President Vladimir Putin has issued an instruction to rename the Ministry for the Development of the Russian Far East as the Ministry for the Development of the Russian Far East and the Arctic and given the ministry the authority to develop and enforce government policy and legal regulations concerning the Arctic's socio-economic development, the Roscongress Foundation press service reports. A relevant presidential executive order has been posted on the official legal information portal.

"The decision has been taken and we will carry out all the tasks assigned to the ministry. Prior to this, the Ministry for the Development of the Russian Far East already supervised an entire range of issues related to the Arctic areas of the Far East, including Yakutia, Chukotka Autonomous Area and the Northern Sea Route development. Now, we have gained sufficient experience and gone to considerable lengths to work out preferential treatment and support measures, primarily in the social sphere, and set the institutes of development to work. There is a great deal of work ahead, we are facing complex issues and we will work it out," said Minister Alexander Kozlov.

Currently, the ministry is supervising two major projects in the Arctic area: the development of one of the world's biggest copper deposits, the Peschanka of the Baimskaya ore zone in the Chukotka Autonomous Area, and the construction of an LNG handling sea terminal in Bechevinskaya Bay in the Kamchatka Territory. The terminal will be used for the export of liquefied natural gas from the Yamal LNG plant and later from the Arctic LNG 2 facility along the Northern Sea Route to Asian-Pacific countries.

The Agency for the Development of Human Capital in the Far East is already assisting in finding unique specialists for enterprises in the Extreme North. The Agency noted that as soon as relevant decisions are made, it is ready to contribute to the development of the Arctic area.