Oleg Chirkunov

Governor of Perm Region 

Dear participants and guests of the Forum!

In spring our region traditionally welcomes Russian and international experts at the Perm Forum. This year we have expanded the topical content of our meeting: the discussions and reports of the Forum cover all the spheres of public life ranging from education and social politics, to the improvement of urban environment.

The most important things we are eager to discuss after an eventful winter is the future development of this country, we would like to know what kind of future is ahead for Russia. And the main question is: do the Russian elites associate their own future with it?

Recently our society has been expressing greater and greater readiness to be fully involved in the development of the country. And we are going to give the leaders of the authorities, business, and civil society an opportunity to negotiate a common agenda. Our goal is to form a common vision of Russia’s future for those who want to live and work in this country.

And this implies that the social contract we discussed at the previous Forum is still important, and it is even more real today when the society and the state are ready to meet each other halfway.

We have reached an understanding that the human being, his potential, needs and value should be recognized as the basis for an efficient development of the country. The topic of the human and social capital, which has been in the focus of discussions for economists and social scientists of Europe, America, and Asia, is now important for Russia too. How should we arrange the links connecting social needs and states programs? What is the potential of a human being in a modern state? Who and how should deal with the development of the potential of the individual?

I invite you to join the discussion of all these issues at the Man. Society Country. VIII Perm Forum.