Russia will prepare a law to support shipbuilding industry in Far East by next week, Vice Prime Minister Sergey Ivanov said Sunday while inspecting the construction of maritime terminal on Kunashir Island. According to the RIA Novosti report, the document will include a number of measures aimed at economical support of the sector, among them interest rate subsidies and other financial measures.
Besides, the law will make provisions for measures aimed at ship owner’s advantages in building ships at domestic shipyards. Meanwhile, Ivanov also said geothermal energy development is necessary for the region. “ We need to develop geothermal stations. New stations have to be built here ,” Invanov said at a conference on the islands on “Social and Economic Development of the Kuril Islands 2007-2015″ under Russia’s Federal Target Program.
Ivanov noted that the main purpose of his visit to the Islands is to check the progress on the federal target program for Russia’s Far East, with an aim to tackle three major problems of the region — transport infrastructure, energy and social services.
The financing for the program will amount to 15 billion rubles (0.54 billion U.S. dollars) till 2015, which will not be affected despite the financial crisis. Ivanov has visited Iturup and Kunashir Islands as a part of his working trip to Far Eastern Federal District. Both Iturup and Kunashir Islands and another two islands belong to the disputed Southern Kuril islands, which are also claimed by Japan as its Northern Territories.
Russia and Japan have long been at odds over the sovereignty of the four Pacific islands. The dispute has blocked a peace treaty between the two countries since the end of World War II.
( peopledaily )
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Source: peopledaily, May 16, 2011; Image: armybase