UPDATE: PM: Russia needs sovereignty in all industries

(rewrites throughout)

MOSCOW, Mar 24 (PRIME) -- Russia needs sovereignty in all industries, especially in defense and pharmaceuticals, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said at a meeting with the Industry and Trade Ministry officials on Friday.

“Imports replacement is not an end in itself. There are positions where we can launch production of analogues quickly, and there are positions where we must ensure a long-term technological sovereignty,” he said. “This is especially true for military components.”

He suggested Russia should use electronic RFID marks for shoes, timber and aviation components.

“Another ministry’s task is regulation of industrial goods turnover and fight with bad-quality and counterfeited goods,” he said.

“A number of pilot projects have been launched here, including, as you know, the marking of fur goods with identification marks.”

He also said that there is an experiment of marking pharmaceuticals with special codes.

“When we see the results we may start thinking about spreading the experience on other goods – shoes, timber, aviation components,” he said.

Medvedev also said that the Russian drugs market is growing primarily thanks to local production.

“It is important that we ensure our own production of generic drugs as well as modern innovation medicines,” he said.

“The share of Russian-made drugs on the list of vital medicines is growing. At present, it amounts to almost 77%. I think this is quite a serious achievement of the last few years.”

Medvedev said that the Russian government has helped industry avoid shocks in the past and will continue to help it in 2017, adding that industrial output rose 1.3% in 2016.

“In the current circumstances this is quite a result as well. The main thing is that we’ve managed to avoid unnecessary shocks. We have kept the core of staff teams, ensured social stability in large industrial centers, sole-industry cities,” Medvedev said.

The government will continue to support the car industry, he said.

“The support measures for the transport machinery have worked. In spite of a general decrease of car production, some of its segments have grown. I mean, for instance, the light commercial vehicle (LCV) segment. But of course, we will continue the work in the framework of earlier decisions,” Medvedev said.

End