PM Putin says privatise non strategic state companies

19 Aug, 2008 03:44 / Updated 16 years ago

State-owned companies that are not part of bigger holdings, should be privatised – that's according to Russia's prime minister Vladimir Putin.

The Russian state owns almost 6 thousand companies and has shares in many more. But the Prime Minister says they could be much better managed. “We are completing the formation of competitive, integrated structures in key sectors of industry – I mean the United Shipbuilding Corporation, United Aircraft Building Corporation among others. Companies that are not part of these corporations and which cannot be used in the state interest, will go into the privatisation programme.”