MOSCOW, January 28. /TASS/. Russian non-resource and non-energy exports gained 3.5% year-on-year in 2020 and will be over $160 bln, General Director of the Russian Export Center (REC) Veronika Nikishina told reporters on Thursday.

"According to the REC estimate, non-resource and non-energy export will be over $160 bln in 2020, while its share in total exports is very close to a half. This is 3.5% more than in 2019 and almost 3.5 times more than in 2000, when exports totaled $46 bln," she said.

REC also considers obvious preconditions are in place for growth of non-resource and non-energy exports in 2021, even if calculating them under a more strict procedure, without gold exports, Nikishina noted.

"This is exactly the task, including for REC as for a development institution, so that exporters can take advantage of these preconditions and opportunities and build up supplies, even despite challenging external circumstances exerting strong influence," she added.