The participants discussed the economic potential of the Northern Sea Route and Arctic territories for development

The plenary session “Arctic Plan. International aspect" took place at the XXVII St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF-2024) on 7 June. The Minister of the Russian Federation for the Development of the Far East and the Arctic Alexey Chekunkov and Rosatom Special Representative for the Development of the Arctic Vladimir Panov participated in the session along with the representatives of the Arctic regions, business and science community. The participation of Dr. Hide Sakaguchi, President of the Ocean Policy Research Institute (OPRI) of the Sasakawa Peace Foundation from Japan, and Fan Yuxin, Chairman of Hainan Yangpu NewNew Shipping Co. Ltd confirmed international interest in Arctic projects.

“We have reached a new perspective of the Arctic development. The Arctic will develop through an ecosystem comprising four equivalent components: mineral resources, energy, logistics and international cooperation. This “square” will be the foundation for the coming decades.” - summed up the session Vladimir Panov, Rosatom Special Representative for Arctic Development.

“We must keep up with the times, we have already been making history. We consider the NSR a mission, a mission of our era, our country. We see the Northern Sea Route as a route with high economic returns. In recent years, with the increase in Russia-China trade turnover our activities in this direction have also been increasing. We have high hopes for this route and we plan to develop new projects and produce technological solutions in the near future to intensify the cargo traffic between Russia and China” said Chairman of Hainan Yangpu NewNew Shipping Co. Ltd Fan Yuxin.

Shortly before, Hainan Yangpu NewNew Shipping Co. Ltd and Rosatom’s company signed an agreement to organize year-round cross-border shipping along the Northern Sea Route and create a joint venture for the construction of high-ice-class vessels.

Background

St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) is a major event in the CIS economic space. SPIEF 2024 theme: “The foundation of the multipolar world is the formation of new growth centers.” The forum participants discussed the prospects for the development of healthcare and pharmaceutical industry, as well as the modern labor market, new technologies, development of the Arctic and the Northern Sea Route, and much more besides. Rosatom acted as the SPIEF 2024 title partner.

In 2018, the Government of the Russian Federation appointed Rosatom the infrastructure operator of the Northern Sea Route (NSR). In December 2019, the Government of the Russian Federation approved the NSR Infrastructure Development Plan until 2035 prepared by Rosatom while the plan for the Northern Sea Route development until 2035 was approved on 1 August 2022. One of Rosatom’s strategic goals is to turn the Northern Sea Route into an effective transport artery connecting Europe, Russia and the Asia-Pacific region.