The second meeting of the Sub-Commission for Cooperation
on the Northern Sea Route (NSR) of the Russian-Chinese Commission for the
Preparation of Regular Meetings of Heads of Government was held in Harbin,
People's Republic of China on October 14, 2025. On the Russian side, the
meeting was headed by Alexey Likhachev, Director General of Rosatom State
Corporation, and on the Chinese side by Liu Wei, Minister of Transportation of
the People's Republic of China. The meeting was attended by Vladimir Panov,
Special Representative for Arctic Development, Rosatom State Corporation. On
the Chinese side by Liang Huiling, Governor of Heilongjiang Province; Li
Guanyu, Director of the Department of International Cooperation of the Ministry
of Transport of China.
Following the meeting, the action plan was approved for the further development of shipment along the Northern Sea Route between the Russian Federation and the People's Republic of China. The roadmap has been developed and approved with a view to establish a sustainable transport corridor. The cooperation involves the implementation of modern logistics and technological solutions to improve shipment efficiency and develop capital projects.
"Russia sees the Northern Sea Route as a key transport artery of the 21st century, capable of providing faster, more efficient, and safer connections between continents. I am confident that the decisions taken today will give additional impetus to the development of Russian-Chinese cooperation in developing the potential of the Northern Sea Route and will allow us to materialise opportunities for cooperation in major capital projects. Our cooperation allows us not only to diversify global trade routes, but also to introduce advanced technologies in the development of high latitude areas with specific conditions," said Alexey Likhachev, Director General of Rosatom State Corporation.
The Sub-Commission was established in 2024 in accordance
with the Protocol dated August 21, 2024, to the Agreement between the
Government of the Russian Federation and the Government of the People's
Republic of China on the establishment and organizational basis of the
mechanism for regular meetings between the heads of government of Russia and
China dated June 27, 1997. The first meeting of the Sub-Commission was held in
November 2024 in St. Petersburg.
The Northern Sea Route (NSR) is the shortest shipping route
between the western part of Eurasia and the Asia-Pacific region and a
historically developed national transportation artery of Russia. Its length is
about 5,600 km. In 2024, the volume of cargo transported along the Northern Sea
Route broke another record and amounted to almost 37.9 million tons, which
exceeds the record result of the previous year by more than 1.6 million tons.
The volume of container transportation between Russia and China is growing. In
2024, 14 international container voyages were made between the ports of
northwestern Russia and the ports of the People's Republic of China (PRC,
China) during the summer-autumn navigation season. This is twice as many as in
2023. Since the beginning of 2025, 17 container voyages have already been made
on the Northern Sea Route out of 22 planned for this year, and a record volume
of container cargo transported has been achieved – 280,000 tons. This is almost
59% more than the volume of cargo transported for the whole of last year –
176,000 tons.
The comprehensive development of Russia's Arctic territories is one of strategic priorities for Russia. It is essential to intensify the NSR transportation for accomplishing the assigned tasks. This logistics corridor is developing due to cargo shipping on a regular basis, building of new nuclear icebreakers and modernization of the relevant infrastructure. Rosatom is actively involved in these efforts.
