Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin hopes that by the end of 2011 a law on the Northern Sea Route will be passed by the Russian parliament. The statement was made at the 2nd International Forum “The Arctic - Territory of Dialogue", the PortNews correspondent reports.
"Recently at a meeting of the Russian Federation government, we reviewed the bill, which should settle the issues of navigation on the NSR. We hope that by the end of this year it will be adopted by the Parliament of our country," Vladimir Putin said.
The Ministry of Transport prepared a draft federal law "On amendments to some legislative acts of the Russian Federation with regard to government regulation of merchant shipping in the waters of the Northern Sea Route." The bill was introduced before the government at the end of June.
The bill approval would create a single management system in the waters of the Northern Sea Route and the modern infrastructure that provides safe navigation of ships in the Arctic seas, including navigation and hydrographic and icebreakers assistance.