The Arkhangelsk Region and the Nenets Autonomous Area joint socioeconomic development program is expected to be approved at a meeting of the State Commission for Arctic Development. Before, however, it must undergo public discussion.

According to the plan, this document should be coordinated with the population and authorities in both regions as early as at the preparation stage. A special online platform is expected to be launched for people to submit their proposals for the program. In addition, conferences on the key areas of the regions' joint development are supposed to be organized together with non-profit organizations, small and medium-sized businesses and indigenous minorities.

The final version of the program will go out for public discussion on a special site. Then it has to be approved at a public conference of residents of the Arkhangelsk Region and the Nenets Autonomous Area as well as at parliamentary meetings in both regions.

It was declared in late May that the authorities of the Arkhangelsk Region and the Nenets Autonomous Area would draft a program on the two regions' joint development. It is to include measures that would improve the socioeconomic situation in each of the regions. The program envisages, above all, their economic integration, creation of new jobs and diversification of the economy.

The document is expected to identify joint projects of the Arkhangelsk Region and the Nenets Autonomous Area which would help develop both regions and improve the quality of life there. The program should also include federal support measures that such projects could enjoy.

Earlier, Deputy Prime Minister and Presidential Plenipotentiary Envoy to the Far Eastern Federal District Yury Trutnev stressed that the purpose of the program should be not only the economic development of the regions but also the improvement of people's life.