MOSCOW, October 11 (RIA Novosti) - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Sunday identified priorities for the domestic economy's modernization, with energy efficiency, information technology, civilian nuclear energy and pharmaceuticals outlined as target areas.

In an interview with the Russian state-owned TV Channel One aired on Sunday, Medvedev said it was important to stimulate these areas to make the Russian economy rely not only on oil and gas but also on high technologies.

"I have formulated top five priorities... They include energy efficiency because we waste too much energy; information products, both ground- and space-based; nuclear energy, which has always been our trump card and can change life for the better, and pharmaceuticals as we must produce our own medicinal drugs qualitatively and at affordable prices," Medvedev said.

Medvedev said that it was also necessary to modernize other sectors of the domestic economy.

"Of course, we must deal with the modernization of our social sphere and political system. We are now reforming the pension system. A whole range of new social laws are coming into force. Next year, large funds have been set aside to finance the pension system," Medvedev said.

Medvedev said that the Russian economy could be modernized within 10-15 years.

"Maybe ten to fifteen years is quite a foreseeable horizon, beyond which we should see already a new economy. An economy that is able to compete with the world's largest economies," Medvedev said.

Medvedev said that the global financial crisis had hit the Russian economy harder than expected but the government's prompt anti-crisis measures helped the country avoid the worst-case scenario.