The co-chairs of the Moscow Economic Forum, Ruslan Grinberg, Alexander Buzgalin and Constantine Babkin, have discussed national industry and its revival. The Moscow Economic Forum will start on Wednesday. Grinberg, Director of the RAS Economic Institute, emphasizes that 20% of the Russian population belongs to the middle class, the market economy is stable and a new industrial age is coming.
Grinberg believes that a modern economy should focus on the non-raw materials industry. He notes that the crisis in the West was caused by too much attention paid to finances, struggles for off-shore business and tax evasion. The problems, he supposes, will only get worse.
Constantine Babkin, President of the Novoye Sodruzhestvo Industrial Union, points out that Russian people should be taught about the benefits of the non-raw sector. As an example, he proposes development of agriculture in Crimea.
Alexander Buzgalin, a Professor of the MSU Economy Faculty, wants a new industrial policy, where the real sector and science would be supported selectively. Resources, he says, should be distributed fairly. People should feel that the resources in the country belong to them. The professor proposes progressive taxes and development of the social sector. He wants people to be given instruments to affect economic policy.
Grinberg says that Russian partners have always been demanding more benefits at minimal promises since the collapse of the USSR. Babkin emphasizes that integration should be based on development of the economy, not “generosity.” He reminds that Russia has been pursuing its own goals: WTO membership, reduction of inflation, accumulation of money. The expert wants a different economic policy. Buzgalin insists that Russia should not integrate under WTO rules but make its own ones.
