Russian MPs on Thursday overwhelmingly backed President Vladimir Putin's pick for the country's new prime minister.
After hearing Mikhail Mishustin lay out his aims, lawmakers in the country's lower house of parliament, the State Duma, voted to approve his candidacy, with no MPs voting against him, although Communist MPs abstained.
"The decision has been taken," concluded speaker Vyacheslav Volodin. Now, Mishustin only needs President Putin's formal endorsement to take the post.
Mishustin, 53, has been the head of Russia's Federal Tax Service since 2010. Largely seen as a technocrat, he helped digitise Russia's tax collection process, using cloud-based systems in a bid to declare war on "dirty data".
Speaking to lawmakers he said that the government would have to work harder so Russians could feel an improvement in their lives.
“As the president has stressed several times, people should already now be feeling real changes for the better, so far this is happening far from everywhere,” he said.
“To develop further and ensure further growth of GDP we need primarily to stimulate the growth of investment… to restore trust that has perhaps been lost between the authorities and business," he said.
According to the World Bank, Russia’s GDP growth was 2.3 per cent in 2018. In his 2018 re-election campaign, Putin promised to take the country to the world’s top five economies by 2024 and beat the global average GDP growth rate of three per cent.
"We have all the necessary resources to fulfil the goals set by the president..the president wants to Cabinet to spearhead economic growth and help create new jobs. Raising real incomes is a priority for the government," Mushustin said.
He said the government had "a huge amount of work" ahead and would be open to constructive criticism. "It's very important for us to hear what is happening.”
Russia's government announced their resignation on Wednesday, after Putin suggested new changes to the process of picking and removing the prime minister.
With inputs from PTI, AFP
