"In a short period of time a great amount of work has been done: an excellent oil terminal has been built which has perspectives for further expansion. This is the case when the interests of business coincide with the interests of the state. This terminal will make it possible to expand cooperation with foreign countries," Fradkov said, speaking at the ceremony of putting the first stage of the terminal into operation.
The Prime Minister also said that Russian and foreign specialists (from the American engineering Fluor Corporation) participated in the work over the project.
For his part, Russian presidential plenipotentiary in the Northwestern Federal District Ilya Klebanov noted that "the construction of this terminal is the beginning of the fulfillment of the President's call to double the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) within ten years."
The ceremony of putting the terminal's first stage into operation was held on Wednesday in the context of the Eighth Petersburg Economic Forum.
The main aim of the terminal is to export Russian oil to the European countries and the United States. The capacity of its first stage amounts to about 4.7 million tons of oil products a year.
Oil and oil products will be brought mainly by rail. Apart from that, the project provides for bringing fuel oil in summertime by tankers of the river-sea type.
