Medvedev: Russia must became major player in space services market
HAVANA. Feb 25 (Interfax) - Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has set the goal of increasing Russia's share of the global space sector to 15% from 10% currently.
"We want Russia's participation in space activity to increase from 10% to 15%, that is, so that we are not only a leading state in science, a space exploration state, but also a player in the space services market," Medvedev said in an interview with the Cuban media.
"We were the first in space and we reckon that is a competitive advantage. But we can't afford not to invest in space. If we simply bask in the glory of launching the first artificial satellite or of Gagarin's flight, we will simply fall behind," Medvedev said.
The cosmos is not just an arena for science. It is also a market for services, he said.
"Quite recently we approved the program of cosmic research for the period to 2020, in which we plan to spend quite significant sums of money. In dollar terms its about 60 billion," he said.
Russia plans to grow its satellite group and would also like to participate in international launches.
Russia has invested about $20 billion in the field of nanotechnology overall. "That is a pretty significant part of the Russian economy," he said.
The conditions are ripe for cooperation with Cuba in high-tech, Medvedev said.
"We have very good conditions for cooperation with Cuba, because Cuba has quite a lot of achievements in that area and we are eager to cooperate, offer our money, our scientific capabilities and create joint production," he said.
As an example, Medvedev named a host of medicines that the two countries produce jointly.