Vladimir Putin signs order on assigning functions of social and economic development of Arctic to Ministry for the Development of the Russian Far East
Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed an order on the Ministry for the Development of the Russian Far East to be renamed the Ministry for the Development of the Russian Far East and Arctic and on assigning to it the additional functions of drafting state policy and carrying out legal regulation in the field developing the Arctic zone of the Russian Federation, the Ministry says in a press release.
The proposal to give the Ministry the power to implement state policy in the Arctic was made by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev during his meeting with the President on 18 January 2019.
The Ministry explains that necessary amendments will be introduced into certain acts of RF Government regulating the activities of the Ministry and the development of Russia’s Arctic zone.
“The Ministry for the Development of the Russian Far East was earlier supervising a package of issues related to the Arctic territories of the Far East region including Yakutia, Chukotka Autonomous District and the Northern Sea Route development. By today, we have accumulated sufficient experience and have done a lot to develop special preferential regimes and support measures, first of all, in the social sphere, development institutions are up and running. There is much to be done, we are facing challenging issues, we will work with them”, said Far East Development Minister Aleksandr Kozlov.
The Agency for the Development of Human Capital in the Far East is ready to join work within the new competence of the Ministry, said Sergey Hovrat, General Director of the Agency.
The Russian Arctic covers about 3 million square kilometers (18% of the Russian Federation)including 2.2 million square kilometers of land. Its population is about 2.5 million which is less than 2% of the Russian population (146.8 million) and more than 54% of the Arctic global population (4.6 million). Its terrestrial limits were adopted after the President’s decree in 2014 (No 296). According to the document, the Arctic zone of the Russian Federation includes a part of the Arctic which involves, in full or in part, the territories of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), Murmansk and Arkhangelsk Regions, Krasnoyarsk Territory, Nenets, Yamal-Nenets and Chukchi autonomous districts, as well as internal maritime waters, territorial sea, exclusive economic zone and continental shelf of the Russian Federation adjoining such territories, areas and islands.
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