More support for Russian machine-building

No measures to support export of Russian machinery were implemented in 2004, said Head of Russian Ministry of Economic Development German Gref at the government meeting on July 22.

"We wasted time. We have all necessary laws to support Russian machinery, but I have to confess that we did very little to support export of machinery in 2004", said the Minister.

He said that the growth of export of Russian products was caused by increased supplies of oil and gas, while the percentage of machinery was very low - 9% from the overall Russian export in 2004. In the developed countries, this figure was 40%, said German Gref.

He believes that the problems are caused by price fluctuations and low competitive abilities of Russian machinery, Interfax reports.

The Minister said that all Russian government departments traced the appeals of Russian еxporters for the help of the state in 2004.

"The businesses were mainly asking for financial aid", he said.  “They asked for loans, guarantees for conducting tenders, timely return of value added tax to them, and implementation of principles of fair competition in spite of the flaws of Customs regulations".

In the fall of 2003 Russian government approved the set of measures for support of exports of machinery. The state is going to give loans to Russian exporters, in 2004 the sum of the loams will be $500 million, in 2005 - $850 million. долларов.

The Minister says that these figures are smaller than the state support of businesses in developed countries. However, it is important to elaborate the mechanism for supporting exporters, and in 2006 much more funds can be allocated by state for supporting the exporters of machinery.