KHABAROVSK, October 29. /TASS/. The eastern part of the Trans-Arctic Transport Corridor may develop new cargo traffic between the European part and the Asia-Pacific countries (APAC), Director of the Eastern Center for State Planning (Vostokgosplan) Mikhail Kuznetsov told TASS.
A week earlier, the European Commission unveiled the EU's new Arctic strategy, which for the first time in more than 30 years focuses on military construction. One of its key provisions is that any equipment and technologies that the EU will create for the Arctic should have both civilian and military applications. In an earlier interview with TASS, while commenting on the EU strategy, the Eastern Center for State Planning's director emphasized that Russia should turn its historical advantages in the Arctic into competitive ones due to the growing interest of European countries in developing Arctic transport routes.
"The Trans-Arctic Transport Corridor's eastern part is nowadays of particular importance for the development of transit traffic," he said. "It connects the European part with the markets of the Asia-Pacific region and opens up opportunities for structuring fundamentally new goods flows."
Among significant sections of this eastern corridor, he highlighted Chukotka, where the port of Pevek's upgrade, the development of transshipment terminals and related infrastructures will build up the navigation reliability on eastern approaches to the Northern Sea Route. As for Yakutia, the Tiksi -Nayba hub creation, new logistics corridors, and the river transport network development will ensure a close connection between the mainland areas and the Arctic coast, thus stimulating field development and increasing the Northern Supplies Program's reliability.
"The third part is Kamchatka, Primorye (the Primorsky Region)," he continued. "Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky is one of the main ports of the Trans-Arctic Transport Corridor's eastern part. Vladivostok and the Vostochny Port are hubs for the integration of Arctic transportation with international routes, as well as transshipment hub ports. Additionally, those are also a base for ship repairing."
He stressed that the newly-created capacities need to be synchronized with the formation of promising goods flows. This approach ensures payback and the long-term economic feasibility of route development. "Therefore, our key task is to form a stable cargo base through integrated industrial development, expansion of domestic and export transportation, and cooperation with Asian countries. This logic is the basis and ideology of a comprehensive project to develop the Arctic and the Trans-Arctic Transport Corridor."
International competition in the Arctic is similar to playing Go
The increasing international competition in the Arctic is similar to the game of Go, where strategic space exploration is of key importance. "As for the international competition in the Arctic, we may compare it rather not with chess but with the game of Go: it is not the confrontation of pieces that matters, but the strategic exploration of space. We occupy a significant part of this "Arctic board". We have great advantages in the experience of operating the Northern Sea Route. Now we need to turn them into a long-term economic benefit for both Russia and for friendly, constructive-minded countries," he said.
We are talking about creating a reliable, cost-effective transport route of global importance, he added.
"The European Union's new strategy demonstrates claims to increase participation in competition and in the Northern Sea Route's development. However, realistic economic consequences of these ambitions will be largely determined by Russia's actions and by the global interest of the Eastern countries in the Trans-Arctic Transport Corridor's development," the center's director said in conclusion.