Marasi 26-web-correction

EXPERT VIEW
Arctics: is it a future
transport route?
By Dr. Ludmila Balabina
Associate professor
St.-Petersburg State
University of Economics
By Ksenia Zudinova
Executive Director of
Emirates Zone, PhD
Candidate, St.-Petersburg
State University of
Economics
It is hardly possible to overestimate
strategic and economic importance
of transport routes (both by sea and
land) laying through the territories of
individual countries. In strategies of
developing the economies of a number
of countries, among other goals,
the tasks of creating and developing
transport infrastructure are laid. International
projects are being created
as for example, the economic belt
of the silk route.
Geography of countries may or
may not facilitate such cooperation.
But there are unique geographical
positions of the country that can
help solve problems not only to expand
trade cooperation and increase
trade flows, but also in general the
development of entire territories. For
Russia, such a unique project is the
development of the Russian Arctic
and its near-Arctic territories. But
the socio-economic development of
these territories is impossible without
the reliable functioning of the
Arctic maritime transport system.
The Arctic is unique in its bioresources,
it is called the "weather kitchen",
it is a mineral deposit and for these
reasons is attractive for many countries
with unregulated territories.
The development of the richest
natural resources and the interest in
developing them from the rapidly developing
countries of the Asia-Pacific
region makes the Far Eastern transport
direction promising for Russia.
Typically, the Arctic is understood
as the northern polar region adjacent
to the North Pole and bounded by
the Arctic Circle (66 degrees 33 minutes
N). This polar region includes
land and sea spaces and airspace
above them. The territory of the Arctic
zone extends to 27 million km2
and is divided into five sectors of responsibility
between the US, Russia,
Norway, Canada and Denmark. Land
areas are under the sovereignty of
the respective Arctic state. The marine
part of the Arctic zone of Russia
extends to seven seas - the Barents
Sea, the Kara Sea, the Laptev
Sea, the East Siberian, the Chukchi
and the Bering seas. Russia declared
claims to all the sea areas, including
the straits - Vilkitsky, Shokalsky,
Dmitry Laptev and Sannikov, which
make up the Northern Sea Route
(NSR), as historical.
About 90% of the total area of
Russia's shelf, which is 5.2 - 6.2 million
km2, falls on the perspective oil
and gas bearing areas. The Timan-
Pechora, Yeniseisko-Laptevskaya,
Barents-Kara, Indigiro-Chukotka oil
and gas bearing provinces, as well as
the Yuzhno-Yamal, Lena-Anabar and
Anadyr oil and gas regions contain
huge forecasted oil and gas reserves.
The Northern Sea Route (NSR) is a
waterborne northern transport artery,
the potential of which, according
to today's opinion, is only used by
10%.
The latest forecasts for the
planned volumes of cargo transpor-
60 JANUARY - FEBRUARY 2018