Foreign trade activity evaluation of Russian Arctic

The article presents the analysis of foreign trade activity of Russian Arctic. Foreign trade activity has a great significance for the economy of country. Russian economy as well as Russian Arctic economy has inefficient structure of foreign trade and dependence on world markets. The purpose of the research is to assess the foreign trade activities of Russian Arctic in order to forecast and create the strategy of economic development of Russian Arctic based on knowledge and innovation. The author gives the characteristics of Russian Arctic and shows the similar features of Arctic territories, such as climatic, demographic, natural, and so on. The author issues the theoretical approaches to the problem of foreign trade activity of countries. The author suggests the methodology of foreign trade activity analysis and assesses the foreign trade activity index of Russian Arctic regions using index method based on integrated index calculation. The analysis is based on official data of Federal State Statistics Service of Russian Federation from 2000 to 2015. The results of research show that Arctic regions may be divided into three groups, such as (1) regions with high level of foreign trade activity (Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) and Murmansk region); (2) regions with low level of foreign trade activity (Krasnoyarsk Krai, Arkhangelsk oblast, Komi Republic, Nenets Autonomous Okrug); (3) the least developed regions (Yamalo-Nenets and Chukotka Autonomous District). The results of the research may be used for the specific strategy creation of foreign trade activity for each group of Russian Arctic regions.