On May 26, the National Industrial Summit "Industrial Policy in New Realities" was held in Moscow at the site of the Russia Today media group
The modern geopolitical map with new challenges and gaps between industrial and technological "continents" encourages Russia to restart the industrial arrangement of the economic space and build technological chains in its national interests.
Government representatives, heads of system-forming enterprises and leading experts analyzed the national industrial policy in the new realities, discussed priority steps to develop and strengthen cooperation between the state and business to ensure accelerated import substitution of high technologies in system-forming areas. Is it possible to move away from import dependence in high technologies in the conditions of an economic blockade? How to provide high technologies not only to the military, but also to the civilian sector of industry? Is it possible to stimulate investment activity in the conditions of sanctions pressure?
The summit program included a plenary session and two strategic sessions on the topics "Industrial policy under the trade and economic blockade: focus on high-tech import substitution and transformation of export-import settlements" and "Cooperative chains. Version 2022".
As the Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation said during the plenary sessionYuri Borisov, since 2015, Russia has spent 3.5 trillion rubles on import substitution, with half of this amount coming from extra-budgetary sources.
Borisov said that Russia's trade turnover from 2015 to 2021 increased by almost 50%, to $ 786.6 billion. Including developed countries - by 35.8%, APEC countries - by 77.5%. The share of the latter increased to 33% from 28%. "All these are specific high-tech investment projects that are being implemented on the territory of our country," the Deputy Prime Minister stressed.
He pointed out that in recent years Russia has diversified its export portfolio. By the end of 2021, non-energy exports accounted for about 40% of total exports and "we are no longer in danger of the "Dutch disease" when we depend on one type of export, in particular, hydrocarbons."
At the same time, the Deputy Prime Minister noted, the world cannot do without Russian energy resources, but they have yet to be "properly brought" to potential new consumers. "The export of hydrocarbons is going through a difficult time. Leading Western countries are abandoning our resources. In case of a drawdown of hydrocarbon exports, Russia has a good foundation. There is a lot of work to be done to build new logistics chains. Even in case of a drawdown, there is a margin of safety, and we will get out," Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Government Yuri Borisov said at the summit "Industrial Policy in New Realities".
In terms of import substitutionBorisov, in particular, noted that, thanks to early measures to reduce the range of electronic components used, the Russian space industry was better prepared for import substitution than some other industries.
In turn, Roscosmos CEO Dmitry Rogozin said at the summit that Russia needs large-scale orbital groupings that will number thousands of satellites. "We currently have 161 spacecraft, including those of the Ministry of Defense. That's not enough. There should be thousands," he said.
First of all, it is necessary for the army to constantly monitor the theaters of military operations, but it is also necessary for the national economy, he explained.
The spare capacities of the enterprises included in the Roscosmos circuit also work for the civil aircraft industry. For example, rocket engine companies are beginning to assemble engines for civilian aircraft.
Head of RECVeronika Nikishina reported at the summit that the share of supplies of NE goods to friendly countries is 61%. "These are our export markets that are waiting for Russian products and where we redirect our goods," she said.
In her opinion, the departure of a number of Western companies from Russia "made many countries think about whether their dependence on Western technologies could be dangerous, as it turned out to be dangerous for Russia when all norms of international law are violated for political reasons." This has created an additional window of opportunity for Russian exporters," Nikishina believes.
Nikishina added that the restrictions pushed Russia to accelerate the transition to settlements in national currencies. "The transition to settlements in national currencies and in the future in cryptocurrency is a forced, but absolutely promising story, into which we will sooner or later go in trade and economic relations with friendly countries," she explained.
The creation of new import-substituting industries will allow the economy to overcome new challenges, the chairman of the PSB said at the meetingPeter Fradkov. "To do this, it is necessary to attract resources – budgetary and extra-budgetary, to share risks, including between banks and development institutions," he said.
At the same time, according to him, in the current realities, it is important for enterprises to solve the problems of creating new logistics corridors, restoring cooperation chains. The issue of financing in this context is not the main challenge, as the financial sector adapts to the new coordinate system in which the industry lives.
"The situation in the financial sector is noticeably improving," he notesMaria Glukhova, Executive Vice President of the RSPP - and this is even without taking into account the reduction of the key rate to 11%. Another extremely positive moment for us is that in March, for the first time in several months, the indicator of the relationship between business and government went into the zone of positive assessments. This means that the support measures and incentive measures that are now being offered to businesses are extremely positively perceived by them. Returning to the question that was raised in the title of the summit, the rescue plan or the development strategy, we can say that the rescue plan has been implemented in general. It is already being implemented quite actively, and it is clear that there are still some areas that need to be completed, but we see from the business side exactly the demand for a development strategy."
General Director of KamazSergey Kogogin said at the summit that Kamaz has never suspended production since the end of February and does not plan downtime. "The European partner packed his suitcase and left our joint venture. We immediately sat down and looked at 253 parts that need to be replaced from Europe, 220 parts were localized by Kamaz within a month, 30 parts were brought from another direction. The company is working," he explained.
Speaking about the industry as a whole, the top manager recalled that the segment of trucks, light commercial vehicles and buses, unlike passenger cars, was quite localized in Russia and integrated into the global automotive industry.
Deputy of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, member of the Committee on Industry and Trade, Maria Vasilkova noted that "as a result of the strategic session, we agreed with the participants that today among the priorities is stimulating demand for domestic products. The main goal is to ensure a sufficient scale of introduction of new products to the market. Import substitution becomes a tool for unlocking the potential of the domestic market, gives impetus to the start of production of competitive components in the products of industrial enterprises."
Concluding the summit, Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian FederationYuri Borisov emphasized that it would be difficult for the world economy to cope without Russia in the conditions of sanctions,"but there is no need to do this, the country has established itself as a reliable supplier focused on comfortable conditions of cooperation."
MOSCOW, AGT Communication Group, Polina Ryabova
