MURMANSK, April 12 (Itar-Tass) — There is a place for small and medium businesses in grandiose projects to explore natural resources of the Arctic. These possibilities were discussed at the international conference “Logistics in the Arctic” in Murmansk, organized by the Murmanshelf association of oil-and-gas equipment suppliers.
More than 100 delegates took part in the conference. They included leadership and specialists from leading Russian and foreign companies specializing in transport logistics and supplies of oil and gas, from research institutes and educational establishments training specialists for transport and the oil-and-gas sector, from banks as well as investment and insurance companies.
“Economic activity in the Arctic expands every year, and along with that a need to develop region’s infrastructure, which is far from being perfect, also grows,” deputy governor of the Murmansk region Igor Saburov said at the conference. “In our opinion it is necessary to more fully use possibilities of enterprises and organizations of small and medium-sized businesses, first of all those that make part of the Association,” he said.
At the present moment it brings together almost 15 such enterprises, and almost one third of them are foreign companies servicing major oil and gas companies. Their products are first of all intended to create more favorable conditions for main participants in the implementation of major projects. As for the Murmansk region, this is the development of the Shtokman gas field, the setting up of a special port economic zone, the development of the Murmansk transport hub connecting both projects.
Participation of entrepreneurs in that will not only facilitate the settlement of global tasks, but will also create thousands of new jobs, which is particularly important for the region, participants in the conference said.