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Yakutian delegation to discuss trade and economic cooperation with Canadian businesses

The negotiation will focus on processing technologies and technologies of road construction

TORONTO, April 16 (Itar-Tass) —— A delegation from Russia’s republic of Sakha (Yakutia), which arrived here on a two-day working visit on Sunday, will meet with Canadian businessmen on Monday to discuss broader trade and economic ties.

The delegation is led by Yakutia’s first deputy prime minister Alexei Struchkov. The negotiation the Yakutian delegation will hold in Canada will focus on such issues as using Canadian timber processing technologies and technologies of road construction in conditions of the North, problems of plant growing in conditions of the cold climate, advanced medical technologies, and Canada’s experience in the use of electronic technologies by executive authorities, Yakutia’s envoy in Canada Marina Desyatkina told Itar-Tass.

The visit is expected to yield agreements on cooperation with venture funds and companies, with direct investment funds, including such companies as Silver Bear Resources and Forbes Manhattan’s Group on the Mangazeisky project.

Yakutia established contacts with Canada back in 1994, when a group of Russian governors met with the then Canadian Prime Minister, Jean Chretien. It was then that an agreement was reached to send to Yakutia a number of Canadian buffalos as a gift. In 2006, a total of 30 animals from Canada’s Alberta were delivered to the Lenskiye Stolby national wildlife reserve in Yakutia. In March 2011, more animals were delivered to Yakutia. Canadian experts hailed the move as a contribution to the expanding of biological diversity in Siberia.

In early March 2012, delegated from Yakutia were invited to take part in a forum in Toronto that was dedicated to Russian-Canadian trade and promoting ecological tourism. The forum discussed possible investments in the development of the transport infrastructure in the Arctic, problems of environment protection activities, broader economic possibilities for people living in the North, including promoting ecological tourism, housing construction and development of traditional crafts.