Experts propose to expand the special economic zone in Siberia

The creation of a single special economic zone throughout the Siberian Federal District, by analogy with the Kaliningrad Region, was proposed at the All-Russian scientific and practical conference "Siberian Express — 2026". The event, organized by the Stolypin Institute of Growth Economics with the support of the Council for the Development of Siberia under the Chairman of the Federation Council of the Russian Federation and Siberian Federal University (SibFU), took place on February 19-20 in Krasnoyarsk.

The initiative of the unified SEZ was initiated by Elena Bezdenezhnykh, Vice President of Rusal. "The country currently does not have the resources to simply pour money into the development of Siberia. It is necessary to attract private investment, and this is impossible without big business," she said. Bezdenezhnykh also proposed introducing a "Siberian Mortgage" at 3-5% to combat population outflow and use public-private partnership mechanisms to build social facilities under the Cities of Hope program.

Oleg Deripaska, the founder of Rusal, drew attention to the need to develop infrastructure, new electricity generation and attract investments. "We need investors who are ready to invest in long-term projects. But they won't come without clear rules of the game and capital protection mechanisms. Special conditions are needed for Siberia, as in the priority development zones. And the level of regional governance must meet new strategic objectives," he stressed.

Deripaska linked the prospects of Siberia's "new economy" not only with the deep processing of rare earths and non-ferrous metals, but also with the creation of a world-class energy and digital cluster. According to him, the available energy and climatic features of the region make it possible to build data processing centers for the export of computing services. Moreover, they can work on coal mined there using modern clean technologies. Another promising area, according to Deripaska, is tourism based on the natural and recreational medical potential of the region.

Speaking at the conference, Chief Economist of VEB.Andrey Klepach drew attention to the fact that Siberia's contribution to the country's economy is underestimated. "The real contribution of the Siberian Region, if overestimated taking into account export flows, will be not 9-10%, but about 12-13% of GDP," he said. According to Klepach, Russia has sufficient financial and human resources, but this potential is poorly realized.

In turn, Anton Sviridenko, executive director of the Stolypin Institute, said that Siberia is capable of becoming a locomotive for the entire Russian economy. "It is no longer possible to rely solely on the export of raw materials — a breakthrough in deep processing and a new level of data processing is needed. Siberia has everything for this: energy, coal and gas reserves for the construction of modern data processing centers, as well as enormous agricultural potential for export to Asia," he said. According to Sviridenko, guarantees of property rights, stable taxes and free economic zones are needed to attract investments.

Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences Alexander Shirov called Siberia an outsider of the structural restructuring of the Russian economy. "In order for the country's growth rate to be above 3%, we need to have growth rates in Siberia and the Far East at 4-5%," the scientist said. Shirov proposed to multiply the number of special economic zones in the macroregion and launch "anchor" federal projects.

"In the current situation and in the context of a turn to the East, Siberia has the most serious competitive advantages," said Alexander Uss, Chairman of the Council for the Development of Siberia under the Chairman of the Federation Council. But in order to implement them and succeed, we will have to work in a new way, he concluded.

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