Oleg Deripaska, oligarch and CEO of both Basic Element and RUSAL, has a column in today’s Financial Times about the untapped potential of Siberia which is so great, he says, that it puts Russia’s east ‘at the new centre of the world economy’.  Or it does in theory, given that the region needs $220 billion worth of modernising infrastructure to help it reach its full production and export potential, and combat a ‘damaging legacy of lack of interest and investment’.  Here are some highlights:

If you consider that 70 per cent of Russia’s copper and nickel reserves and 80 per cent of coal are in eastern Siberia and the Far East, the geographical position ideal for building efficient supply chains. It takes as little as four days to transport goods by sea, for example, from Russia’s Far East to China compared to 14 days from Australia, 23 days from South America and 35 days from Brazil. Siberia can also help address global problems such as water and food shortages in heavily-populated Asian countries by exporting agricultural products and supplying much-needed fresh water.