Vadim Krasnoselsky, the PMR President:
The election campaign for the election of the President of our state started on the 12th of September according to the current legislation, the Constitution of our republic. I announced my decision to be a candidate and move on the same day, the 12th of September. Today, September 16, the Union of Industrialists, Agrarians and Entrepreneurs of Pridnestrovie supported my candidacy. Each of the speakers very interestingly at the same time told about the reasons – why they see me as a candidate for President of the republic. I, dear Pridnestrovians, want to focus on my reasons, why I made this decision – a very responsible and balanced decision. Let's start from the moment when the people of Pridnestrovie entrusted me to govern the state in 2016. I and a team of like-minded people worked out a specific plan, but we did not immediately approach this either – it took a certain amount of time. It was necessary to stabilize the political and economic situation in society.
We followed the path of close dialogue with industrialists, entrepreneurs, agrarians, citizens, and society. Thanks to this dialogue, we were able to understand more precisely the problems that exist, and most importantly – to find ways to solve it. I participated in this dialogue as President, Government and Supreme Council, all ministries and departments. Ultimately, everything that we took from these joint meetings, plus the President's People's Program of 2016, entered the PMR Development Strategy, which was approved on December 12, 2018 for 8 years. The principles spelled out in the Strategy are political stability, economic self-sufficiency and social justice. They underlie the state idea of the PMR. It is important. The first component of the state idea is to strengthen the independence of the PMR and implement the results of the 2006 referendum. The second point is that we continue to form and strengthen the community "Pridnestrovian people", developing their languages, culture and customs of the multinational people of Pridnestrovie. The third point of the state idea is that we are building a socially oriented state with a market economy.
I would like to focus briefly on each of the principles – political stability, economic self-sufficiency, social justice. Pridnestrovie acts as a constructive negotiator who is moving along the path of negotiability and compromise being an equal participant in the 5 + 2 negotiation format and all other formats, respecting the choice of the people based on the independence of our state. We did not allow an escalation of the conflict and through negotiations tried to find a solution to very complex issues. Today this process continues. There are many questions, and I still expect courage and pragmatism from the Moldovan side, as well as the willingness to resolve issues on which the lives of people depend – both from the left and right banks of the Dniester. We are ready for this. The word is behind. It is impossible to imagine the economic development and economic stability of our state without political stability. All the work of the Supreme Council, the PMR Government and the President in close dialogue with entrepreneurs was aimed at stabilizing economic and tax relations, developing a system of benefits, and providing other assistance.
I would like to focus on the agricultural sector of our economy. We have made a huge step in the development of the agro-industrial complex over the past 4 years (2017 was the year of collecting information), and we will continue to move in this direction. We talked today about land reclamation. There were slightly more than 8000 hectares of land under reclamation as of January 1, 2017. Thanks to well-coordinated work, government assistance, by the way from your enterprise (Elektromash), we managed to achieve a good result - about 30000 hectares of irrigated land. Let me remind you that we had about 62000 hectares under irrigation during the Soviet era that is we exceeded the bar by half. We will move forward. Therefore, next year, you, dear deputies of the Supreme Council, members of the government, must clearly work out a program for reclamation of agricultural land, and the rate of irrigation of land must be increased. We provide incentives for loans, develop agricultural enterprises, and this provides a good opportunity to create jobs in rural areas and revitalize rural life. I believe that it is necessary to create such living conditions in the countryside so that every city dweller has a desire to live on the fertile Pridnestrovian land.
Today we talked about customs, but not only customs, but also all officials changed their philosophy, turning their faces towards business, towards society. I will remind you of one of my requirements - quite strict, but it applies to absolutely everyone. I can forgive a lot, I can meet halfway, understand - all this is life, these are people. But I do not accept swagger, rudeness, incomprehensible attitude towards people. It is unacceptable.
All of the above – political stability and economic self-sufficiency – form social justice. We have returned social benefits that were canceled, introduced new benefits of a social nature and support them. Without development, one could only talk about pandemics, about drought, for example, and only solve these problems. We worked and moved forward even under these conditions. Pridnestrovie has become better, more comfortable and more interesting for our citizens to live. I would like to note the role of the Government and the Supreme Council in the implementation of the program of the Capital Investment Fund. This is a serious development program. Pridnestrovie needed development and renovation. We have repaired or rebuilt 56 kindergartens, 62 schools, 21 correctional institutions, 42 healthcare facilities, dozens of sports, cultural, historical sites and park areas over the past 4 years. Approximately 800 million rubles were spent. In addition, there was a part of the problem that was not visible at first glance - this is housing and communal services, that is, those networks that are underground or above the ground. Electricity networks, sewerage networks, water supply networks and much more. I did not frighten anyone, but I understood what kind of catastrophe we were approaching, using the resources of the Soviet era. Resources ran out, problems were growing. Therefore, the Government and the Supreme Council developed appropriate programs, and we managed to carry out repairs worth a billion rubles, thanks to which we stabilize the housing and communal situation in Pridnestrovie.
