The heads of the Norilsk municipality, Norilsk Nickel’s Polar Division, and the Vladimir Potanin Foundation signed a tripartite memorandum of cooperation in Norilsk on October 3. The document specifies that all parties set up the Norilsk Development Agency, which will provide the basis for their concerted effort to ensure the socioeconomic development of Norilsk and create a favorable sociocultural environment in the city.

The Agency’s key objectives include launching projects for economic diversification and urban space transformation, creating a favorable investment climate in the city, providing support for small and medium-sized businesses, and promoting local employment and self-employment. In addition, there are plans to develop a tourism cluster based on local natural and industrial facilities, hold training sessions, and promote branded businesses and entrepreneurial initiatives.

Director of Norilsk Nickel’s Polar Division Alexander Ryumin emphasized, “Norilsk Nickel entered into the memorandum in order to create a comfortable urban environment ensuring a decent quality of life and providing ample opportunities for professional and creative self-actualization of Norilsk residents and the company’s employees. In the current conditions, there is a need for the driver to combine the capabilities of all parties concerned and act in concert with them. The Norilsk Development Agency can and should become this center for initiatives to support the socioeconomic infrastructure.”

City Mayor Oleg Kurilov said, “The signed memorandum maps out a new direction for cooperation between the municipality and the mainstay of the city’s economy in achieving the common and main goal of ensuring a decent quality of life for the residents of Norilsk. The establishment of the Agency as a center for strategic initiatives will help improve the investment and business climate of the city. In accordance with the memorandum, in close cooperation with Norilsk Nickel, and with support from the Vladimir Potanin Foundation, we intend to bring our urban transformation to a new, maximally effective level.”

For her part, the Vladimir Potanin Foundation’s General Director Oksana Oracheva said, “This is a very important event for our foundation. Our organization once began with the scholarship program, which was launched here in Norilsk. It is only natural that, after going a long way to support social and cultural projects, our foundation is back in Norilsk by participating in the establishment of the Norilsk Development Agency. We are confident that the expertise that our foundation has acquired for almost 20 years of our activities in supporting social and cultural projects will be in demand here in Norilsk. This will bring the new sociocultural practices necessary for this place.”

The city administration allocated a room in a multifunctional center where the Norilsk Development Agency will provide advice for entrepreneurs, local residents, and everyone who are interested in cooperation and not indifferent to the future of their city. The priorities of the Agency include preparing its constitutive documents, selecting its high-priority projects for 2017, forming its budget, and formulating its action plan.

Norilsk development agency founded by Norilsk administration, Norilsk Nickel, and Vladimir Potanin foundation