Russia should step up its purchases of modern technology to accelerate its economic modernization, the Russian finance minister said on Wednesday.
"Russia today buys innovative technology, and I think we should do that more actively," Alexei Kudrin, who is also a deputy prime minister, told reporters on the sidelines of an annual World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
In his second state-of-the-nation address to parliament in November, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said that the modernization of the country was crucial for its survival and that it should not be delayed.
He explained that the economy should be modernized as a whole, including in the fields of industrial production, the armed forces, healthcare, technology, and space exploration.
Kudrin stressed, however, that the purchase of foreign equipment should also go hand in hand with the development of Russia's own technology.
"There is a need for a parallel process. Until we produce our own inventions... we will have to buy advanced technology abroad," he said.
"This is the swiftest way of modernizing the Russian economy," Kudrin added.
DAVOS, January 27 (RIA Novosti)
