Agenda: Strengthening infrastructure to support small and medium-sized enterprises in the new region, building the Kamchatka Regional Hospital, rebuilding the Onega shipyard, and providing additional funding for the construction of ice-resistant ships for the Northern Sea Route.
Opening speech by Mr. Mikhail Mishustin
Denis Manturov's report on the construction of high-ice class ships for the Northern Sea Route
excerpt from Transcription:
Meeting with Deputy Prime Minister on current issues
Mikhail Mishustin: Good morning, colleagues.
The government continues to prioritize small and medium-sized enterprises, highlighting their development as one of its key priorities in line with the national development goals outlined in the President's new executive order in May.
It is extremely important to improve the infrastructure that supports small and medium-sized enterprises in the Donetsk People's Republic, Lugansk People's Republic, Zaporizhzhia region and Kherson region. To facilitate this, we have decided to allocate additional federal resources totaling 3.75 billion rubles to the budgets of these four regions. These funds will also support local residents who pay tax on their professional income and those looking to set up their own businesses.
This decision will streamline the process for entrepreneurs to expand their businesses and create new job opportunities.
Now, I would like to move on to the next question, which is related to the medical field.
We will continue to implement system-wide measures to guarantee our people's access to health care. This includes modernizing existing health facilities and establishing new ones with essential equipment in all regions. These efforts are consistent with one of the Government's priority areas outlined by the President, and I explained this in detail in the full House of Commons.
Today's decision concerns the finalization of the initial stages of construction of the Kamchatka Regional Hospital.
During our visit to Kamchatka, we observed that it is one of the few regions without a regional hospital. As a result, we will allocate 1 billion rubles to complete the first stage of construction. With these funds, engineering infrastructure facilities, therapeutic, diagnostic and clinical buildings will be constructed by the end of the year. The residents of this region are in dire need of such a medical facility and have been waiting for it for a long time.
Mr. Husnurin, you recognize the importance of this project. We ask that you personally supervise the progress of the work to ensure it is completed in a timely manner. We have made promises to our people, and it is essential that they receive high-quality medical care, including advanced medical care, as promised.
Another important theme concerns achieving the priority of developing the Northern Sea Route. These routes pass through Russian territorial waters and serve as reliable transport corridors for exporting goods to friendly countries despite external sanctions.
Ensuring safe year-round navigation in northern latitudes requires operating a sufficient Arctic fleet. To enhance the construction of these vessels, the company is preparing to commission a new state-of-the-art production facility. One of these sites is the Onega shipyard in Petrozavodsk, where, on the instructions of the president, the development of the first digital shipyard is underway. Utilize highly efficient robot technology.
The government has allocated 2 billion rubles for the second stage of a large-scale modernization of this Karelian enterprise, which will significantly increase its production capacity over the next two years.
Mr. Manturov, could you please provide an update on the progress of the construction of high-ice class ships for the Northern Sea Route?
Denis Manturov: Mr. Mishustin, colleague.
Particularly in the current climate, extensive efforts are underway to build up the Northern Sea Route fleet as part of the President's directive to increase cargo flows along this critical international shipping route.
To ensure year-round navigation, Baltic Shipyard continues to build a series of nuclear-powered icebreakers with a power of 60 MW. Currently, three nuclear-powered ships “Arktika”, “Sibir” and “Ural” are operating in the Arctic Ocean, and the next icebreaker “Yakut” is scheduled to be delivered by the end of the year. Between 2026 and 2030, she plans to have three more icebreakers join her fleet. In addition, the most powerful and unique icebreaker “Russia” with a power of 120 MW is under construction at the Zvezda shipyard and is expected to be completed around 2030.
Ensuring safe navigation is of the utmost importance. Construction is currently underway on behalf of the Ministry of Transport and the Federal Maritime and Inland Waterways Authority of 15 rescue vessels designated for operations along the Northern Sea Route. These vessels include tugs and multi-function vessels of various capacities and specialties. Shipyards of Komsomolsk-on-Amur, Kaliningrad, Nizhny Novgorod and Tatarstan are actively participating in the project. A further 30 vessels will be contracted over the next six years to further strengthen our efforts in this area.
Finally, with a particular focus on strengthening cargo transport capacity along the Northern Sea Route, the Zvezda complex has already delivered five Aframax oil tankers to customers. In addition, 26 large tonnage vessels with various deadweights and capabilities were contracted.
In addition, the shipyard's plans include 92 ice-class cargo ships by 2037. These include container ships, bulk carriers, and tankers.
Overall, the main production infrastructure required for the development of the Northern Sea Route has been established. However, to ensure the capacity to handle such a huge workload, United Shipbuilding Company, in cooperation with her VTB, is exploring the possibility of constructing an additional high-tech shipyard. Final decisions on location and specifications are expected to be adopted by the end of this year.
At the same time, we continue to work on overarching industry-wide goals, including the replacement of critical ship components, to implement all plans we have outlined. From 2022 onwards, a dedicated grant has been allocated for its promotion, in accordance with the President's decision.
Through this mechanism, we will allocate budget funds totaling nearly 17 billion rubles. This initiative facilitated the launch of 60 comprehensive projects across 35 companies. Early prototypes are expected to be on the market next year. These components are used in particular by ice-class vessels operating along the Northern Sea Route and by fishing vessels operating in northern latitudes.
Mikhail Mishustin: Thank you, Mr. Manturov. It is important to speed up this work, focusing on establishing domestic production of all necessary equipment, units and critical components. Achieving technical independence in this area is of paramount importance. We believe that together with our partners at USC, we can successfully achieve these goals.
