#3 - JRL 7253
OVER 2,000 STATE-RUN FACILITIES TO BE PRIVATISED IN RUSSIA IN 2004

Moscow, July 17 (RIA Novosti) - Over 2,000 facilities, with state-owned shares, will be privatised in Russia in 2004, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov said Thursday at a government session.

In his words, enterprises with state shares amounting to 25-percent or less, will be subject to privatisation. According to the premier, at issue is excessive property.

The results of the privatisation are indisputable though the major goal of this and next year is to improve the quality and openness of privatisation processes, the prime minister emphasised.

The bulk of the economy is already out of state control. Of course, there were faux pas but on the whole there are plenty of advantages in the operation of private capital, Kasyanov stressed.

In the next three years, the premier said, the government will clear the Russian markets off of non-competitive state-owned enterprises.