Patrushev pointed out the strategic importance of Siberia for the Russian industry

The Siberian Federal District (SFD) is of strategic importance for strengthening Russia's industrial potential. This was announced on April 9 by Dmitry Patrushev, Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation, during the Incident 62 orientation meeting on the development of the Siberian Federal District.

It is noted that the choice of such a format of interdepartmental interaction was initiated by the Deputy Prime Minister as the supervisor of the district and supported by the Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation. The incident will allow to aggregate the activities of all regional development programs and get the maximum synergetic effect from their implementation.

Thus, the meeting reviewed the implementation of the Siberian Development Strategy, which affects such areas as rare earths and precious metals, forestry, aluminum processing, tourism, agriculture and processing, oil and gas and coal industries.

"The Siberian Federal District is of strategic importance for further strengthening Russia's industrial potential. Huge reserves of natural resources are concentrated here, including precious metals, copper, nickel, coal, oil, and gas. In addition, the district has the largest hydropower facilities in Russia. A base for training qualified specialists has also been formed in Siberia — leading educational and scientific centers are working to strengthen human resources," Patrushev said.

The Deputy Prime Minister also noted that the explored reserves of rare earth metals in Siberia account for 18% of the total Russian reserves, while significant amounts of rare metals are contained in the bowels of the federal District. He added that for the development of deep processing of rare earth metals, the issue of creating an appropriate cluster in the Siberian District is currently being considered, which in the future will allow Russia to ensure independence from imports of relevant products and reach a new technological level.

Following the meeting, Patrushev instructed to form an expert group that will determine the long-term economic need for rare and rare earth metals and work out a list of products that can be produced in Siberia.

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Last December, Patrushev called for ensuring conditions for the rapid development of the regions of Siberia. In particular, the implementation of individual socio-economic development programs for 10 subjects with low budget provision, including four subjects belonging to the Siberian Federal District: the Republic of Altai, the Republic of Tyva, the Republic of Khakassia and the Altai Territory.