Byline: Pierre Sidibe
The Cabinet lays down guidelines of Russia's foreign trade policy through 2020.
The classified strategic document was approved by the Government behind closed doors.
Not surprisingly, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin confined himself to conceptual remarks, though these remarks nonetheless gave an idea of what is in store for Russia in the coming decades. Under the strategy, the share of raw materials production in the economy should diminish, while the manufacture of machines should increase from 6% (today) to 14%. The Government, Mr Putin stressed, intends to create a multi-stage system of export support, especially for competitive industries such as aerospace, the nuclear industry, aviation, and shipbuilding. The Cabinet members recalled that, one hundred years ago, our country was Europe's breadbasket. "Russia is capable of becoming the biggest exporter of agricultural produce in the world, making a substantial contribution to global food security," the Prime Minister said. We know that this year the grain harvest is 100 million tons, a brilliant result that increases our export potential.
According to Mr Putin, the "fine-tuning" of customs tariffs must continue, with an eye to promoting the processing industry in Russia and stimulating high added value exports. "On the other hand, customs tariffs should not put a brake on the retooling of the industry; we are introducing the relevant regulations, and I think we are doing it quite successfully," the Prime Minister stressed.
Mr Putin could not help reminding the Cabinet that, over the past eight years, Russia's foreign trade has increased by 2.2 times, to $579 billion.
Hundreds of investment projects in the automobile, food, and building materials industries have been implemented in Russia, and Russian exports of machines more than doubled compared with 2000.
Obviously, foreign trade cannot develop without a proper infrastructure. The Prime Minister noted that a colossal amount of work has been done in this field. The capacity of marine ports is increasing, and new pipelines for Russian hydrocarbons are being built, including the Baltic Pipeline System, the Blue Stream, and a whole number of similar ongoing infrastructure projects: the East Siberia - Pacific Ocean Pipeline, the North European gas pipeline and the Southern Stream Pipeline. By the way, in the process, the Government ratified the agreement between Russia, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan on the building of the Caspian Pipeline.
In general, Mr Putin never tired of repeating that "an active foreign trade policy is a key factor of sustained economic growth and an effective instrument of putting it on the path of innovative development."
However, not all members of the Government have enough time and means to look so far ahead. Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin, for example, is too busy trying to save the country from the world financial crisis. All these efforts should stabilize the economy and remove from Russian minds any false fears regarding their bank deposits. By the way, the Government meeting was told that living standards have grown and continue to grow; in the last nine months, real incomes increased by 7.8% (the average per capita income is 16,000 roubles), and wages increased by 12.8% (the average wage is 16,700 roubles). Pensions have leapt 19% to an average of 4,500 roubles. Still, nothing was said at the Government meeting about how these indicators will change before the end of the year.
