02 March 2004 21:41
Russian minister unhappy with pace of defence industry reform
Moscow, 2 March: The acting industry and science minister, Andrey Fursenko, has said he is dissatisfied with the pace
of reform of the defence industry. He made the statement at today's meeting of the ministerial board to discuss the
results of the past year.
"The work to reform the defence industry, a crucial field, failed in 2003," Fursenko said. He said that
projects in the area were narrowly focused and there was no clear understanding of problems among the industry's
workers.
The structural reform of the defence sector must aim towards long-term state orders in military technologies and the
transfer of civilian-purpose technologies to the private sector, Fursenko said.
He said that some 15-20 Russian companies were currently producing the same equipment. "They should be merged
together, so that defence companies can concentrate on new cutting-edge technologies rather than similar output,"
Fursenko said.
[ITAR-TASS news agency] |
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