Rustam Minnikhanov takes part in government meeting on chemical industry development

On July 3 Russian Prime Minister Dimtry Medvedev held a government meeting on developing Russia’s chemical and petrochemical sector.

The meeting took place at JSC Polief production facilities in Blagoveshensk (Bashkortostan) and was attended by Tatarstan President Rustam Minnikhanov, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich, Russian Minister of Energy Alexander Novak, and Plenipotentiary Representative of the Russian Federation in Volga Federal District Mikhail Babich, Bashkortostan President Rustem Khamitov, and heads of large oil and gas and petrochemical companies.

Dmitry Medvedev started the meeting by saying that the chemical and petrochemical industries remained important sectors of the Russian economy. Oil products are used in almost all industries, including transport industry, agriculture, and defence industry. However, despite decent growth (about 3.5%), high-technology products make up no more than 10% of exports.

Support measures for national manufacturers within chemical industry development strategy up to 2030 and measures on stimulating domestic demand for national materials, especially for road construction, were discussed during the meeting.

According to the plan, the share of petrochemical and gas products refined by petrochemical enterprises will increase twice, up to 57 percent. One of the areas of petrochemical sector development may be the increase of petrochemical and gas products consumption from 9.7 to 37 mln tons. It will enable changing Russia’s status form net importer to net polymer exporter.

Bashkortostan President Rustem Khamitov emphasized that petrochemical cluster must be developed in Volga Federal region.