Deputy Minister for the Development of the Russian Far East and Arctic Alexander Krutikov answered questions on the development of Russia's northern regions at a ceremony of summing up the results of the Arctic Team contest.

Specifically, he spoke about upgrading the education system. The Deputy Minister said that it was a most important area in developing the Arctic that is given much attention in the ministry's activities.

"The most important task that we are facing is to upgrade the education system to suit the project requirements so that the young people who are studying or will study at the universities can gain the knowledge and competence that will be in demand in the Arctic area for the major projects now being launched in the region. We have embarked on this task. The Human Capital Development Agency (HCDA) is studying companies' likely human resource needs and a survey will be conducted annually to update it. The next step is to amend the set of specializations at Arctic universities and colleges and change admission quotas, i.e., increase the number of state-financed openings in the professions that will be in demand and gradually reform the personnel training system," said Alexander Krutikov.

He also noted the need to consider the possibility of adopting additional support measures for self-employed local residents. "So far we don't have such forms of support for freelancers under the system of preferences that we set up for the Arctic. <…> Indeed, we'll think about this, maybe we can also come up with something for those engaged in free professional activity," added the Deputy Minister.

Mr. Krutikov mentioned the need for revising the current support measures for residents who are already working in the Arctic or contemplating relocation to the Arctic area.

"As we said, after we finish the system of preferences for businesses, we will start working on preferences for people who are living, working or relocating to the Arctic," he said, adding that the system of incentives established in Soviet times has actually become obsolete and fails to serve its function.

The Ministry for the Development of the Russian Far East and Arctic along with other specialized agencies began to work out an urban environment development standard for the Arctic area. "To our great regret, there is no special standard for creating a comfortable urban environment in northern cities. We have started this work together with our colleagues from the federal center who are engaged in improving urban environment. We have agreed in principle that we would develop such a standard for urban environment development in the Arctic," added Alexander Krutikov.

Earlier, Yury Trutnev, Deputy Prime Minister and Presidential Envoy to the Far Eastern Federal District, called on the regional governors to pay more attention to the improvement of the city space, especially in the regional capitals. In particular, he issued instructions to prepare proposals on the development of the urban environment in Arkhangelsk and submit them to the Government for consideration.