During his visit to Vologda, Minister of Industry and Trade Denis Manturov attended a meeting on the situation in light industry and raw material supplies held by President Vladimir Putin.
In his report, the Minister said in part that one of the main problems in the sector is counterfeit production, and the key task here is to create conditions for improving the competitiveness of legal domestic commodities. In this context, Denis Manturov mentioned the problem of obsolete and worn out equipment, which accounts for a 60% share of equipment at the sector enterprises. According to the Minister, the Government has taken a set of measures to reequip these enterprises, which include subsidising interest rates on loans and state purchases of light industry products to meet the demand of the law-enforcement agencies. The Minister also said that following the President’s instruction, a National Innovation Research Centre based on sector-related institutes will be founded. This institute will create new technology in the sector and adapt existing projects to modern economic conditions. As for the sector's personnel, Denis Manturov said that under a Ministry of Education and Science programme on enlarging institutes and universities and increasing the number of students not funded from the budget, it is necessary to preserve the fundamental academic institutions in the sector that train specialists for light industry. He also believes that it is necessary to recommend that the Ministry of Education and Science create centres of subject-oriented education in regions.
In conclusion, the Minister said that the Government and businesses are currently developing measures supporting the dynamic development of domestic light industry enterprises.
During his visit, Denis Manturov also visited the Vologodsky Tekstil enterprise.
