Unofficial translation

Statement by H.E. Mr. Alexey BORODAVKIN, Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the United Nations Office and other international organizations in Geneva, at the High-level segment of the 2013 ECOSOC substantive session on the theme "Science, technology and innovation, and the potential of culture, for promoting sustainable development and achieving the Millennium Development Goals"
Geneva, 3 July 2013

Mr.President,

Scientific and technological breakthroughs alongside with cultural upheavals have always been guiding the development of the civilization and determining its quality.

This is also happening nowadays, when we are facing a difficult period of slowdown in the world economy. The heightened challenges and threats in the social and economic field associated with the depletion of natural resources, population growth and increased levels of consumption in the context of urbanization and increased standards of living do not allow for an extensive model of economic development. Building the knowledge-based economy capable of meeting the needs of the modern society while properly addressing social equality and environment balance is a clear priority.

Science and culture have become the key factors in enhancing global economy and its transition to a model of sustainable production and consumption. Science based approaches and strategies should be widely utilized to eliminate the cumulative imbalances and disproportions, level production capacities, unleash professional and creative potential of people.

Therefore we believe that strengthening of the global scientific and technological cooperation and cross-cultural dialogue should be reflected as one of the priorities in the Post-2015 Development Agenda. Its successful implementation will strongly depend on improving effective cooperation at the international level, use of public-private partnership, active engagement of small and medium enterprises, civil society, youth and women.

We also encourage better focusing the activities of the UN Commission on Science and Technology for Development on the key aspects of its mandate. We expect a significant feedback from the development of regional science and innovation centers, taking advantage of the UN Regional Commissions' rich expertise.

We attach particular importance to bridging the digital divide, recognizing the leading role of States in the Internet governance and ICT management for the benefit of all countries in line with their national development priorities. In this context, during the last session of the UN Commission on Science and Technology for Development, Russia proposed to hold the next World Summit on the Information Society in 2015 in Sochi.

At the national level we put special emphasis on the modernization and diversification of the Russian economy with a view to regain our technological leadership in a wide range of knowledge-intensive industries. Significant scientific and technological capacities as well as the persistent policy aimed at expanding the share of high value added value industries in the GDP, allow Russia to demonstrate significant achievements. In recognition of this fact Bloomberg Innovation Index recently ranked Russia as 14^th most innovative country in the world.

The Index findings are well grounded in reality. Russian mobile phone operator MTS holds the 9^th place in the global telecommunication brands rating. In 2013 the Russian-language Internet sector got second place in the World Wide Web if measured by the number of web-sites active users. The biggest Russian search engine Yandex moved to the 4^th place in the world. According to our estimates, Russian internet sector continues to expand.

Today Internet is an important source of information and means of communication. Regrettably, it was also used as a field for cyber-attacks and other illeagal activity. In this regard we welcome an extremely important agreement reached by the President of the Russian Federation Mr.Vladimir Putin and the President of the United States Mr.Barack Obama during their meeting on the margins of the G8 Summit in Lough Erne to create a Russia-US working group on cyber threats. It is a good example of intergovernmental cooperation in this field.

In the context of promoting sustainable and qualitative economic growth in our country we emphasize its three main components: increasing labor efficiency, infrastructure development and innovations. A concrete goal was established - to add within few years 25 million highly skilled jobs to the Russian labor market.

We intend to make breakthrough in a range of promising sectors, such as chemistry, composite materials, aircraft building, ICT and nanotechnologies, as well as biotechnologies and pharmaceuticals, development of new drugs for prevention and treatment of non-communicable diseases. We will henceforth build up market share in the nuclear industry and space services.

Industries which focus on the environmental damage eradication, integrated recycling, industrial waste reduction and energy efficiency will certainly become a new source of economic growth. The total amount of public investments in this field within the country will double in the next ten years.

We shall continue developing and strengthening the institutions that ensure   protection of intellectual property. The establishment in Moscow of the office of the World Intellectual Property Organization will contribute to addressing related issues and building-up the innovative component of the Russia's and the CIS countries' economy.

The innovation agenda is at the core of the Russia's efforts to strengthen intergovernmental cooperation in the social and economic fields. Significant impetus to innovative entrepreneurship has been provide by the current Russian G20 Presidency, which priorities include financing for investment, first of all in human development, jobs, increased predictability, transparency and efficiency of economic governance.

Within the Customs Union and Single Economic Space of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan the share of machinery and equipment trade in the internal goods turnover has reached 20%. The "Partnership for Modernization" Initiative launched by Russia and the EU in 2010 appears to be an important tool for reaping benefits from commercializing intellectual property and developing venture enterprises in the Pan-European region.

Mr.President,

In conclusion I would like to welcome the timely effort by ECOSOC to examine the theme of science, technologies, innovations and culture. I am confident that the outcome of our deliberations as reflected in the ministerial declaration will serve as long-term guidelines for international cooperation in these fields and will significantly contribute to the proper advancement of science, technologies, innovations and culture into the global development agenda for the years ahead.