Transcript:
Question: What kind of proposals did the Ministry of Industry and Trade make to the Prime Minister?
Denis Manturov: Our proposals regarding the expansion of our machine-tool industry are first and foremost about amending Government Resolution No. 56 of 2011. This resolution encouraged our machine-tool companies to supply their products to customers from other industries. However, our machine-tool enterprises were not manufacturing certain products at a time when the decision was made. Thus, we proposed amending the resolution and expanding the list of products that are now being made in Russia for purposes of public procurement or, to be more precise, whose capital costs are covered by the state budget. Our goal is to start buying these products from Russian manufacturers rather than foreign. This year, we will be completing the first phase of the machine-tool industry’s expansion programme. We have developed a fairly wide range of products that will soon go into production, so the enterprises are counting on orders by industrial associations and the defence industry as the latter proceed to upgrade their production floors.
Question: It has already been mentioned that the defence industry enterprises are using fairly worn-out machine tools. Are there any plans to dispose of them?
Denis Manturov: No. We can, of course, use disposal programmes in all our industries, but I don’t think that it’ll do us any good. I believe that our enterprises are driven by the existing targeted programme to develop and manufacture innovative machine-tool products through a consolidated government order. Such an order will be put together under several federal targeted programmes, primarily, the federal targeted programme for the defence industry which provides for major purchases of machine tools. Of course, we hope that import restrictions (this is not inconsistent with WTO rules as they relate to the public sector) will also provide an additional incentive for our machine-tool enterprises.
Speaking about a scenario without the participation of the state, our enterprises have orders worth at least 150-200 billion roubles until 2020 which will ensure the minimum growth of the Russian machine-tool industry at 30%-35% a year. This is fairly impressive growth, but we have set ourselves even more ambitious goals. We consider establishing joint ventures, developing our own production capacities for new projects through Stankin’s State Engineering Centre and the system integrator facility which was recently created by Russian Technologies at Oboronprom’s subsidiary companies, which will consolidate orders for enterprises run by Russian Technologies during the modernisation projects. So, I think that our current activities plus corporate decisions to be taken in the future will further promote purchases of competitive Russian-made machine tools.
Question: Let me clarify something. Do the orders to 2020, which will provide for up to 35% growth, come from the defence industry alone or does that number include all Russian industry?
Denis Manturov: I'm talking about the orders placed by Russian industry as a whole. Eighty percent of this amount will come from defence enterprises.
Thank you.
