MOSCOW, October 31 (RIA Novosti) - Manufacturing industries, rather than high oil prices, are the driving force behind Russia's economic growth these days, President Vladimir Putin said Monday.
"We've had our economy grow dramatically in the past five years. [The annual growth rate] is about 7%. This is in no small measure due to the favorable situation on foreign markets. In recent years, we've been getting a substantial contribution from manufacturing sectors, " Putin told the Dutch television channel Nederland 1 and the German financial newspaper NRC Handelsblatt ahead of an official visit to the Netherlands, set to begin Tuesday.
Putin said Russia would like to draw from the Netherlands' expertise in overcoming the Dutch disease and using oil and gas revenues to diversify the economy and develop high-tech sectors.
