National Priority Projects
The National Priority Projects of the Russian Federation is a program of the Russian government set out by Russian President Vladimir Putin in his speech on September 5, 2005. The program is aimed to develop social welfare in Russia by additional funding by the state of four selected projects focusing on public health, education, housing and agriculture. The program has been supervised by the Council for Implementation of the Priority National Projects attached to the President of the Russian Federation, created according to a presidential decree on October 21, 2005. The council has been headed by the President himself, First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has been appointed First Deputy Chairman of the Council and Chairman of its Presidium, Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Zhukov and Igor Shuvalov, aide to the President, have become deputy chairmen of the Council.
The most high-profile change within the national priority project frameworks has probably been the 2006 across-the-board increase in wages in healthcare and education, as well as the decision to modernise equipment in both sectors in 2006 and 2007.
