Current issues of rural areas and agglomerations development were discussed at the Exposition

During the first All-Russian Forum "Village Workers" at the RUSSIA EXPO, a discussion was held on the topic "Current Issues of Development of Rural Areas and Rural Agglomerations". The event was organized by the First Deputy Chairman of the Federation Council Committee on Agrarian and Food Policy and Environmental Management Sergei Mitin.

The discussion was attended by First Deputy Chairman of the Federation Council Andrei Yatskin, Chairman of the Federation Council Committee on Agrarian and Food Policy and Nature Management Alexander Dvoinikh, senators of the Russian Federation, representatives of the Ministry of Agriculture of the Russian Federation, federal ministries and departments, subjects of the Federation, industry community.

As Andrei Yatskin noted, within the framework of the discussion platform it is important to debate and evaluate what has been done and what remains to be done in this area. According to him, the state program "Integrated Development of Rural Areas" is one of the main tools for solving urgent problems of rural development. First of all, it is the renewal of transport and engineering infrastructure, promotion of employment, providing people with affordable and comfortable housing. When considering the federal budget for the three-year period, parliamentarians managed to increase the financing of the state program. From 2025, the reintegrated regions will be included in the program.

The First Deputy Speaker of the FC reminded that within the framework of the meeting of the Council of Legislators under the Federal Assembly the implementation of the state program was considered in detail. The program shows good results. It is necessary to think about improving its tools so that they fully correspond to the realities and interests of the regions, the parliamentarian said.

According to Andrei Yatskin, one of the most acute problems is the outflow of population from villages. In order to combat the negative migration trend, it is necessary to reduce the gap between the quality of life in the city and in the countryside.

"The position of the Chamber of Regions is that the development of urban agglomerations should take place without prejudice to the social and economic situation of rural areas. This should be taken into account when developing the Spatial Development Strategy," the legislator emphasized.

Andrei Yatskin drew attention to the fact that it is necessary to create conditions to increase the attractiveness of rural settlements for business, to preserve and increase human capital in them in order to ensure sustainable economic growth. This has a direct impact on the supply of personnel for the agro-industrial complex and social sphere of the village. In order to comprehensively address these issues, an important initiative is being implemented to develop anchor settlements and adjacent territories, which together form rural agglomerations, said the First Vice-Speaker of the FC.

Alexander Dvoinikh noted that more than 600 representatives of all regions of the country gathered at the forum. He emphasized that the current state policy is aimed not only at supporting all sectors of agribusiness, but also at creating conditions to ensure a stable increase in the quality and standard of living of the rural population: "It is very important to overcome the infrastructural gap between urban agglomerations and rural areas. It is important to make life in rural areas attractive".

According to the senator, these problems can only be solved comprehensively, including under the State Program "Integrated Development of Rural Areas".

Among the priority tasks of the current year the parliamentarian pointed out the need for legislative regulation of a number of issues: project financing of professional contracting organizations in private house building, clarification of the procedure for carrying out activities in the sphere of rural and wine tourism, regulation of relations in the sphere of creation, maintenance and operation of forest roads, ensuring the availability of medicines for citizens living in rural settlements, targeted allocation of funds from the fishing industry for the social and economic development of coastal towns and villages, development of infrastructure for the sale of farm products.

"We are ready to respond promptly to changes in the economic and social situation in rural areas and will continue to work on improving legislation in this area," assured Alexander Dvoinikh.

The head of the FC Committee expressed confidence that in the process of discussions new constructive proposals from the residents of rural areas will emerge, which the Federation Council will take into work.

Sergei Mitin noted that the parliament's attention to the problems of rural areas and the quality of life of people in rural areas is not accidental. Taking into account small towns, this is 40 percent of the country's population.

"It is important for us to consider the whole range of issues. In particular, the comprehensive development of rural areas, the effectiveness of the state policy in this area, the sufficiency of state support measures. It is clear that we cannot find a universal recipe for all regions, but successful developments, best practices can and should be used taking into account demographic, economic and other characteristics of Russian regions," the senator said.

According to him, it is not possible to solve all the problems accumulated over decades only through one State Program and in such a short period of time: "First of all, we need an objective analysis of the state of the Russian village, providing an assessment of the demographic, economic and social situation".

Sergei Mitin stated that such work is already being carried out by the Ministry of Agriculture of the Russian Federation together with the regions.

"As part of preparations for the Forum, we have carefully studied the measures to support the village. In addition to the state program of the Ministry of Agriculture of Russia, there are more than 10 state programs, which in one way or another include mechanisms for the development of rural areas. To achieve the maximum economic effect we need synchronization of all processes," the parliamentarian said.

"It is important for us to unite and strengthen measures of state support for the development of territories, to provide rural agglomerations with the necessary infrastructure for a comfortable life of the population and to form a balanced program of spatial development of the country," he stressed.

The International RUSSIA EXPO takes place on the VDNH grounds in Moscow from November 4 to July 8. Visitors are presented expositions of 89 Russian regions, leading federal departments, corporations and public organizations. More than 12 million people have already visited the Exposition.