Decision limiting foreign ownership of significant information resources not to be detrimental to investors - Putin
BRASILIA. Nov 15 (Interfax) - The Russian government has not yet made a decision on the bill on limiting the share of foreign ownership of important information resources; it will take into account both the interests of investors and national security, Russian President Vladimir Putin said.
"There is no decision made at the government level so far. Although there is a draft bill [in this regard], I know that debate is continuing and the government will find a flexible instrument for regulating this market without detriment to our foreign partners, but with an ability for the state to ensure its security," Putin said at a press conference following the BRICS summit on Thursday.
"I perfectly realize that, and my colleagues in the government and I have repeatedly spoken out in this regard. We surely need to find a balance between the interests of security and developing the market," he said.
Russia is interested in the inflow of foreign investment, he said.
"The IT market is arranged in such a way that we are interested in the flow and preserving of foreign investment, foreign technology. We are interested in creating the best environment for the development of this sector of the Russian economy, a sector that is greatly important to us," Putin said.
"We understand that this is also an extremely important industry, meaning the interests of the public as a whole and individual citizens, but we won't allow a situation in which our foreign partners could be put in disadvantageous and uncompetitive conditions," Putin said.
"We understand all nuances of this complicated process. I'll tell you again: I hope a balance will be found between all these factors and the government will propose a flexible regulating tool," he said.