Russia may allocate $340 mln for new technoparks

The Russian Communications Ministry is hoping to receive an additional 9.9 billion rubles ($340 million) from the state budget for the construction of new technological clusters, Russian daily Izvestia said on Friday. The allocation of the money is expected to be approved on August 23, during a meeting of the government transport and communications committee, the newspaper quoted a high-ranking ministry official as saying. The Russian government has already approved the allocation of 6.09 billion rubles ($209 million) for the development of technological clusters in the country by 2014 as part of its efforts to diversify Russia's energy-dependent economy. In 2008-2010, the Russian technological clusters' joint incomes stood at 22 billion rubles ($755 million).