VOLGOGRAD, February 19 (RIA Novosti) - Russia needs a modern, innovative model of industrial production, President Vladimir Putin said Monday.
Putin visited Monday Volgograd, in southern Russia, where he conducted a rare out-of-Kremlin, 'field' session of the State Council presidium, talked to the regional governor and visited a pipeline plant.
"The experience of successful industrial countries shows that a fundamental new model for organizing industrial production is crucial - a model designed to advance innovation and promote competition among developers, suppliers and dealers," he said adding that Russia has all that it needs to adopt such a model.
"Primarily, growing domestic demand for industrial products," Putin said, adding that a new legislative and institutional basis for industrial growth is being put in place.
The president also voiced his concern over a decline in the share of high value-added goods in the country's exports, saying that diversifying the economy by boosting the manufacturing sector is one of the priorities in the country's economic policy immediately related to the development of high technology industries.
"The contribution of manufacturing to economic growth is still insignificant, and unfortunately, the share of high value-added products in Russian exports is on the decline, standing at 10%," Putin said.
He said technological modernization was slow despite considerable growth in imports of machinery and equipment.
Putin also said that one of the reasons for such negative tendencies is the archaic structure and production methods adding that most of the Russian plants are still working as enterprises with a closed production cycle.
"We need a model for industrial development organically oriented toward interregional and global cooperation links," Putin said.
