MANILA, November 13. /TASS/. The Russian government expects that up to 60% of the country’s population should take part in projects related to small businesses, while today they cover about 25% of citizens, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said at the ASEAN Business and Investment Summit in Manila on Monday.

"We are dissatisfied with the level of our economic relations’ coverage by small businesses. We would assume that somewhere around 50-60% of the population in our country should be involved in those projects related to small businesses. So far these figures are smaller, about 25% of our population are involved in various forms of small businesses," he noted.

According to the Russian prime minister, the government will push ahead with its efforts to encourage the development of small enterprises. "The most important thing is to make sure that government agencies pay considerable attention to the issue," he said, adding that the future of Russia’s economy will depend, to a large extent, on the development of this sphere of the economy.