Putin says Russia needs "new economy"

[poiuytrewq0987]

MOSCOW -- Russian PM Vladimir Putin says his country's economy is too dependent on export of raw materials, and should focus on modernization.



In an article published in Moscow's Vedomosti business daily, Putin, who will in March run for president, voiced his support for introduction of new technologies, but also for reform of the state administration.

Putin wrote that Russia was facing a situation where owners of companies operating in Russia preferred to register them abroad, because the country was "losing the competition race when it came to the legal aspect", and said it was "inadmissible" for Russia to have an economy that "guarantees neither stability, nor sovereignty and prosperity".

Putin also said that current President Dimitry Medvedev's reforms from his election campaign program focusing on the economy "did not lead to significant breakthroughs" where the business climate was concerned.

The prime minister announced privatizations of state corporations - whose founding he initiated - and added he believed that by 2016, the state's share in the commodities branch of the economy could be decreased, along with a finalization of the process of exiting from large companies in the non-commodities sector.

While Russia's advantage remains its vast reserve of mineral and natural resources, which amount to 25 percent of the country's GDP, Putin spoke in favor of a more active production and export of differentiated products "to all markets".

In his article, Putin was critical of the state of the country's building and infrastructure sectors, describing them as "stuck in the last century", and announced new projects, including building of roads that would invite the participation of "well-known foreign companies".

The Russian premier and candidate for president backs "a change to the ideology of state control over businesses", as well as "the limiting of the functions of the state".

He denounced "a lack of transparency in the work of state representatives, from customs and tax administrations, to courts and security".

"If we were to call a spade a spade - this is about systemic corruption," wrote Putin.

The state itself, its executive and judicial authorities must change in Russia, he asserted, and added that "technological leadership must be reinstated".

http://www.b92.net/eng/news/world-ar...0&nav_id=78540

[Contra Mundum]

'bout time.