Address to the participants

Artur N. Chilingarov

Coordinator of the Project
«St.Petersburg — the Sea Capital of Russia»
A Member of the Bureau of the Supreme Board
of the political party «United Russia»
Chief deputy administrator of fraction «United Russia» in the State Duma of the Russian Federation of the fifth convocation

Dear colleagues!

The present difficulties, which are being experienced by the world economy, are not only a challenge but also a chance to give absolutely new dynamics to the development of our country. This way the question was put by our president D. A. Medvedev.

The branch has every potentiality to become one of the locomotives of growth of high-tech sector of our economy, become a generator of innovations and form a demand for scientific projects, which was declared at the meeting of issues of shipbuilding development in St.Petersburg by the prime-minister and the chairman of the party «United Russia» V. Putin in May, 2008.

For the sake of Russia, which is for the sake of all of us, is to respond to this appeal of the leaders of the country and the party, by beginning with the essentials — revival of the system of professional education. The party «United Russia» within the framework of the project «St.Petersburg — the Sea Capital of Russia» will hold a conference dedicated to this problem, which is one of the key ones for the revival of the country.

Issues of education in the sphere of Russian shipbuilding, sea and river transport will be discussed at the conference. During the Soviet period this was handled by dozens of institutes of higher education, technical schools and vocational colleges. Employees of the branch had a rather high prestige. We are going not only to restore what was thoughtlessly destroyed, but also raise the system of education to a totally new level corresponding to the market requirements and peculiarities of the present stage of development of the Russian economy. The system of professional education must become truly modern — high-quality, affordable, flexibly reacting to the increasing demands of our time. Without this shipbuilding will never become a guarantor of sea and river transport development and its transforming into one of the leading branches not only of the country, but also of the world.

Participants of the conference on December 11, 2008 in St.Petersburg will discuss the sore points of the branch directly with representatives of Ministries of transport, industry, education, regional policy, and also with the field committees of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation. Let us together restore fundamental branches of economy, development of which will help to build up a powerful and prosperous Russia! Russia can and must become a highly-developed country with competitive economy, providing its citizens with employment and high living standards.

We invite you to use a unique opportunity to contribute to forming of the future branch education by taking an active part in the conference «St.Petersburg — the Sea Capital of Russia. Manpower policy»