Russia’s Exports of Software to Equal Oil Exports in 10 Years – Minister

MosNews.com, September 15, 2004
(http://www.mosnews.com/money/2004/09/15/softwareexport.shtml)

In 2005 Russia’s software exports may amount to $1 billion, said the country’s Telecommunications Minister Leonid Reiman, quoted by Interfax on Wednesday, September 15.

Reiman was speaking at the Third Baikal Economic Forum in the Siberian city of Irkutsk and pointed out that in 2003 the volume of Russia’s software exports was half as small, amounting to $500 million.

Reiman went on to make an even more interesting prediction. The minister said: “In the next 10 years the output of the Russian software industry may equal the volumes of oil production [in a financial equivalent].” He also forecasted that in 2006 the volume of software exports will grow to $2 billion.

Currently the majority of Russian software is exported as the product of outsourcing. More and more Western majors, such as Motorola, Nokia, Boeing, Intel and Dell open up their open their software development centers in Russia and hire Russian specialists in order to lower their expenses by 40 to 60 percent. The best-known Russian software development company that doesn’t act as an outsource outlet is Kaspersky Lab which offers “protection from viruses, hackers and spam”.