MOSCOW, December 26. /TASS/. Russia may develop the Northern Sea Route jointly with Asian countries , which are interested in the shortest route for supplies from Asia to Northern Europe, Deputy Prime Minister Yury Trutnev said at a conference on Friday.

“I suppose that it is not absolutely correct to develop the Northern Sea Route by Russia only. The project is huge and requires a lot of money. It does not only facilitate transportation from the Far East, but also from China, South Korea, Japan, and, correspondingly, our neighbors must have a chance to join this project if they are interested in it, but, obviously, Russia must hold a controlling stake,” he said.

The potential cargo transportation via the Northern Sea Route is estimated at 50 million tons per year.

It was earlier reported that Korea and Norway planned to increase cooperation in development of the new shipping route.

Last year, South Korea, with the support of Russia, for the first time delivered cargo to the south of the Korean Peninsula through the Northern Sea Route via the polar region.

The new shipping route can cut the voyage distance from South Korea to northern European countries by up to 7,000 kilometers from the 22,000-kilometer journey when using the conventional shipping route through the Indian Ocean.

The Arctic region, according to various estimates, has up to 30% of the world’s untapped reserves of natural gas and 17% of oil reserves.