Krasnodar, 23 March. Today our interviewee is Snezhana Chuiko, Expert Commerce LLC Director General.
Q.: What are the priority trends in contemporary economy, and how do they affect the government procurement sphere?
A.: Because of the technological isolation of the national IT industry, Russian economy is undergoing significant changes which consist in the necessity to start using exclusively domestically made IT equipment. It directly affects the government procurement sphere, because governmental institutions should be the first to react to these changes and use exclusively Russian equipment and software. The commitment to import substitution gained momentum in 2022 due to the fact that Russia wanted to reduce its dependence on foreign technologies and accelerate the development of the national technological sector. The governmental bodies took measures to support the accelerated development of the Russian IT sector by providing funding and support to national technological companies. It will help stimulate innovations and open new jobs in the technological sector. Besides, the heightened demand for domestically made products will favour the growth of the domestic technological sector, which may result in increased exports and development of new IT products.
Q.: Does the number of national software manufacturers suffice the needs of all economic spheres?
A.: When Western software vendors left Russia and freed many promising market niches, the main task that local developers were facing became to produce competitive IT products which are highly competitive with their Western opponents. Although there is a certain scarcity of solutions for graphics and design, the developments of operational systems, office programmes and information security products are showing some vivid success.
Q.: What is the situation with technological equipment?
A.: The situation with technological equipment is somewhat more sensitive due to the scarcity of electronic components and lack of technical possibilities to manufacture them. In this case, import substitution is not as fast as we would like it to be. Nonetheless, the number of competitive manufacturers in the Russian market is quite sufficient.
