VLADIVOSTOK, September 5. /TASS/. Experiments on voyages of unmanned surface ships will continue for several years more and such ships will start cruising actively during five years, Russian Transport Minister Andrey Nikitin told TASS on the sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum (EEF).

"This is beneficial, cost efficient, but the technology has not yet matured. I think some pilot things will be held for several years but we will certainly achieve it. Unmanned traffic of vessels as such will appear with us during the next five years," the minister said.

"We will achieve" voyages of robotic ships along the Northern Sea Route," Nikitin noted. "Certain experiments with unmanned surface ships, definitely not of such class but with cargo nevertheless, are already being staged in Sakhalin," he added.

The 10th Eastern Economic Forum is taking place in Vladivostok from September 3 to 6 under the theme "The Far East: Cooperation for Peace and Prosperity." The business program will feature more than 100 thematic sessions divided into seven tracks. The forum is expected to bring together over 4,500 participants from more than 70 countries and territories. The Roscongress Foundation is the organizer of the EEF, with TASS as its general information partner.