MOSCOW, March 27 (RAPSI) – Russia's Regional Development Ministry has started drafting a federal bill on sea (aquatic) planning, the ministry announced.

The goal is to provide the legal basis for designing, creating and operating a comprehensive system of aquatic planning in Russia, as well as tools for the standardized development of coastal and aquatic areas.

An interdepartmental working group led by Deputy Minister Valery Gayevsky has been set up this week and includes members of related committees of the State Duma and the Federation Council, representatives of the Regional Development Ministry, the Natural Resources Ministry, the Economic Development Ministry, the Energy Ministry, the Transport Ministry, the Industry and Trade Ministry, the Federal Agency for the Development of the State Border, the Federal Fishery Agency, the Federal Agency of Sea and River Transport, and the executive authorities of the Kaliningrad and Murmansk regions and the Krasnodar and Primorye territories.

The group will also include representatives of research institutions, in particular, the Zubov State Oceanographic Institute, the State Research and Design Institute of Urban Planning, and the Shirshov Institute of Oceanology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the statement reads.

The bill will be drafted with due regard for Russia's Marine Activity Development Strategy until 2030, approved by government resolution on December 8, 2010, the Regional Development Ministry writes.