The world space services market is estimated to be worth about $20 billion today, and Russia's share currently amounts to about 11 percent, said Anatoly Perminov, head of Roscosmos, the Federal Space Agency.

"The strategy is based on the ambition to create high-tech industry that will produce competitive high-tech products on the global market," Perminov said.

Opening a government meeting on space strategy Thursday, Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov said the country was a leader in the space sector, but had to apply more effort to maintain its advantages.

Perminov said Russia's rocket and space industry had the potential to accomplish the goal, but added huge efforts would be needed to increase competitiveness. Only 41 percent of Russian space equipment is up to international standards, a government source told the news service Wednesday.

Perminov said another goal was to diversify space products and increase the share of civil space products, which is now about 20 percent. "We hope to make it 30 percent by 2010," he said.

The unnamed official also said this goal would encourage development of other industries. "We have calculated that one ruble invested in the space industry makes 29 rubles in other sectors," he said.

Perminov said other priorities of the space industry's development were space exploration, where Russia planned to consolidate its positions by 2015, and higher quantity and quality of defense products in the rocket industry.

The government source said three or four integrated structures would be formed in Russia's space sector by 2015 to cover 60 percent of all Russian space enterprises.

The source also said the share of new industrial equipment at Russian space companies would be raised from 3 percent to 33 percent to 35 percent by 2015, according to the strategy.

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