Mikhail Mishustin: “It is important to continue creating comfortable and high-quality living conditions for the people living there and companies doing business there, if we want to fully unlock the economic potential of that macro-region.”
Mikhail Mishustin’s opening remarks:
Mikhail Mishustin holds a strategic session on developing Russia’s Arctic
Mikhail Mishustin holds a strategic session on developing Russia’s Arctic
Mikhail Mishustin holds a strategic session on developing Russia’s Arctic
Good afternoon, colleagues.
Today, we are going to discuss matters related to developing Russia’s Arctic zone, its strategic importance in nearly all areas of national security, including environmental, resource, and technological security. The President has emphasised this point on many occasions.
The Arctic makes up over a quarter of our country’s territory and is home to about 2.5 million people. The Russian Arctic’s maritime border is over 20,000 km long. The Arctic is rich in natural gas, oil, platinum group metals, copper, titanium, and other natural resources.
It is undeniably a challenging region in terms of environmental and climatic conditions, but its investment appeal is very high. This is why, following the President’s instructions, we are implementing mechanisms to boost entrepreneurial activity and building the necessary infrastructure.
The region is home to the world’s largest free economic zone and three priority development areas. Nearly 1,000 projects with investment running into almost 2 trillion roubles of privately-owned funds are being implemented with state support, and tens of thousands of new jobs are being created.
It is important to continue creating comfortable and high-quality living conditions for the people living there and companies doing business there, if we want to fully unlock the economic potential of that macro-region.
Developing the Northern Sea Route is central to these efforts, as its purpose goes beyond being the key to improving transport connectivity between our country’s far-flung regions. It is also as a globally competitive shipping route.
Last week, the Government allocated 300 million roubles to ensure regular shipping operations along this route through the end of this year.
The measures that we have planned must be carried out so that the Northern Sea Route becomes a reliable transport artery for the steady delivery of critical goods to residents, and building materials and equipment to the companies that engage in large-scale projects.
The priority development of the Arctic zone certainly includes improving the quality of life for our people, to which end a broad set of measures, which have proven effective and popular in the Far East, has been developed. Acting on the President’s instruction, we made many of these measures available in the Arctic as well.
A lump-sum subsidy is one such measure. Over the past two years, it was used to fund the construction or renovation of dozens of kindergartens, schools, medical centres, and cultural and sports centres. Extensive work is underway to upgrade the mass transit system and to improve urban spaces. About 4.5 billion roubles have been allocated in the budget to this end for the next three years.
Low-cost mortgage at 2% APR is another critical measure, which is highly sought after in the Far East. It has helped nearly 8,000 families move into new homes, be it a flat or a house. At the President’s initiative, this programme has been renewed through 2030.
In addition to that, a lump-sum payment in the amount of 1 million roubles to repay housing loans has been extended to include large families in the Chukotka Autonomous Area. It is available to parents who have had a third or fourth, etc. child.
More than 9,000 residents have obtained free-of-charge land plots under the Hectare in the Arctic programme.
The Far North is all about extreme living conditions. The President has repeatedly emphasised the importance of accelerating the efforts to fulfil current and future goals and ensuring the uninterrupted provision of goods, services, and materials to people and organisations. This also includes expanding the industrial, utility, and social infrastructure.
The President made it clear that the decisions regarding financial support for the Russian regions and economic growth should aim at improving the quality of life. To achieve this goal, all special development programmes, including the one for the Arctic, have been renewed.
We have approved a list of 16 core communities. Considering their economic potential, they will host growth centres for the comprehensive development of this macro-region, similar to what has already been done for the urban areas in the Far Eastern Federal District. This will boost the investment, create more new jobs and, eventually, speed up the construction of modern housing, kindergartens, and outpatient clinics and hospitals, and the efforts to upgrade the utility services for the residents of these remote areas to have access to high-quality medical services, education, heated premises, and clean water.
Colleagues, we must continue to implement the entire package of measures seeking to development the Arctic zone as part of the strategy approved by the President four years ago. However, considering the external economic situation and the important part the Arctic plays in matters of national security, we need to develop a number of extra measures. We will need to discuss these issues in more detail today.
