RUSSIA, October 24 - Mikhail Mishustin: “The Government has decided to launch major technological sovereignty-related projects, or so-called megaprojects. Their substantial difference lies in the fact that production should be based on our own nationally controlled development lines. The total amount of funds per each project is no less than 10 billion roubles.”

Mikhail Mishustin’s opening remarks:

Good afternoon, colleagues,

Our President has tasked us with strengthening our technological sovereignty. It is important to create capabilities that will enable this country to produce advanced solutions, of which we are in extreme need today in order to develop our economy and create cutting-edge plants, particularly in an environment where they are using sanctions to bar Russia’s access to all foreign-made products across the board.

Despite this, the industry is being revived, on the whole, step by step. The manufacturing industry is growing more rapidly than GDP, as has been repeatedly stated.  Its growth rate has exceeded 6.5 percent over the last eight months. The capacity utilisation of our organisations is also at a record high level.

To overcome our dependence on foreign components and equipment, the Government continues to support key sectors. This year, we should implement a package of measures to attract no less than 2 trillion roubles toward investment to priority industrial projects. In six years’ time, this sum should exceed 10 trillion roubles.

In September, we overhauled our combined manufacturing industry development strategy by specifying long-term plans and goals. 

Last week, we allocated additionally 5 billion roubles for R&D to companies producing important innovative products. According to preliminary estimates, the revenues from these projects will exceed 300 billion roubles within the next four years.

The State Duma has also approved a government bill on Russian industrial products in its first reading. Its adoption will contribute to the promotion of these products on the market.

Industry experts have also developed a special methodology for determining the level of technological sovereignty of the machine tool industry. About 130 billion roubles have been allocated in the draft three-year budget to help this industry.

It is important to provide for the creation of a specific line of deeply localised high-tech products in all key areas. In order to achieve this, the Government has decided to launch large technological sovereignty projects: so-called megaprojects. Their significant difference lies in the fact that production must be based on their own development lines under national control. At the same time, it is very important that they use their own design capabilities and factors of production.

We have approved the list of the first ten. They involve the production of diesel engines, machine tools, medicines and medical equipment, as well as chemical, electronic, and radio electronic products, including critical information infrastructure equipment; also unmanned aircraft systems and the production of liquefied natural gas. There are also those that will speed up the manufacturing of domestic aircraft and ships.

They will be implemented utilising the state budget as well as private investments. The total funding for each project will be at least 10 billion roubles.  As a result, there must be long-term demand for domestic innovations in these areas, which will result in reduced dependency on imports of both of hardware and software.

The successful launch and implementation of such initiatives will also have an intersectoral effect, since socially significant sectors of our economy, such as healthcare, fuel and energy, and transport complexes, will become customers of their products, not to mention industry.

The development of the necessary legislative and methodological foundation must be completed by the end of the year. It will be used to calculate indicators of the level of technological sovereignty by type of economic activity, among other things. And a draft law on technology policy in the Russian Federation must be submitted to the State Duma.

Colleagues,

Today we will have an in-depth discussion on how the formation of the four megaprojects is going, for example The Production of Medium- and High-Speed Diesel Engines, as well as the Import Substitution of Critical Chemical Products, within which it is necessary to establish the production of components for goods fabricated at our plants, various reagents, raw materials and additives for composite materials, as well as for the pharmaceutical industry.

There are two additional projects that are aimed at localising the production of the most needed medical products and medicines, primarily from the vital and essential list, as well others that are strategically significant. The quality and accessibility of medical care for our citizens largely depends on the availability of these goods.