News – Russian Government

Mikhail Mishustin: “In order to achieve technological sovereignty and leadership in various sectors, in accordance with the President’s guidelines, we must intensify the development of our national technological and production capabilities in the coming years.”

Opening speech by Mikhail Mishustin:

Good morning, colleagues.

We continue to develop new national projects. In order to achieve technological sovereignty and leadership in various sectors, as directed by the President, we must intensify the development of our national technological and production capabilities in the coming years.

National projects are primarily aimed at achieving these key objectives.

The first project focuses on an industry in which Russia has historically held a strong position: the fuel and energy sector and nuclear power.

This project includes ten federal projects aimed at raising our country to the top ten in the world in terms of spending on scientific research and development. It also aims to raise national spending in these areas to at least 2 percent of gross domestic product.

Let’s start with the nuclear power sector. The plan is to take it to a new level by creating a two-component nuclear power system with a closed fuel cycle, an innovation never seen before in the world. This includes building the world’s first complex including a fast neutron reactor and an automated plant for reprocessing spent fuel. The aim of this initiative is to efficiently recycle the remaining fissile materials.

In addition, significant progress is needed in controlled thermonuclear fusion and innovative plasma technologies. Achieving full operational readiness of the tokamak vacuum chamber using reactive technologies is essential by 2030. This facility is a proprietary Russian plasma confinement system, with planned operational capability in 2035. The aim of this project is to unlock the potential for breakthrough solutions, products and entire fields of science and technology, from more efficient electricity production to cutting-edge space technologies.

It is planned to implement various measures in the field of special materials and advanced R&D projects. The same applies to Rosatom’s systemic efforts to build and operate power units and reactors of large and small power. Another part of the national project is aimed at developing sectors of the energy industry not directly related to nuclear energy. Our goal is to support projects in the field of solar batteries, wind power plants, and the production of energy storage systems and technologies. These measures should facilitate drastic transformations of green energy using renewable energy sources.

Our efforts will encourage many related sectors to address important issues of people’s lives. This includes urban transport systems and the introduction of eco-friendly electric vehicles in cities and job creation in high-tech industrial segments.

In addition, we will support the implementation of current projects and the introduction of new projects in the field of liquefied natural gas, oil and gas production and energy generation. The second national projects concern new materials and chemistry. As the President emphasized, this sphere of the backbone facilitates overall economic stability.

This sector has been developing actively over the past four years. Last year, production of small and medium-tonnage chemical products exceeded the 2020 level by more than 25 percent, or more precisely by 26.1 percent. We launched three production projects, including those related to the production of hydrogen peroxide and polymer additives.

We will subsidize part of the interest on loans and research and development projects in the field of advanced technologies.

The chemical sector has continued to grow since the beginning of 2024 and in the first five months of 2024 grew by more than 6 percent (6.4 percent).

We must support such aspirations. The project of expanding the production of chemical products will become a fundamental federal project, part of the national project. It is planned to create dozens of new technological chains, as well as more than 150 production plants by the end of the decade. We will create entire development ecosystems based on federal competence centers. Importantly, this will make it possible to support multifunctional cities. Usolye-Sibirskoye should have one such center.

We have also developed a federal project to expand the production of composite materials. Its implementation will enable the development and introduction of about 20 advanced products.

As part of the federal project, we will ensure that our geological exploration agencies search for rare metals, rare earths and other resources for economic needs.

The president emphasized the need for this. We will launch investment projects that include the conversion of raw materials into high-tech products. We will create more than 60 products, and it is also necessary to create more than 15 new production plants.

We need to expand the potential of human resources to ensure the long-term efficiency of the entire sector. It is important to establish mechanisms for the continuous updating of educational programs, including mentoring, which has already gained a reputation in all sectors of the economy, especially in manufacturing plants.

The development of chemistry and new materials will contribute to stable economic development. Our goal is to increase the gross value added of the chemical and new materials industry by at least 40 percent compared to 2022. We must ensure that our enterprises achieve leading positions in efficiency and competitiveness, in accordance with the President’s guidelines. It is also necessary to make progress in strengthening the country’s long-term technological and industrial sovereignty.