Medvedev highlights role for civil society
Civil society groups in Russia should have a bigger role in forming policy and holding the government to account, Dmitrii Medvedev said yesterday.
-Our task is to create a system that would allow civic structures to participate in working out state policy and appraising its quality, Medvedev told members of the Public Chamber, newspaper The Moscow Times reports with reference to Reuters.
In his meeting with the Public Chamber Medvedev stressed that the opinion of minority groups represented by public organizations and professional unions should be taken into account.
The statement echoes Mr. Medvedev’s speech at the Krasoyarsk Economic Forum in Mid-February. Then, the now elected president said that “the basis of our policies will be the principle, which I consider the most important for the well-being of any country […] This is the principle that “freedom is better than no freedom”.
A man with an apparent softer approach that his predecessor Vladimir Putin, Medvedev has also outlined an ambitious plan for the Russian economy. He has been determined to conduct what he sees as a necessary diversification of Russian economy. In addition, he has been surprisingly clear on sensitive issues like depriving high-ranking state officials of posts in state-owned companies.
Read also
Medvedev’s Plan for Russia BarentsObserver, 19 February 2008