I would like to focus on history. It is impossible to imagine a state without its own history. It is impossible to imagine a country without traditions and languages. We in Pridnestrovie gradually, very carefully began to combine huge historical layers – this is the history of the Russian Empire, this is the history of the Soviet Union, this is the history of modern Pridnestrovie. At the same time, we remember the heroic pages of our great history, we also remember the tragic ones, unfortunately we also have them. Even park areas have a deep historical meaning if you paid attention. These are not just recreation areas. This is the place where you can touch the history, understand it. It is very important. You can talk a lot about people. People are always good. The youth is what we brought up ourselves. Respecting our history, respecting our culture, we develop cultural immunity, and it will be an obstacle to rudeness, swagger and so on. This is the path without which it is impossible to educate worthy people. Therefore, the entire development strategy of our state is aimed precisely at this. Spiritual development is no less important than, for example, the economic development of any state. Therefore, no matter how difficult it is, we will go forward, do not even doubt it.
As for the social infrastructure, I would like to focus on healthcare. I have already spoken about the normal human approach, the attitude of the doctor to the patient. I have demanded and will demand stabilization of the relationship between patient and doctor, doctor and patient. Recently, our healthcare has been on the right track. This is evidenced by the difference in the number of complaints that I received four years ago and what we have today. Thanks to government support, we have managed to improve the doctor's workplace. I have already said that 42 healthcare facilities have been renovated or rebuilt. Next year has been declared the Year of Health Care in Pridnestrovie. We look forward to great progress in the Capital Investment Fund in this sphere. I'm talking about creating a comfortable, decent workplace for a doctor and an equipped, provided with all the necessary hospital bed (we are not talking about a hospital bed as such, but about a full-fledged provision of medical services). And so it will be, do not even hesitate. The work done in the health care system made it possible to meet the pandemic with dignity. The challenges we faced were similar to those faced by many countries. You see from the media how hard it is for them. It was hard for us. Thanks to our common work, we managed to meet the pandemic with dignity, without panic, without hysterics, to heal people, to save their lives.
I want to focus on one important issue for me personally. These are correctional institutions of our republic. Understand correctly, I do not question the merits of past leaders. Everyone worked to the best of their ability. Nevertheless, one of the areas that receded into the background is the attitude towards people with disabilities. Together with Alexander Martynov and Alexander Korshunov, we came to the understanding that it is absolutely impossible to spare money to support these people, it is unacceptable. We have repaired or rebuilt 21 correctional institutions over the past four years. I would also like to highlight a rehabilitation complex in the city of Dubossary, a large sports complex in the city of Tiraspol, a kindergarten in Tiraspol. This year we want to start, maybe even have time to finish, a large sports hall in the city of Rybnitsa for people with life expectancy. It is impossible to look sick children in the eyes without a desire to help them. When foreign delegations, guests of our republic come to me, I tell them that you don't have to go to parks, factories, stadiums to judge a state, attitude to people, you don't even have to go to church, please go to correctional institutions and draw your own conclusions. If the state treats these people at a decent level, does not hesitate, socializes them, invests in infrastructure for them, this is the result. We will work further in this direction.
I would also like to mention very important topic. This is the support and participation of Russia in the life of Pridnestrovie. I see reactions in social networks and criticism of the actions or inaction of the Russian authorities. Russia is a huge state with a large number of enemies, but for all its complexity, Russia does not forget about Pridnestrovie and helps us whenever possible. Pay attention to the calls of “active citizens” not to go to the elections to the State Duma of the Russian Federation under any pretext. Why are they behaving this way? The answer is obvious. They want to show that nobody in Pridnestrovie is interested in Russia, that elections are not interesting, the participation of Pridnestrovian citizens who have a Russian passport is minimal, they say, so it's time to decide and join another state on their terms. This is the true desires of those who propagandize all this. These same people literally a year ago called on our citizens not to go to the elections to the Supreme Council. I am sure that these same ladies and gentlemen will urge not to go to the PMR presidential elections. This is their choice – a choice not in favor of the Pridnestrovian statehood. I urge everyone who has Russian citizenship to come to the polls and vote. I will not campaign for any party – this is everyone's business, but you have to vote, indicate your participation.
I want to say the following in conclusion. Everything that the speakers meant, everything that I said, there is no one winner in all this, as for example in the fight against coronavirus. We worked and won together. We achieved the result together. We built together. We thought and decided together – the President, the Supreme Council, the Government, the directors of enterprises and every worker, every doctor in his place, and those who defend the Motherland with arms in their hands. Everything is the fruit of joint labor. Each fulfills its role, according to its functionality. We all worked together, together we achieved the result. I am grateful to the entire Pridnestrovian people for this. I want to thank the Union of Industrialists, Agrarians and Entrepreneurs for today's support. There are good plans for the future, but the most important thing is that the result is already visible today.
