Addresses Made by A. Kudrin

Dear graduates,

Dear instructors, 

I would like to congratulate you on the occasion of the Graduation Day. Today is the most important day in the student life. Today you get your diplomas and become professional financial experts. You are now at the point of no return. Some of you might be some day appointed Minister of Finance, Central Bank Chairman, become a big businessman, a scholar or a member of the Academy of Sciences. Today we can see that there is a lack of personnel to be hired here in this country. Someone would probably ask what lack I am referring to now that we are suffering from an economic crisis. My answer would be: I am referring to the lack of diligent and honest professionals and this means you have an opportunity to prove yourselves and achieve good results in the end. I hope many of you would opt for becoming staff members of the Russian Ministry of Finance, Federal Treasury, Federal Tax Service, Federal Insurance Supervision Service, Federal Financial and Budget Supervision Service, and other bodies that operate in the field of finance and economics. I suppose I might be able to meet some of you there in the future. Now that you are leaving the Academy, this country is going through a complex period of development.  Not so long ago I took part in the work during a G8 finance ministers’ meeting where we discussed the ways to cope with the bad economic situation. I participated in the UN member state conference a week ago. It brought together the representatives of 191 countries of the world. We discussed similar economic issues. The members of the world economic community should coordinate their efforts in order to find the way out. However, the number of questions that remain unanswered is still bigger than the number of answers. The world economy is now suffering from the fundamental shifts in the “slabs and platforms” that we used to think of as stable. We have yet to examine the characteristics of the changes that are occurring in the economy and find an answer to the question: where shall we go from here? Many of you will have to participate in the process of answer-finding as an expert in theoretical analysis or a practitioner. The Budget and Treasury Academy of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation is the alma mater for you, and it will remain your alma mater as time goes by. I hope you would be able to treasure the memories of the feeling of unity with your fellow students you had throughout your lifetime. I hope you will come to your 5-year and even your 25-year student reunion party. I wish you to keep the memories of the time spent with your fellow students. Such reunions can be of help if you find yourself in a difficult situation or need the job search-related advice. I graduated form a different university but your institution is among the universities the Ministry has assisted most in recent years. I hope that the financial situation the institution finds itself in will be improved, that it will gradually broaden the scope of opportunities provided for doing the research and that it will create more opportunities for developing the potential that the teaching staff has. The proof of my point is the fact that the Academy has started publishing its own Journal of Finance. I think today the Academy is a solid institution that is becoming increasingly competitive in the educational services market where the financial experts are trained. Vladimir Putin made an address to the audience here in this hall while in office both as President and as Chairman of the Government. The leading Russian and overseas economists spoke here to the audience too so I am very pleased to greet you and hand out the diplomas to the best of you here. I wish you success in your future work! Congratulations on the occasion of the Graduation Day!