Putin: Russia not to build barriers for international econ coop

MOSCOW, Dec 26 (PRIME) -- Russia does not plan to fall into isolationism and build barriers for international economic cooperation, President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday at a meeting with representatives of business circles.

“I’ll stress that we’re certainly not going to fall into isolationism, we also talked about this with you several times, build some barriers for international economic cooperation. We understand perfectly well that this in itself will curb the country’s development,” Putin said.

Support of businesses is one of Russia’s main tasks in conditions of foreign restrictions, he said.

“In general, support of domestic business, boosting its capabilities is one of the most important tasks, especially today, when Russian companies are facing certain external restrictions. And outright attempts of unfair competition, elimination of competitors and repartition of markets are seen behind the political screen. We see this in certain examples, they are completely obvious, our partners sometimes do not even conceal it,” Putin said.

Russia will support its exporters, first of all, in the non-energy sector, Putin said.

“Of course, we will support our exporters, first of all, of course, in the non-energy sector – high-technology industries, agriculture,” he said.

A work on improving Russia’s business climate will continue, he added.

Putin said the government expects that businesses will participate in implementation of Russia’s national projects.

He also offered businessmen to take part in development of the gas motor fuel market. He said he was talking about creation of modern infrastructure, a network of gas filling stations, as well as a switch of corporate and public transport to liquefied natural gas.

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