Putin: Russian economy must diversify

President Vladimir Putin told Russia’s most powerful business tycoons Tuesday that the economy suffers from an over-reliance on raw materials and called on corporations to move toward producing higher-value exports.

Speaking at a Kremlin meeting with several of Russia’s wealthiest businessmen, Putin said unprocessed raw materials accounted for a rising share of exports, increasing from 80 percent in 2000 to 85 percent in 2005.

“This tendency should worry the business community as much as it does the government,” he said in televised comments at the start of the discussion. “We must learn not only to profitably export crude oil, gas, ores and timber — we need to process these natural resources within the country and export valuable, high-tech products.”
Business Week