Federation council speaker Sergei Mironov has told the seventh international economic forum in St. Petersburg that the government is fully behind Norilsk Nickel's efforts to crack the American mining market.

Mr Mironov addressed the forum, organized by the CIS inter-parliamentary assembly, the federation council and the ministry of economic development and trade, explaining that such moves would be the key to continuing the developments in Russian industrial growth.

According to figures released at the conference, industrial production has rapidly swelled from a rate of 4.9 per cent in January to 8.5 per cent in May.

The minister of economic development and trade, German Gref, agreed, welcoming the progress made by Norilsk Nickel.

'This is an example of a new type of Russian-US economic cooperation. Russian companies are establishing their presence in a major US market,' he declared.

'The government will furnish support for investment activities. Investors' rights in Russia these days enjoy far better protection than before,' he added.

The international economic forum is scheduled to finish on June 20th.