Russia and Norway: possibilities of cooperation in the field of aquaculture
On 15 February, 2017 the workshop on aquaculture for participants of fishing industry of Norway and North-West of the Russian Federation took place in Corinthia Hotel. The event was arranged by the Norwegian-Russian Chamber of Commerce and Leningrad Regional Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Foreign Economic Relations Department).
The discussion of today`s condition of fish market, its trends, needs, high technologies and prospects in both countries were announced as key purposes of the workshop. The following issues were considered during the event: cooperation with foreign partners, regulation of fishing industry and aquaculture in Russia and supplies of equipment for fish farms.
More than 90 companies and organizations of fishing industry of Norway and North-West of the Russian Federation participated in the event such as LLC Biomar, Northwest Territorial Department of the Federal Agency for Fishery, «Aqua Optima», «INOCAP», «Fishguard».
As speakers of the workshop were the leadership of the Consulate General of Norway in Saint-Petersburg, the Norwegian-Russian Chamber of Commerce and Leningrad regional Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Republic of Karelia and representatives of business and expert community of both countries.
Consul General of the Kingdom of Norway in Saint-Petersburg Heidi Olufsen made the welcoming speech. She specially remarked the importance of cooperation development in Norway and North-West part of Russia in the sphere of fishing industry, also emphasized that Leningrad region is an attractive region for investment opportunities and introduction of new technologies for increasing a number of fish resources.
The representative of Leningrad region Chamber of Commerce and Industry was the Head of foreign economic relations department LRCCI and the project Manager LRIC Lilia Arakelova, who told about Chamber`s main activities. Today the Chamber of Commerce and Industry is one of the largest in Russia with a membership base of more than 2000 companies, representing different spheres of activities. In the course of the talk, Lilia Arakelova paid special attention to the development of fisheries of the Leningrad region. Different organizations and individual entrepreneurs carry on business on industrial and coastal fisheries, aquaculture (commercial fish farming and reproduction of water biological resources), coastal fish processing, service provision of recreational and sport fisheries, also scientific support of operation and development of fisheries. Priozersk and Vyborg districts are the key place for fish farming that produce more than 4/5 volume of fish product in Leningrad region.
The Deputy Head of North-Western territorial administration of federal agency for fishery Yakovlev Andrey was as a speaker on the event. He told about the condition of commercial fish farming in the regions under the jurisdiction of the North-Western territorial administration of Federal Agency for fisheries. Today the leader of aquaculture development is the Republic of Karelia , which is under control of North-Western administration of Federal Agency on fishery and where 21206,4 tons of various fish were grown in 2016. The total amount of government support for fish- breeding companies in the region was around 109,503850,4 in 2016.
During the workshop the participants were given the opportunity to ask questions to experts from Norway regarding the development of the aquaculture industry and the possibilities of interaction with foreign partners - suppliers for Russian companies.
