Russia, China Agree Important Safety, Security Issues Along The Northern Sea Route

Russia and China have reached numerous, specific agreements on navigational safety and security along the Northern Sea Route (NSR), according to Alexey Likhachev, the Director General of Rosatom. He was speaking at the first meeting of the Subcommittee on Cooperation on the NSR of the Russian-Chinese commission. Rosatom is heavily invested in the NSR and possesses Russia’s fleet of nuclear-powered icebreakers, the only such fleet in the world.

The sub-committee was established following Putin’s visit to Beijing to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping in June.

Likhachev said “We have already recorded a number of specific agreements between our countries on the safety of navigation. We are developing constructive cooperation on other important issues. I believe that we have laid a solid foundation for the further work of the sub-commission.”

Liu Wei, the Chinese Transport Minister and co-chair of the subcommittee, also said that China and Russia had reached a number of important consensuses on the upcoming joint work.

Vladimir Panov, Executive Secretary of the Subcommittee on the part of Russia, and the Special Representative of the Rosatom State Corporation for Arctic Development, outlined the key areas of this joint activity. Among them are the safety of navigation, planning and ensuring the growth of cargo traffic along the NSR, promoting the development of logistics routes, exchanging data about the NSR ice situation, meteorological and other conditions.

This year, Chinese shipping companies have almost doubled the number of transits along the Northern Sea Route. In June, representatives of Chinese businesses and Rosatom signed an agreement of intent to create a joint venture to build ships and organise a year-round container line along the NSR between Russian and Chinese ports.