Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin held a strategic session on the development of the Northern Sea Route in Moscow today. The event was attended by the Governor of the Murmansk region Andrey Chibis.
"As the President stressed, our foreign partners want to strengthen relations with Russia and are interested in working on the Northern Sea Route," Mikhail Mishustin said.
The issue of logistics and exports is one of the key priorities for the Murmansk Region. Andrey Chibis noted that at the strategic session with colleagues from the Government of the Russian Federation and the regions, the necessary measures for the development of the NSR were discussed. The Governor stressed that the Murmansk Region has advantageous, competitive advantages – the gates of the Northern Sea Route, a powerful nuclear icebreaker fleet, the largest deep-water, ice-free, year-round port beyond the Arctic Circle, an increase in cargo transshipment has been noted. In addition, with the support of Russian President Vladimir Putin, a project is being implemented to create a Murmansk transport hub.
"With the implementation of all the planned plans of the Russian Government, the role of the Murmansk Region as an economic and logistics hub will radically increase. This will entail investments in new projects, the growth of highly qualified jobs, increase taxes to the regional budget and, accordingly, will give more money to improve infrastructure in the region," Andrei Chibis stressed.
In addition, the governor addressed Mikhail Mishustin with proposals for the development of ship repair in the Murmansk region, the dissemination of a training program for the Arctic zone of the Russian Federation and an increase in the Presidential single subsidy for Arctic cities.
The Head of Government noted the relevance of the NSR, since this route is the shortest for the transit of goods from Southeast Asia and China to the ports of Europe. Earlier, during the Russian-Chinese Business Forum, Governor Andrey Chibis stressed that the development of the Northern Sea Route opens up new opportunities for cooperation between the Murmansk Region and Chinese partners.
Now favorable conditions are developing for the development of tourism in the Arctic zone – every year the Far North receives more than 1.5 million tourists. The hospitality industry is actively developing in the Murmansk region. Tourist destinations in the region are in demand all year round. According to Murmanskstat and internal monitoring, the tourist flow to the Murmansk region in 2022 amounted to almost 540 thousand people, which is 11% higher than the tourist flow in 2021. This is a record for the number of guests for all time in our region and among all regions of the Arctic zone. Over 4 years, the regional and federal governments have supported 115 tourism projects worth 350 million rubles in the Murmansk region.
"The hospitality sector has one of the highest multipliers for the economy. It creates especially many jobs," Mikhail Mishustin stressed.
The Prime Minister of the Russian Federation stressed that it is necessary to prepare further steps for the development of the NSR, including to work out measures for: redirecting the cargo base from West to East, construction of ice and non-ice class vessels, development of seaports outside the water area of the route.
"The well–being of the inhabitants of the Arctic zone and the Far East, as well as the development of the economy of our country as a whole depends on solving these issues," the Prime Minister said.
/ Ministry of Information Policy of the Murmansk Region /