Medvedev calls to ‘modernize’ Russia
President Dmitry Medvedev called Thursday for Russia to transform itself into a high-tech market economy, stressing that it should happen through democratic values and institutions.
In his annual address to the nation, Medvedev said Russia must diversify away from raw-materials exports and reduce the state’s role in the economy, which would undo a key legacy of his predecessor, Vladimir Putin.
“In the 21st century, our country again requires modernization in all areas, and this will be the first time in our history when modernization will be based on the values and institutions of democracy,” Medvedev said in the speech at the Kremlin.
Medvedev’s speech outlined a vision of Russia as a thriving high-tech power rather than a lumbering giant dependent on its huge oil and gas exports.
“We will build a new economy instead of a primitive resource-oriented economy,” Medvedev said, adding that the competitiveness of Russian manufactured goods was “shamefully low.”
Medvedev also had harsh words for Russia’s “state corporations,” the array of government-owned industrial behemoths created during the 2000-08 presidency of Putin, which control huge swathes of the Russian economy.
Such companies “have no future,” Medvedev said, as Putin, who is now Russia’s prime minister, sat in the front row.