Russia's Ministry of Industry and Trade is planning to launch a B2B commodity exchange in 2017 with a separate section for the Arctic region. This has come from the Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Vasily Osmakov speaking with RIA Novosti ahead of The Arctic: Territory of Dialogue international forum to be held in Arkhangelsk on March 29-30.

"The main project we are planning to come up with at the forum is the presentation of products for the Arctic. This is a catalogue of manufacturers of high-tech industrial products, which consists of 650 positions. It was compiled by the Ministry of Industry and Trade in cooperation with the regions and our colleagues at other departments," Mr Osmakov said.

These products, he said, will be gradually included into the State Industrial Information System (GIS). "We want to turn GIS into a kind of B2B commodity exchange. This includes the Arctic region. The catalogues we are going to present in Arkhangelsk illustrate what this may look like in practice," the deputy minister explained. He added that the project will be launched this year.