Russia Hopes to Develop Partnership With Singapore in Arctic

Russia has found a new partner in mutually beneficial copperation in the Arctic region, as Russian Special Presidential Representative for International Cooperation in the Arctic and Antarctic Artur Chilingarov said Tuesday.

MOSCOW/SINGAPORE (Sputnik) — Moscow considers its partnership with Singapore in the Arctic to be mutually beneficial and expects to deepen the cooperation, Russian Special Presidential Representative for International Cooperation in the Arctic and Antarctic Artur Chilingarov said Tuesday.

"The cooperation of Russia and Singapore on the Arctic research is actively developing. Partnering with them is very interesting for us. There is a negotiation process in this area. I hope that it will be successful and there will be less politics and more economic and commercial interests," Chilingarov told RIA Novosti following his Monday talks with regional authorities on the prospects of bilateral cooperation in the Arctic.

The Russian explorer added that Singapore possesses the most modern technologies of construction of drilling platforms for offshore operations, including ice-class platforms, which would benefit Russia’s interests.

Representatives of Russia and Singapore will meet in August at a high-level meeting of the Arctic Council’s member states, observer countries and the scientific community.

Russia unveiled a strategy to boost its presence in the Arctic, believed to hold vast oil and natural gas reserves, in 2014. The total value of energy resources concentrated in Russia's Arctic region exceeds $30 trillion, according to the Ministry of Natural Resources.