NON-PRIMERY EXPORT PROMOTION: INTERNATIONAL EXPERIENCE AND RUSSIAN PRACTICE

One of the central tasks of the government policy in Russia is the search for the ways of limiting the dependency of the economy on the international commodity prices. Recently a number of steps were taken in the directions comparable to the international practices, at least at a first glance. A number of governmental documents concerning the support of exports from Russia were recently adopted or are currently under development. They stress the imperative to achieve a qualitative shift in the composition of national exports in mid-term through an increase of the share of value-added products. The article analyses the measures of stimulating the non-raw-material export which are actively used internationally and looks at the Russian experience in this field. A special focus is made on the functioning of the Russian institutions created for the purpose. It is agreed that their effectiveness is demonstrably lower than in comparable Western cases. The main reasons include the insufficient volume of financing of the export of finished products and the narrow range of Russian exporters of such products. Currently, the organizational measures are focused on the support of large businesses which have enough resources to enter the international markets on its own. At the same time, there is an obvious lack of stimulus provided to the small and medium enterprises. The authors point at the weaknesses of the Russian trade representative offices abroad. The insufficiency of the existing export promotion measures results in slow structural changes in the Russian export. The authors stress that the competitive of Russian export strategy should be founded on the best international practices adapted to local peculiarities. Principally, the country has everything that is needed to boost the non-raw-materials exports. The Russian exporting industries have significant potential for mobilization and innovations and can expand into new niches on the international market. This requires, among other things, a critical reconsideration of the existing practices and a skilled application of international experience. Besides an increase of the financial support, especially for small and medium businesses, it is needed to create effective instruments of coordination, monitoring and control of the trade representative offices functioning abroad.