Russian economy should not rely on protectionist measures

Russian economy should not rely on protectionist measures, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said in his article published in the Vedomosti newspaper on Monday. “In diversification of economy we cannot rely on protectionist measures. This is not because we entered the World Trade Organization (WTO). We acceded to this organization particularly because we have an economy, which depends strongly on the foreign market in production and consumption. But our citizens and our enterprises pay high import duties. The excessive protectionism will always result in stagnation, low quality and high prices,” the prime minister wrote. He recalled that “after the collapse of the Soviet Union Russia was to integrate in the global labour division, where the major centres of power and proportions were formed without it, moreover, emerged in the confrontation with the Soviet Union.” “The markets of developed countries turned out to be protected by numerous barriers, aimed  to protect their interests. The difference in technological standards became an additional problem for integration into the world economy,” Putin noted. He emphasized that “in these conditions, however, we succeeded to build an economy, which became an integral part of the world economy.” However, Putin acknowledged that “we succeeded to do so mainly relying on our natural resources” and the country is very dependable on the imports of consumer goods, technologies and sophisticated products. “Today Russia depends on the world economy, it is strongly integrated into it, much more than most other countries,” the premier said with confidence. “Russia cannot afford to have an economy, which does not guarantee us stability, sovereignty and welfare,” he believes. “We need a new economy with competitive production and infrastructure, developed service sector and efficient agriculture. An economy, which will function on a modern technological base. We should build an efficient mechanism to invigorate the economy, find and attract enormous material and manpower resources required for it,” Putin underlined.