Russian defense sector has sustainable growth in 2010 - Vice-Premier Ivanov
MOSCOW. April 18 (Interfax-AVN) - The Russian defense sector sets an example of sustainable growth to other Russian industries, Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov said at the opening of the 12th international forum, "High Technologies of the 21st Century", in Moscow on Monday.
"Labor productivity in the defense sector grew by 17% and industrial production enlarged by 12%, including the 18.6% growth in the production of defense items, in the difficult year 2010. If all the other economic sectors had had such a growth, I think the general economic condition would have been much better that it is," he said.
The government is giving substantial assistance to the innovative development of industrial plants, Ivanov said. "We did something last year, including our support to innovative programs of personnel training for high-tech industries. A network of federal and national research universities was created. The federal budget assigned 18.7 billion rubles for the development of federal universities and 8.42 billion rubles for the development of national research universities," he said.