Ministry offers measures to support Russian software

NOVO-OGARYOVO, Moscow Region, Mar 30 (PRIME) -- Russia’s ñommunications ministry has proposed measures to support production and promotion of software on the local market, including state purchases, Minister Nikolai Nikiforov told President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday.

“The first thing we offer is to subsidize some expenses on development of system software products…The second measure of support is beneficial lending for IT companies. This measure effectively works in the industry, but the problem is that IT firms are almost deprived of access to this means of support,” Nikiforov said.

Co-financing of expenses on promotion of products, including on foreign markets, like exhibitions, conferences and other events could be another measure.

The fourth measure is tracking purchases of state customers, state companies in order to help them switch to domestic products, Nikiforov said.

“According to our data, only state authorities spend some 20 billion rubles per year on purchases of foreign software, while we have high-quality local products. According to industry associations, exports from Russia, including of IT services and software, amounted to U.S. $7 billion, which is a large amount,” the minister said.

(68.7549 rubles – U.S. $1)

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