Major activities and resolutions of the government in 2009

29.12.2009 | 13:46

News

At the session of government today, State Secretary Heiki Loot presented an overview of the fulfilment of the government’s action programme in 2009. The action programme outlines major activities undertaken in 2009 for the achievement of the goals and promises provided in the programme. The government continued work towards the achievement of the goals in the fields of population and family policy, economic and budgetary policy, education and science policy, social and health policy, etc., in a total of 19 fields.
The aim of the government in the implementation of the population and family policy is to achieve a positive birth rate for the population of Estonia. As a positive trend, the birth rate figures have been improving year by year.

The government has continued work towards the adoption of the Euro. For this, in 2009, the budget position of the government has been improved by 9 per cent of GDP.

In February 2009, the government launched a package of measures for improving access to capital for Estonian companies, the total amount of which is EEK 6.1 billion.

For the improved operation of the labour market and increasing of flexibility, the new Employment Contracts Act was adopted. For the completion of the reform of private law, the Riigikogu also adopted the Law of Succession Act and the Family Law Act.

The aim of the government is to set expenditures on research and development at 2 per cent of GDP. This goal is gradually being moved towards and the desired result could be achieved in 2011. The proportion of GDP spent on education and research has also been significantly increased. In 2010, administrative expenses will be increased by more than EEK 1 billion.

In the social field, prerequisites are being established for the full implementation of e-health to improve the availability of health services.

In July 2009, the government supplemented the Estonian Information Strategy 2013, setting the goal of covering the whole of Estonia with a next generation Internet network.

Various important choices have also been made in the field of energy, which will affect the development of Estonia over the following decades.

The government has updated the emergency preparedness system and renewed the national crisis management system. The Long-Term Defence Development Plan 2009-2018 was also elaborated.

An overview of the major activities of the ministries in 2009, by domains, can be found at:
summary of 2009 by ministries.

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