish joint work with companies operating in the region so that there are no failures in work. And this task is completed successfully.
"Not a single enterprise has stopped, there has been no job cuts. It is clear that there was a certain "shake-up", but, nevertheless, all enterprises are working today and implementing the investment plans that we agreed with these companies. It is important that our key partners, such as PhosAgro, Norilsk Nickel, NOVATEK, in addition to existing investment plans, also fulfill their additional social obligations under specially concluded agreements," the head of the region commented.
The governor outlined the development of small and medium-sized businesses as a separate task. To do this, the system of existing preferences is constantly being improved, depending on the situation: for example, in 2020, taxes for small businesses were reduced six times under the simplified taxation system.
"In 2022, the amount of taxes paid, despite the reduction, exceeded the taxes that we received until 2020. That is, thanks to this benefit, this business began to develop actively, and the results of 2022 [showed] that the number of people employed in medium and small businesses has increased by 8.9 percent – although it is not easy to run a small business in the North, taking into account additional costs," the head of the region noted.
The management team of the Murmansk Region always closely monitors budget revenues and, if additional funds are available, they are spent on necessary social projects. One of them is "Work nearby".
"We try to make sure that people have the opportunity to develop and earn money. We have launched a project that works quite successfully, "Work nearby" – for those who are looking for a permanent job, and for our schoolchildren and students. A very popular story, temporary socially useful work, especially during the vacation period: schoolchildren help and get used to work, earn money, help to improve and put in order our cities and towns," said Andrey Chibis.
Much attention in the Murmansk region is also paid to the improvement and creation of comfortable spaces for residents: public, youth, sports, as well as educational. The head of the region told the President about the current project "Arctic School".
"This year we will already have more than 180 spaces that we have transformed in schools and kindergartens. It is important that the students themselves choose the space and the design project that will be implemented. Then this project gets to the competition, the jury chooses what needs to be done. We have launched a separate similar project for the Primorsky district of the Zaporozhye region, our sponsored district, so that in addition to the roofs that we will repair, modern spaces appear in local schools," Andrei Chibis stressed.
/ Ministry of Information Policy of the Murmansk Region /
Photo: Maxim Blinov, RIA Novosti