Marine Board to discuss nat'l Caspian policy in Astrakhan

VOLGOGRAD, May 4 (Itar-Tass) - A session of the Marine Board under the
government of the Russian Federation is to be held in Astrakhan on
Wednesday. The session will be presided over by Vice-Premier Sergei Ivanov.
Astrakhan Region Governor Alexander Zhilkin told journalists that the
session would deal with "The pursuance of the national sea policy in the
Caspian regional sector".
It is also planned to discuss a comprehensive solution to the problem
of the Volga River navigability and prospects for the development of the
international North-South transportation corridor.
Astrakhan Region, which is situated in Russia's south-west, in the
northern Caspian Sea area, the Volga-Akhtuba flood-plain and in the Volga
delta, by virtue of its geographical position, is the main Russian section
of the North-South corridor. More than 100 ships under the Russian flag
constantly operate in the Caspian Sea area.
Over many decades, a developed navigation support infrastructure has
taken shape in Astrakhan: port facilities, shipbuilding and ship-repairing
yards, classification and research institutions, a basin radio center and
subdivisions for meteorological and hydrographic support of dredging and
emergency rescue operations, sanitary quarantine, border and customs
control and relevant educational establishments.