MOSCOW, March 24. /TASS/. Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev promised to continue focusing on reasonable import substitution and said that Russia's technological sovereignty will be preserved primarily in the defense industry.
"We will continue focusing on reasonable import substitution," Medvedev said at a meeting with the Industry and Trade Ministry.
"Import substitution is not just a goal in and of itself. We can quickly create analogues for some positions, and for others we must ensure long-term technological sovereignty, especially with respect to the defense component," the Prime Minister said.
"Production of military-industrial complex products grew by more than 10% in 2016," Medvedev said. According to him, "it is important to use the technological and personnel potential of the defense industry not only to ensure the country's defense capabilities, although, of course, this is the most important part, but also to solve the tasks of diversifying production." "Our goal is not to force defensive factories to produce frying pans, as it happened in our history, but we need to build sustainable business models that allow successful implementation of innovative technologies," he said.
Medvedev noted that development of Russia’s aviation industry and shipbuilding continues, noting the recent formation of the Aviation Board. "In shipbuilding, growth of civilian production amounted to 11%, in aircraft construction - almost 20%," Medvedev said.