Russian-made software supplies to state bodies may double in 2016 following the requirement to give priority to the software included in the national register in connection with governmental purchases, Communications and Mass Media Minister Nikolai Nikiforov told reporters.
According to him, it is too early to speak about the outcome of the register’s introduction since budget purchases are not evenly made throughout the year but most of them are made in the last quarter.
“The tenders concerning Russian-made software purchases have almost doubled in amount,” the minister elaborated.
The Communication and Mass Media Ministry earlier drew up a bill that would include software made in the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) member states into the Russian national register. “Foreign, mostly Western companies have been very active in the EAEU countries, I think they will try to enter Russian market through the EAEU,” Nikiforov noted. “But we have learned to assess the long beneficiaries’ chains and the most complicated contracts on the intellectual property rights transfer so we will have our work cut out for us in this field,” the minister stressed.
The Russian-made software register includes more than 2,000 various products that state agencies should give priority to when purchasing software. Foreign software can only be purchased by state bodies if there is no domestic alternative.