ST. PETERSBURG, June 15. /TASS/. About 1 billion rubles ($12 million), that is 65% of the general funding, is planned for development of the Northern Sea Route (NSR) to 2025 from the federal budget and other sources. It is a sufficient stage of the project's financing, Minister for Development of the Far East and Arctic Alexey Chekunov told the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum on Thursday.

In August, 2022, the Russian government adopted the Northern Sea Route Development Plan to 2035, where financing is planned at 1.79 trillion rubles ($21 billion).

"We know clearly what to do and who must do what. We can understand by about 65% what this [NSR development] will cost, or rather where to take this money. 1.8 trillion rubles, where 620 billion rubles ($7.4 billion) - from the federal budget, and this money has been planned already, and slightly over 400 billion rubles ($4.7 billion) - from other sources. Thus, about 40% of the plan's funding is the money we still need to find," the minister said.

"This is a regular financing stage of every plan to 2035," he added. "Those are 155 events, roughly speaking, which cover all major aspects and development of the cargo base, as well as the development of the icebreaking and transport fleets, of the rescue infrastructures. Of course, as well as the Northern Sea Route's management system. At the current stage, the plan has been decomposed into about 1,840 detailed events."

The minister pointed to the importance of relying on private businesses. "It (NSR) is a major infrastructure project both for the world and for the Russian Federation. We will try to offer a financing model to make it maximum quickly, to have at the same time an impetus to development of Russian industries and to development of the competences, we require," he said in conclusion.

The Northern Sea Route is a most promising global transport corridor. Experts say it will be able to compete with the Suez Canal, offering quicker shipments from Europe to the Pacific Region's countries. The Suez Canal presently serves about 12% of the global traffic. About 19,000 vessels use that route every year.

About forum

The St. Petersburg International Economic Forum is the biggest event of the kind in Russia. In 2023, it runs between June 14 and 17. The key theme is Sovereign Development as the Basis of a Just World: Joining Forces for Future Generations. The event's organizer is the Roscongress Foundation. TASS is the forum's information partner.