Russia's Economic Development Ministry official skeptical on the NSR transit potential
Development the Northern Sea Route (NSR) for transit is the most important issue for the Russian Federation, an official said Thursday at a round table meeting devoted to the development of Russia's Arctic zone, IAA PortNews correspondent reports.
Alexander Tsybulsky, Deputy Minister of Economic Development of Russia, who participated in the panel discussion "Prospects for the Development of the Arctic Zone of the Russian Federation," recalled that the Arctic zone was formed along the NSR-axis, and this topic will be the subject of a discussion at the "The Arctic - Territory of Dialogue" forum in Arkhangelsk, March 29-30, 2017. He also noted that today there is still no consensus in the expert community on the NSR profitability.
"The experts do not fully agree over the feasibility of this shipping lane. Everything is strongly tied up to the global environment, to the shift of the world's economic axis centres", the correspondent quoted the official as saying.
The Deputy Minister noted that today the APR markets are growing at a heightened pace. Thanks to the projects, being implemented by Novatek and other companies in the Arctic region, this shipping artery might become very attractive.
"I do not believe that in today's environment there is any potential in terms of the transit (through NSR), but if we talk about the delivery of goods from the Arctic zone to the Asia-Pacific region and back, well then, of course, there is," the official added.
