Hanover, Germany - Russia aims to boost information
technology exports to 10 billion dollars annually by 2010, Russian
Telecommunications Minister Leonid Reiman said Thursday at the Cebit
trade fair in Germany where Russia is this year's partner nation.
Currently Russia mainly exports oil, gas and steel, but hopes its
highly educated engineers and computer specialists will bring it a
major place in the world software and services business.
Reiman said Moscow was currently doing what it could to attract
foreign investment in the sector. Dozens of Russian companies have
stands at Cebit, which opened it doors Thursday for a seven-day run.
It is the world's biggest combined computing and telecoms fair.
Reiman said the Kremlin would be improving intellectual property
laws, which are a key concern for investors who worry that Russian
staff or consumers might steal copyrighted ideas.
He said amending legislation was on the way to step up the fight
against bootleg software, music files and digital videos. Copyright
owners have complained that copying is rampant in both China and
Russia and that the owners do not receive their royalties.
'Yes, it is a concern, and we know it,' said Reiman, speaking
English. Moscow had to change some laws and also apply existing laws
more rigorously. So far Russia had not been very successful against
the piracy.
Russia's negotiations to join the World Trade Organization (WTO)
have been hampered by the piracy issue, with the western music
industry furious about an online music shop, AllofMP3, which offers
tracks for download worldwide at bargain prices.
The shop insists it has rights to the music under Russian
legislation and that downloads abroad are also legal.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur 
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