Reasonable migration in limited amounts necessary for economic growth in Russia - economic development minister

MOSCOW. April 28 (Interfax) - The reasonable attraction of labor migrants to Russia in limited amounts is necessary for economic growth, Economic Development Minister Maxim Reshetnikov said at the Alfa Summit on Tuesday.

"The key factor [for economic growth] is productivity. We talk a lot about this now, we are doing a lot about it, and we understand that we need to move away from supporting low-productivity jobs. This trend is now slowly receding and turning around, but it must be accompanied by robotics, artificial intelligence, the introduction of technologies and so on," Reshetnikov said.

"Very often, organizational changes make a very large contribution - the very emergence of the platform economy has changed everything a lot," he said.

"And the third point, which also needs to be discussed, is that, be that as it may, without migration it will probably be difficult for us to ensure economic growth either," Reshetnikov said.

"Therefore, reasonable, beneficial migration in limited amounts is needed. But nevertheless, it is needed. Therefore, building a competent system for attracting and retaining the personnel we need in the country is also a major challenge. Moreover, we will have to solve these problems in the context of intensified competition [for personnel]. Suffice it to say that China is experiencing a reduction in its working-age population, and many Arab countries are constantly absorbing personnel. There is very serious competition for personnel. The personnel we want - those with Russian language skills, who are adapted and so on - their potential [the number of workers] is quite limited. This is a major challenge," Reshetnikov said.