OREANDA-NEWS. October 5, 2012. The economic, industrial and investment potential of the Arkhangelsk region has been presented at the CCI of Russia Congress Hall.

A large delegation of the Arkhangelsk region led by Regional Governor Igor Orlov and representatives of investment companies, the business community and foreign embassies attended the presentation. Before the presentation began, the guests were given a tour of an exhibition dedicated to the Arkhangelsk region in the Congress Center lobby. It presented the most significant investment projects:

- The project of modernization of cardboard and paper production and white paper manufacturing of JSC ILIM Group, which will make 220,000 tons of paper per year and create 382 jobs. The project’s investment demand is 149 billion rubles;

- The project of the Velsk poultry farm enlarging the annual egg output to 580 million, with the project value of 4 billion rubles;

- The project of the construction of an ore dressing plant at the Vladimir Grib deposit with the value of 25 billion rubles; 700 jobs will be created;

- The project of the construction of the Belkomur railroad line with the cost of 176 billion rubles (plus 466 billion rubles in auxiliary projects), with the length of 1,155 kilometers, done on public-private partnership terms;

- The project of the construction of the Northern Arkhangelsk Seaport deepwater facility with the value of 30 billion rubles for servicing ships with the deadweight of up to 100,000 tons and the draught of up to 16 meters and the annual cargo turnover of approximately 30 million tons.

CCI of Russia Vice-President Vladimir Strashko opened and chaired the event. He greeted the regional delegation at the Chamber and congratulated the audience on the 75th anniversary of the Arkhangelsk region.

CCI of Russia President Sergey Katyrin said in his greetings that the Arkhangelsk region is one of the most interesting regions of the country from the point of view of the economy and resources, and it has unique wildlife. The “investment appeal” term is used frequently nowadays. With respect to the Arkhangelsk region, one should also remember its potential of the northern gate of the country – it is planned to develop huge resources on the sea shelf and the Northern Sea Route also needs development. In the opinion of Sergey Katyrin, investors are yet to evaluate the genuine investment appeal of the region, and this presentation would play a notable role in that.

Regional Governor Igor Orlov presented the economic, industrial and investment potential of the region. He gave a brief recollection of the regional history and offered some statistics: 350,000 of the 1.2 million population of the region live in Arkhangelsk; the regional GDP amounted to 384 billion rubles in 2011, and the average monthly salary was 24,600 rubles in the same year. Timber is the main resource of the region; forests occupy an area of 23.8 million square kilometers. Deep wood processing is provided by three paper and pulp plants, in Kotlas, Arkhangelsk and Solombalsk, and products are exported to 79 countries.

The region, which has Europe’s only diamond deposit, mined 0.5 karats of raw diamonds in 2011. The region also produces gypsum and has prospected large basalt deposits. There are big prospects in the development of shelf deposits in the Barents and Kara Seas.

The region also develops the fishing industry (151,000 tons of fish were caught in 2011), transport, logistics, energy, shipbuilding, agricultural technologies in the production and processing of bio-resources, science, education and tourism. The region is ready to offer the most favored partner regime to investors both in concession agreements and in other forms of interaction, the regional governor said.

Northern Arctic Federal University Rector Yelena Kudryashova presented the university structure and fields of its work. The NAFU has 4,000 employees and over 200 foreign students from 24 countries. The NAFU offers numerous promising training courses and scientific innovations created by its research centers.

The founding of two subsidiary higher educational establishments – the Institute of Shipbuilding and Sea Arctic Hardware and the Institute of Comprehensive Security – opens up big development prospects for the university.

CCI of Russia President Sergey Katyrin and Archangelsk CCI President Oleg Semkov presented Yelena Kudryashova with a certificate of the admission of the NAFU to the Arkhangelsk CCI and, consequentially, the CCI of Russia.

JSC Group ILIM Deputy General Director – Director for Liaison with State and Municipal Authorities in Koryazhma Vladimir Slavutsky presented investment projects of the company.

Arkhangelsk Paper and Pulp Plant General Director Mikhail Papylev presented development prospects of the plant.

Arkhangelsk Regional Deputy Governor for Infrastructural Development Alexei Alsufyev spoke about the Severodvinsk shipbuilding cluster.

Acting General Director of the JSC Arkhangelsk Commercial Seaport Viktor Vorobyov introduced the port, its development prospects and current investment projects.

A press briefing ended the representation of the economic, industrial and investment potential of the Arkhangelsk region. The event participants answered numerous questions of journalists.