Russia, India to extend scientific partnership to Arctic, review navigation via Northern Sea Route - memorandum

MOSCOW. July 10 (Interfax) - Russia and India, which have a solid record of cooperation in Antarctica, will extend their research partnership to the Arctic region under a memorandum of cooperation signed between the Russian Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute (AARI) and the Indian Ministry of Earth Sciences' National Center for Polar and Ocean Research.

This new cooperation will be aimed at developing relations between the two countries' largest government organizations in studying polar nature and its variability, as well as providing mutual assistance regarding logistics in polar conditions. The parties will also exchange scientific data and conduct joint research programs, AARI said.

Russia and India have a long history of partnership in Antarctica, their research stations are located near each other, and they provide mutual support to each other in that part of the globe, AARI said.

"The new document enables us to extend our work to the Arctic region, whose prospects are now obvious to everyone. Our colleagues from India are interested in climate change, our experience in studying permafrost melting, which is a problem that India faces in the Himalayas, and navigation development via the Northern Sea Route, which will become a major global transport and logistics route within the coming decades," AARI quoted its Director Alexander Makarov as saying.

As reported earlier, India has displayed an interest in the Northern Sea Route and northern navigation in Russia.

Russian authorities have described the Northern Sea Route as a new international transport alternative, particularly because it is 30% shorter than the route from Europe to Asia via the Suez Canal. The Northern Sea Route's boundaries are determined by the Russian Commercial Navigation Code as stretching from Novaya Zemlya Archipelago to Cape Dezhnyov in Chukotka.