MOSCOW. Jan 20 (Interfax-AVN) - Director general of the Moscow-based Salyut machine-building production association Yuri Yeliseyev has proposed imposition of a moratorium on privatization of defense industry enterprises for a few years and consider each privatization case individually.
"It is necessary to analyze results of work of privatized enterprises. What has the state gained from it? The analysis shows that results of enterprises' activity hardly ever depend on the form of property. There are examples of private and joint- stock companies falling apart and state-owned enterprises working successfully, and there are examples of the opposite," Yeliseyev said in an interview with the Vedomosti newspaper published on Monday.
According to him, the form of property is not a goal in itself. The main thing is to make an enterprise work successfully.
"Judging from the recently adopted law on federal state- owned unitary enterprises, some officials believe that the country will become rich as soon as federal state-owned unitary enterprises are gone. They have made statements that federal state-owned unitary enterprises are a heavy burden for the federal budget. Are we who paid over USD50m in taxes alone in 2002 alone and who received nothing for the implemented state defense order, a burden for the budget?" Yeliseyev said.
According to him, transfer of production from industrial centers to remote locations could make the activity of defense industry enterprises more efficient.
"We have started dealing with it with buying a stake in a plant in the Yaroslavl region (Gavrilov-Yam). We have also bought an interest in the Topaz plant in Chisinau," Yeliseyev said.
The average wages in Moldova hardly exceed USD20 a month, and that is why there is no problem with recruiting personnel, he added.
Salyut is among Russia's leading manufacturers of aircraft engines. The enterprise was found in 1912. Its sales volume amounted to USD240m in 2000, USD320m in 2001 and USD450m in 2002.