Russian Parliament approves Fradkov as PM

The Russian Parliament on Friday overwhelmingly approved Mikhail Fradkov, an old India hand, as prime minister of the country ahead of the March 14 presidential elections.

Fradkov's nomination was backed by 352-58 votes with 24 abstentions in the 450-strong state Duma or the lower house of Parliament.

Fifty-three-year-old Fradkov, who would be the ninth prime minister of the post-Soviet Russia, required the minimum 226 votes for his approval.

President Vladimir Putin named Fradkov as the prime ministerial candidate in the wake of surprise dismissal of Mikhail Kasyanov on February 24.

Under the Russian constitution Putin has to issue a decree on his formal appointment and await his Cabinet list for approval.                                         

Addressing the House before the confirmation vote, Fradkov, who was posted in the Economic Wing of the erstwhile Soviet embassy in New Delhi from 1973 to 1975, presented the agenda of his government involving the radical cuts in the Cabinet.

He said the prime tasks of his government would be to combat corruption, eradicate poverty and ensure security.

"For this we need an efficient government, it has been found that one-fourth of its functions are redundant," Fradkov said. He has mooted a three-tier government structure.

He called for 'optimisation' of the banking sector and tightening of the state control over natural monopolies.

He said the functioning of government will be transparent for the public and business it would be open to civic control.

Noting that this year the government has placed orders worth a little over US $5 billion in the country's military industrial complex and over 200 new weapon systems are to undergo trials, Fradkov said the defence complex would itself have to undergo structural transformation.

In early 1980s Fradkov was closely linked with the Soviet-assisted projects in India as state-owned 'Tyazhpromexport' company's representative dealing with heavy machinery for steel and power sectors.

Except for brief period in 1991-1992, he looked after trade and economic ties with India within the framework of Inter-governmental joint commission in the Andropov, Gorbachev and Yeltsin governments till 1997, holding the rank of deputy minister and minister of foreign economic relations and trade.

His appointment is also a good signal for Indo-Russian economic interaction and trade, which from Soviet era's US $5 billion has sunk to miserable level of US $1.4 billion.