Russia sees scope for international investors in Arctic

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia sees scope for international investors, including from the Global South, to help develop its Arctic region, a senior official said on Wednesday.

President Vladimir Putin is keen to ramp up commerce via the Northern Sea Route through Arctic waters as Russia shifts trade towards Asia and away from Europe because of Western sanctions.

Focus on the strategic importance of the Arctic for mining, shipping and international security has increased sharply because of repeated statements by U.S. President Donald Trump that he wants to acquire Greenland.

"We believe that concessions of the Northern Sea Route and various infrastructure facilities, with our investment support, can attract significant financing," said Kirill Dmitriev, head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) which works with foreign investors.

"We see the opportunity to attract our partners from the countries of the Global South, their investment opportunities, their companies," he said in a speech by video link to a conference on the Arctic, attended by Russian government officials and regional authorities.

The event was taking place in Murmansk near Russia's border with Norway. The northern port marks the start of the Northern Sea Route, which runs eastward to the Bering Strait near Alaska.

The route, though significantly shorter than the Suez Canal for Russia to deliver cargoes to Asia, is challenging and requires the assistance of icebreakers to help vessels to pass along the northern coast of Russia.

But it has become more viable because of global warming, which Dmitriev said brings "interesting" prospects for developing it.

Besides heading the RDIF, the U.S.-educated Dmitriev - who has worked at McKinsey and Goldman Sachs - was named by Putin last month as his special envoy on international economic and investment cooperation, and is an important player in the rapid rapprochement that Putin is pursuing with the Trump administration.

(Reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin and Olesya Astakhova; Editing by Mark Trevelyan)

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