Addressing a meeting on developing the Russian shipbuilding industry, President Vladimir Putin said he was unhappy with a situation in which more than 90 percent of all civilian vessels for Russian companies are built at foreign shipyards. Mr Putin said that the cause of this situation lies in the fact that the state has not put in place the conditions needed to stimulate the domestic shipbuilding industry’s development and has not reacted in time to events taking place in the Russian and world economies.
The President called for urgent work to formulate a principled policy for creating integrated structures that would be able to carry out a state strategy for developing the shipbuilding industry, and also to define structural state support measures for the industry in the areas of taxation, loans and subsidies.
Mr Putin noted that what is needed in this sector is a dose of healthy protectionism that would enable Russian shipbuilders to strengthen their positions without undermining the market conditions underlying the sector’s functioning.