ST. PETERSBURG, June 17. /TASS/. The State Transport Leasing Company and the Murmansk Region’s government inked an agreement on the Arctic ship repair cluster in the region, the Murmansk Region’s information ministry said on Thursday.

The region’s Governor Andrey Chibis and the State Transport Leasing Company’s Deputy Director General Sergey Lapshin signed the agreement at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.

"Under the agreement, the parties will cooperate actively in implementation of the project to organize and develop the cluster to repair civil vessels in the Arctic Region," the ministry said. "One of the directions for future cooperation is to use the existing area in the Murmansk Region to make a hi-tech complex to repair the merchant fleet and the fishing fleet."

The governor stressed the importance of ship repair facilities in the current international situations, not only for the Murmansk Region, but for the entire country. "The project to build and repair civil vessels in the region will give an impetus to development of the Murmansk region," the release quoted the governor as saying. "Most importantly, we already have all the competences for this big project. From the very beginning, our suggestion has been supported by Minister for Development of the Far East and Arctic Alexey Chekunov and by Minister of Industry and Trade Denis Manturov. With the reliable partner - the State Transport Leasing Company - we have been working on the Lavna port, which is a backbone element in the Murmansk transport hub. Now, we will continue the cooperation - in ship repairing."

The leasing company’s Director General Yevgeny Dietrich, in his turn, stressed it is important to build up ship repair facilities in the Arctic. "We are facing a new ambitious task to build up the national ship repair facilities in the Russian Federation’s Arctic Zone," the regional information ministry quoted him as saying. "Additionally, the new ship repair cluster will be a catalyst for the region’s social and economic development, it will attract investments, create new jobs and competence centers."

Earlier, the State Transport Leasing Company has participated in projects in the Murmansk Region to develop the sea transport. The company has played a key role in structuring the Lavna port project in Murmansk. Presently, the company is an investor in infrastructure projects and a supplier of leased assets in the Kola Region.

Existing ship repair facilities in the region

The Murmansk Region’s ship repair facilities have been used mostly to service the military-industrial complex, since the Northern Fleet is based in the region. For the development of civil ship repair in the Arctic, the Murmansk authorities suggest introducing a 0% VAT in this industry, as well as to upgrade the existing, mostly outdated, docks and berths in the region. According to the local authorities, the region already has the necessary base for the accelerated development of ship repair in the Arctic: the market has been formed, the Arctic Capital and the Russian Arctic (advance development zones) offer incentives, and the region has a reserve of specialists and the necessary potential - by autumn three engineering classes in ship repair will open in the region; besides, the college - plant education program in underway. According to the authorities, the current ship repair market in the Murmansk Region is estimated at 2 billion rubles ($35.3 million).

About the forum

The St. Petersburg International Economic Forum organized by the Roscongress Foundation is taking place on June 15 through to 18. This year’s forum is dubbed: ‘New Opportunities in a New World’. A number of other events will take place beyond the business program. Among them are the SME Forum, the Creative Business Forum, the Drug Security Forum, the SPIEF Junior Dialogue, and SPIEF Sport Week. TASS is the event’s official photo hosting agency and information partner.