June 9 (Bloomberg) -- Russia, the world's 10th largest economy, plans to be one of the five biggest by 2020, First Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov said.
Russia will join the ranks of the world's leading market economies as a full-fledged democracy within a dozen years, Ivanov told global business leaders at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum today.
``What will Russia be like in 2020? It'll be a democratic state based on the rule of law,'' said Ivanov, who may be a candidate for president after Vladimir Putin's final term ends next year. Per capita gross domestic product will reach $30,000 by 2020 and at least half of Russians will be ``middle class.''
Ivanov rebuffed criticism from the U.S. and European Union that Putin's government is backsliding on democracy and taking greater control of the economy. Russia is finding its ``own path,'' and will be ``compatible'' with other countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, he said.
Ivanov, a former defense minister promoted to first deputy prime minister in February, outlined a broad vision for a Russia diversifying away from its ``addiction to natural resources'' to become a leader in high technology, aerospace and the nuclear industry. The Russian government can achieve that goal by forming partnerships with private foreign and domestic investors, Ivanov said.
``This doesn't mean that we're returning to state monopolies,'' he said.
Legal Reforms
The government can also play a role by overhauling the country's legal system, investing in education and rooting out endemic corruption, Ivanov said.
Ivanov's speech opened the St. Petersburg forum, which is being attended by executives from more than 200 global companies.
Ivanov is neck-and-neck with the other first deputy prime minister, Dmitry Medvedev, to succeed Putin as president in the March elections, according to an April poll by the Levada Center. Neither Ivanov nor Medvedev has formally announced their candidacy.
Source : www.bloomberg.com
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