The article examines the countrys acute economic problems and substantiates the need of socio-economic development acceleration, discusses ways to achieve national development goals, and shows that national projects are important, but not the only mechanisms for achieving them. The urgent need for the formation of a full-fledged comprehensive Strategy for the socio-economic development of the country for the prospective period, as well as the available experience in developing strategic documents at the federal and regional levels, have been identified. Attention is paid to the experience of strategic development planning in St. Petersburg. The urgent need to create incentives for business development and the formation of a favorable investment climate has been identified. The article defines methods for enhancing the mechanisms for the implementation of national and regional development projects and programs, including specific methods for achieving the goals, such as conducting continuous monitoring of their achievement, using methods of foresight, regulatory guillotine, triple helix, etc.