ITAR-TASS News Agency
TASS
March 10, 2004 Wednesday

Zhukov to report on government structural reform

By Oksana Polishchuk, Natalya Slavina

MOSCOW

Russian Vice-Premier Alexander Zhukov will report on structural
changes in the federal bodies of executive power at the first cabinet
meeting on Thursday, March 11, the government information department
reports.

Russian Deputy Interior Minister Alexander Chekalin will report on
the possibility of extending the Russian-Armenian inter-governmental
agreement on regulation of voluntary resettlement.

Russian First Deputy Foreign Minister Valery Loshchinin will submit
his proposals on ratification by the State Duma of an agreement
signed by the Russian and Ukrainian governments that provides for
settling all claims concerning an air crash that occurred over the
Black Sea on October 4, 2001.

The cabinet will also discuss the presentation of state housing
certificates to the Ingush government. Ruslan Tsalikov, the deputy
head of the Russian Emergency Situations Ministry, will report on
this subject.

However, Russia’s new Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov said that the
cabinet would focus on implementation of the presidential decree on
forming a new government line-up at its meeting on Thursday.

“This will actually be the sole issue that we intend to discuss with
the new government at tomorrow’s cabinet meeting,” Russian Prime
Minister Mikhail Fradkov told a news conference on Wednesday.

The Prime-Tass economic and financial news agency cited the prime
minister as saying that he was continuously studying the issue and
discussed the matter with Russian President Vladimir Putin every day.

Fradkov emphasized that the process of forming a new government
marked the beginning of an administrative reform. He called for the
earliest solution of all organizational issues in order to preserve a
workable government and not to disrupt the budget process.

Fradkov reiterated once again that the idea of an administrative
reform should be regarded as part of efforts to make Russia more
competitive and ensure that prompt and needed decisions are passed.
Bureaucrats should model their actions according to a single concept
so as to avoid the duplication of functions and to single out
responsible bosses.

At the same time, Fradkov warned about the possibility of
inaccuracies in carrying out the government reform. “We are going to
remove these inaccuracies. The logic of this reform allows for
clarification as we proceed with the process,” Fradkov stressed.

The prime minister also promised to be open with the press.

Fradkov admitted at a news conference held at the Russian government
building on Wednesday that he never did that because he hadn’t faced
such a task before.

At the same time, Fradkov emphasized that the process of creating a
new government structure was, among many other things, aimed at
making it more open and transparent.

“It will make it possible to define the responsibilities of each
leader and to enable them to develop creative approach to their work.
We favour an open approach,” the Russian prime minister stressed.

Fradkov believes that society needed such actions for tracking down
the efficiency of government bureaucrats.