Summarising the results of the Eastern Economic Forum and later confirmed projects: a new port for the Northern Sea Route, Rosatom’s plans for new icebreakers, ‘Northern Supply’, and more.
This year’s Eastern Economic Forum played more or less a finalising role. Most agreements had been anticipated in the Arctic discourse throughout this year. Overall, the official data from the forum indicates 313 signed agreements, comprising a total sum of 5.569 trillion rubles (~$60 billion). Nevertheless, it is worth summarising the key projects that have been confirmed in the following weeks and analysing the key takeaways from forum discussions.
The Arctic mortgage programme will remain at 2%, meaning that the current social strategy for the Russian Arctic will stay more or less the same. For some time, this topic had remained a point of debate due to the comparatively low interest rate.
Following the implementation of the ‘Northern Supply’ law in spring 2024, officials from the Far East and Arctic Development Corporation confirm that the supply system for Arctic cities will expand. Previously, supply to distant regions from the state was limited to fuel, while businesses were responsible for food, medicine, and building materials.
Although officials are still estimating how exactly the extended supply system will function, it is likely that with a thorough legal framework, ‘Northern Supply’ will become more centralised and state-oriented.
Murmansk officials have confirmed one of the main targets for the region as a logistics hub—reaching an annual capacity of 100 million tonnes by 2030. Some sources have pointed to a figure of ‘at least 110 million tonnes’. With a general target of 150 million tonnes of turnover set for the NSR in 2030, Murmansk transport hub would provide two thirds of cargo turnover on the Route.
In comparison, one of the biggest ports on the NSR—Dudinka—currently has a turnover of ~5.5 million tonnes.
The project for a ‘Big’ Northern Sea Route has been discussed for some time but re-emerged during the Eastern Economic Forum and in subsequent weeks, indicating that officials are seriously considering extending the NSR to the west of the country.
The initial proposal for this idea suggests to set the beginning of the route in Kaliningrad and thus connect the Baltic ports directly to the structure of the NSR.
The idea of a ‘Big’ NSR, although it certainly alters the Northern part of the NSR structure, might stimulate more focused production and export from infrastructure-developed ports in the Russian Baltic. It may also serve as a bureaucratic measure to instantly increase cargo turnover.
In addition to comments made by Rosatom in August regarding the need for more nuclear icebreakers in the Arctic Ocean, the company announced that it wants to diversify energy sources for its icebreakers and that one non-nuclear icebreaker, Kaliningrad, is already under construction.
Subsequently, information emerged concerning plans to construct a second such icebreaker by 2025.
Yakutia signed an agreement with the Far East and Arctic Development Corporation to build a deep-water port in Naiba, a settlement located 165 km from Tiksi. The port's construction is expected to create two thousand jobs and contribute to year-round safe navigation on the NSR.
The depth of the future port will reach 14 metres, allowing large-capacity vessels to enter Naiba. According to officials, initial development of port infrastructure is primarily aimed at supporting construction of a small nuclear power plant in Ust-Kuiga and facilitating operations at a Kuchus mining cluster (mainly gold and tin).
Officials from the Ministry of Energy stated that mining cryptocurrency is not a priority, placing social development ahead. This clarifies the state's position on cryptocurrency. Nevertheless, if there is an excess of energy at electric stations, it is said that surplus energy may be allocated to miners to utilise full capacity.
More on that topic: Russian Arctic Goes Crypto?
Next month, a new data centre will launch in Buryatia with a capacity of 100 MW. Due to investments from Asia and the Middle East, Russia is reported to be the second country in the world for cryptocurrency mining.
This year’s Eastern Economic Forum certainly took a more social and domestic economic turn for the Arctic. Notably, discussions on international cooperation in the region remained almost exclusively within the context of collaboration with BRICS countries and those in the Asia-Pacific region.
Dmitry Tarasov
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