The program of civilian shipbuilding development in the Russian Far East stipulates financing estimated at $5 billion, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on Monday.

Putin is on a working visit to the region. Earlier in the day, the Russian premier attended the ceremony of launching the first stage of the East Siberia -Pacific Ocean oil pipeline, which is designed to pump up to 1.6 million barrels (220,000 tons) of crude per day from Siberia to Russia's Far East and then on to China and the Asia-Pacific region.

Speaking at a meeting on the development of the Russian Far East and the Baikal Region, Putin said the Russian government would assist the United Shipbuilding Corporation and its partners in preparing a prognostic output plan.

"Our goal is to help create a plan to release civilian maritime equipment over the next few years and up to the year 2020. Such a plan has been drafted as a whole and will require $5 billion," Putin said.

The Russian premier said that the plan involved orders from major Russian companies, including energy giant Gazprom, state-run oil company Rosneft, the largest shipping company Sovkomflot, and the production of fishing boats and specialized craft.

Putin also said that the Primorye Territory in the Russian Far East would implement two large-scale investment projects worth a total of $700 million, with over two thirds of that amount to be allocated from Russian sources.

The first project stipulates the construction of a new shipyard for the production of drilling platforms at the Chazhma Bay near Vladivostok in a joint venture with Singapore, Putin said.

The second project envisages the construction of a dry dock on the premises of the Zvezda repair shipyard in the town of Boshoy Kamen for the production of tankers and liquefied gas vessels in a joint venture with South Korea's Daewoo company, the premier said.