Chinese interest towards Northern Sea Route
China’s interest towards Russia’s high north is increasing. A general agreement between Chinese authorities and the regional government in Murmansk might be signed soon.
China’s Consul General to St. Petersburg Xie Xiaoyong recently visited Murmansk Oblast, where he met with First Deputy Governor Natalya Portnaya. The main themes that were discussed were the planned economic zone in Murmansk port and the development of the Northern Sea Route.
- Our Chinese colleagues are interested in using the Northern Sea Route for commercial transport, Portnaya says according to B-port.com. – We are going to work out a concrete proposal together with Murmansk Shipping Company and the largest of our companies that are exporting goods to China.
Portnaya believes that the Murmansk regional government might sign a general agreement with China already this year, perhaps during the Arctic International Economic Forum in October.
In November 2010, the China National Petroleum Corporation signed an agreement with Sovcomflot about shipping along the Northern Sea Route, as BarentsObserver reported.
