BELOKURIKHA /Altai Krai/, June 26. /TASS/. ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) countries and China are interested in developing the Trans-Arctic transport corridor, President of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RSPP) Alexander Shokhin said.

"We have already introduced the concept of the Trans-Arctic transport corridor. We see that China and ASEAN countries are showing interest in this corridor. <...> Leaders from this region, Southeast Asia, have expressed their interest in this transport corridor," he told reporters ahead of a session of the RSPP Federal Council titled "Labor productivity as the basis for sustainable economic development: robotization, artificial intelligence and autonomous systems."

Russia also faces the task of increasing the railway’s throughput capacity in the eastern direction to 180 mln tons, Shokhin added. "This is one of the tasks facing the federal authorities, not just Russian Railways, but the government as a whole," he stressed.

The Trans-Arctic transport corridor is a route connecting the eastern and western parts of Russia, specifically the ports of St. Petersburg and Vladivostok, via the northern seas and the ports of Murmansk and Arkhangelsk. It is designed to link global industrial, agricultural, and energy centers and consumer markets through a shorter, safer, and more economically advantageous route.