Deputy Prime Minister Trutnev spoke out against moving departments to the Far East

During a meeting of the Federation Council, Senator from the Zaporozhye region Dmitry Rogozin asked Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Yuri Trutnev what he thought about the possibility of moving a number of federal ministries and departments to the Far East. Trutnev said that he does not feel isolated from the Far East and is not sure that if he moves to Vladivostok, the results will be better.

“Your personal point of view – the Ministry of Eastern Development, the Ministry of Natural Resources, Rosleskhoz, Roskhozresursy, Rosnedra, Rosrybolovstvo and so on – maybe it would make sense for them to be based directly on the territory of the Far East, and in the future to form an eastern center of government there?” Rogozin asked on meeting.

In response, Trutnev explained that he spends approximately 50% of his time in the Far East and does not feel any isolation from this territory. He doubted that by choosing one territory, for example, Primorye, from there it would be faster to “reach out” to others – Anadyr, the Jewish region, Sakhalin, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky.

“We constantly work with governors. I don’t feel that now, even if we move to Vladivostok, the results of our work will be better. With pleasure. But, you see, the Russian government works here, the Federation Council works here, the State Duma works here. If we now break away from the work of the government, the results will be much worse,” Trutnev believes.

He added that the Far East Development Corporation has representative offices in every region of the Far Eastern Federal District.

The issue of the possible transfer of federal departments to the Far East has been raised before. Trutnev took a similar position then. In October 2014, he emphasized that the transfer would require significant financial costs, so the transfer of departments to the region was not a priority in the context of “budgetary tension.” At the same time, he reported that the Ministry of Eastern Development had shown interest in the possible relocation of a number of ministries and departments to the Far Eastern Federal District. According to him, the need for such a solution should be determined by achieving high efficiency in a new location, wrote TASS. Now the department has representative offices, in addition to Moscow, in Khabarovsk, Vladivostok and Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky.

At the plenary session WEF President Vladimir Putin named the development of the Far East is an absolute priority for Russia for the entire 21st century. The region contains “almost half of our forests and gold reserves,” as well as more than 70% of fish, diamonds, over 30% of titanium, copper, etc., the president noted. He added that the most important strategic enterprises, seaports and railways operate there. The President emphasized that the role of the Far East for the future of Russia is “exceptionally great.”