MOSCOW: Russia's part in the purchase of GM's Europe unit Opel will prove a waste of time if no Western technology is gained,German Gref, the head of deal participant Sberbank, was quoted as saying on Saturday.

"The point of our participation in the deal is for the import of technology. If this doesn't happen, then we wasted our time," Gref was quoted by news agency RIA Novosti as saying at an economic forum in the Black Sea resort of Sochi.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin upheld the Opel purchase as an "encouraging example" in a speech on the first day of the forum Friday urging greater foreign investment in Russia.

"We have a need not only for money -- though this is of course very important -- but first of all for the knowledge and experience of the main world players," Putin said in the televised speech.

State-owned Sberbank has teamed with Canadian auto parts maker Magna to purchase a joint majority 55-percent stake in Opel, while General Motors will keep 35 percent.

Under the deal Opel will produce its Astra model cars in Russia, Opel chairman Hans Demant said in an interview with the Polish daily Rzeczpospolita this week.

Russia's car market, hailed as the world's fastest growing before the economic crisis, has shrunk by almost half this year, dealing a blow to Russian carmakers already struggling to compete with the flood of foreign imports.

GAZ, Russia's second-largest car manufacturer, is poised to turn over its sprawling assembly line anddistribution network to produce Opel cars for the Russian market.