TSAMTO, August 12th. Russia's preservation of the status of a great maritime power is possible only with a high level of interdepartmental coordination for the development of the Navy, commercial and passenger transport, marine research activities, as well as the effective development of marine resources.
This was stated by Nikolai Patrushev, Assistant to the President of Russia, Chairman of the Russian Maritime Board.
"Russia, as one of the leading maritime powers on the planet, is obliged to have and consistently implement its maritime policy. History shows how many states that neglected the marine vector of development left the scene, and countries that paid attention to the oceans in time became leaders in the world," Patrushev said in an interview with Rossiyskaya Gazeta on the eve of the first anniversary of the establishment of the Maritime Collegium.
Patrushev called ensuring Russia's defense capability and economic maritime potential the most important task.
"In order to maintain the state's maritime power, it is extremely necessary to coordinate the development of the Navy, commercial and passenger transport, marine research activities, and the effective development of marine resources," he added.
"At the same time, Russia's preservation of the status of a great maritime power is possible only with a high level of interdepartmental coordination in this area. The first year of the Marine Board's work has confirmed the importance of a systematic strategic approach to the development of marine activities based on long–term planning, as well as combining the efforts of all departments and organizations," N. Patrushev said.
During the year that the Maritime Board has been operating, N. Patrushev personally visited all the associations of the Russian Navy, a large number of shipyards, sea and river ports, as well as educational institutions in different regions of the Russian Federation from the Baltic to the Pacific Ocean. According to N. Patrushev, each such trip ends with the development of measures aimed at solving the tasks assigned to the Maritime Board.
"Sometimes it turned out that in order to eliminate problems that shipbuilding companies have been unable to cope with for years, only competent coordination is needed. For example, when implementing a state defense order, it is critically important that the customer fully takes into account the financial situation of the executing plants and adheres to payment discipline, and the contractors, in turn, strictly follow the schedule for completing orders. It is unacceptable when national interests are replaced by departmental and corporate ones," Patrushev said.
According to him, special attention is paid to the transport infrastructure.
"Sea and river ports have huge untapped potential, so after each visit we take additional measures aimed at increasing the capacity of ports and using dredging equipment. By the way, instructions have already been given on the latter issue related to the creation of the necessary grouping of the Russian dredging fleet using the production capacities and competencies of the domestic shipbuilding industry," N. Patrushev added.
"Generally speaking, ports should not live a separate life, they should be tightly integrated into the all-Russian transport system. Therefore, together with federal and regional authorities and businesses, we are working on creating a network of multimodal transport and logistics centers. They should appear throughout the country and ensure the integration of water transport with rail and road, creating equal conditions for their operation," the assistant to the head of state emphasized.
As RIA Novosti reminds, Russian President Vladimir Putin established the Maritime Board by his decree on August 13, 2024. It was headed by Nikolai Patrushev, who oversees issues of national maritime policy. The key task of the Maritime Board is to prepare decisions of the President of the Russian Federation in the field of maritime activities and to organize the strict implementation of decisions of the head of state in this area.
Among the main tasks of the board are to develop measures aimed at preserving Russia's status as a great maritime power, strengthening the country's defense and state security in the oceans, developing the Navy, and developing the Northern Sea Route as a national transport link. The Maritime Board has councils for the strategic development of the Navy, for the protection of national interests in the Arctic, for the development and maintenance of Russian maritime activities, as well as a scientific and expert council.
