After February 18, when Ilya Klebanov was demoted from the rank of deputy prime minister in charge of industry and science to an ordinary minister, Mikhail Kasyanov claimed that the move signified the beginning of the administrative system reforms aimed at reducing the number of vice-premiers in the government.
But by decreeing on Boris Alyoshin’s appointment on Thursday, Putin, in effect, restored the abolished post of deputy prime minister for industrial policy.
Kommersant wrote on Friday, quoting its sources in the government, that on April 16 Mikhail Kasyanov met with Putin in the Kremlin to discuss industrial policy, and during that meeting it was decided to restore the post. Kasyanov immediately proposed Alyoshin’s candidacy to the post.
Until Thursday Alyoshin headed Gosstandart, the State Committee for Standardization and Metrology. Before 2001 he was first deputy head of the Ministry for Industry, Science and Technologies, but, according to some sources, failed to get on with Ilya Klebanov.
Mikhail Kasyanov noticed Alyoshin when the chairman of Gosstandart launched a radical administrative reform in his agency, while the government was still discussing it. Last year Alyoshin reduced the number of Gosstandart inspectors from 2,200 to 700, introduced certification for the committee’s regional branches and reduced the staff of regional branches by 3,000.
Also, on Thursday Putin appointed the first deputy labour and social development minister, Galina Karelova, to the post of deputy prime minister in charge of social issues. The post had been vacant since March 11, when Valentina Matviyenko was appointed presidential envoy to the Northwestern Federal District.
Galina Karelova meets the main requirement necessary for the job: ''she is a woman'', Labour Minister Alexander Pochinok said on Thursday. Valentina Matviyenko was the only female minister, and since her promotion to the post of presidential envoy the Belyi Dom has been looking for a woman to replace her. Galina Karelova’s candidacy was proposed by Mikhail Kasyanov at the recommendation of Valentina Matviyenko.
25 АПРЕЛЯ 16:58
