New Program On Russian Arctic Development Submitted To Government - Deputy Prime Minister

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 25th December, 2020) A new state-run program on the development of the Russian Arctic regions has been submitted to the government for consideration, Russian Deputy Prime Minister and Presidential Envoy to the Far Eastern Federal District Yury Trutnev said on Friday.

"A new program on the development of the Arctic zone has been submitted to the government. The volume of its financing until 2024 is 19.5 billion rubles [$263.2 billion]. First of all, the funds will be allocated to promote the implementation of investment projects that will allow us to create 30,000 new jobs in the following four years," Trutnev said.

The deputy prime minister stressed that northern Murmansk Region had raised the major part of the funds invested in the Russian Arctic.

"Murmansk Region is the leader in raising investments. Its share accounts for 39 percent of investments.

I want to thank the governor for this work. It is followed by Arkhangelsk Region with 15 percent and the Republic of Karelia with 14 percent," Trutnev said.

The deputy minister added that the other Arctic regions should make more efforts to facilitate the Russian Arctic's development.

This year, Russia implemented a series of initiatives aimed to boost the development of its Arctic region. In July, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law on government support for business activities in Russia's Arctic area, designed to improve the investment environment in the region. In October, Putin signed an executive order on the Strategy for Developing the Russian Arctic Zone and Ensuring National Security that envisaged the creation of 200,000 new jobs in the region by 2035, with the average salary of each employee exceeding 200,000 rubles ($2,618).