SALEKHARD, August 26. /TASS/. Turning the Northern Sea Route into a safe year-round transport artery is one of the key priorities of Russia’s maritime policy, Nikolay Patrushev, presidential aide and chairman of the Russian Maritime Board, said at a meeting of the Board's Council for the Protection of the country’s national interests in the Arctic.

"The Arctic region has always had special economic, scientific, cultural and political significance for our country," Patrushev said, opening the meeting.

"Rational development of the Arctic's natural resources, infrastructure development of the region, turning the Northern Sea Route into a safe year-round and competitive national transport communication – these are the key priorities of the national maritime policy."

The presidential aide specified that the meeting would focus on such issues as ensuring safety in the waters of the Northern Sea Route and developing emergency rescue infrastructure in Russia’s Arctic zone.

The Northern Sea Route is a shipping route in the Russian Arctic that runs along Russia's northern shores of the Arctic Ocean seas (the Barents, Kara, Laptev, East Siberian, Chukchi and Bering Seas). It connects Russia's European and Far Eastern ports, as well as mouths of navigable Siberian rivers, into a single transport system. NSR's length from the Kara Gate Strait to the Providence Bay is 5,600 km.