Opening domestic markets to foreign trade and investment was among the most important post-Soviet steps a newly emergent Russia needed to take. While the Gorbachev regime failed to successfully meet this fundamental goal, the country has since linked itself to the rest of the world thoroughly and successfully. Among the primary drivers of this success has been the fact that Russia sits atop the world’s largest reserves of natural gas, the second largest reserves of coal, and the eighth largest reserves of oil. In 2005, the oil sector (and its related services) accounted for a full 40% of Russia’s GDP. Oil and natural gas, along with metal and timber, make up more than 80% of all Russian exports abroad. It should be noted, however, that the past several years have seen a proportional decrease in the importance of natural resources to Russia’s overall export picture. Despite currently high energy prices, for example, oil and gas only contribute to 5.7% of Russia’s GDP, a number predicted to fall to 3.7% by 2011. That being said, the nation is and will continue to be an energy superpower.
The other sector of primary (and growing) importance to the Russian economy is the science and technology industry. Due to its enormous population and high rates of higher education, Russia has a massive pool of scientific talent on which to draw. The county is particularly strong in aerospace, nuclear engineering, and the basic sciences. The sale of arms also plays a large role in the economy, with Russia now being second to only the United States in the sale of weapons. Other influential and specialized sectors of the IT industry include algorithm design and microelectronics. Nuclear technology is also of increasing importance, with Russian having recently sold plants nuclear power plants to both China and India, and having recently signed a joint venture with Toshiba to develop a series of next-generation power plants. |
