Development Analysis and Assessment of Agro-Industrial Clusters of the North-Western Federal District in the Context of Import Substitution

In today’s economic reality, theoretical and practical reflection on how clusters should be formed and developed, as well as how the appropriate conditions for their high development should be arranged, both globally and in any particular region, is acquiring importance for a comprehensive solution to the issues of expanding import substitution and creating an advantageous competitive environment. Therefore, this research focuses on the development of regional clustering in the agro-industrial complex, along with the identification of features for the NWFD. In the course of our work, we have refined the role and matter of the conceptual «agro-industrial cluster» framework in the modern Russian economy, studied the emergence and development of cluster formation in Russia and within the region under study, with due consideration of its features and differences, identified the prerequisites for clustering expansion in the NWFD, and provided appropriate recommendations for the organisation of clusters. The AIC clusters formation analysis for the region under study has made it possible to assess the development of clusters and to specify the predominant areas of formation of such associations, as well as to point out that clustering is regarded as an option to implement the policy of import substitution and provision of food supply security in the country in present-day reality. The author of the article highlights the prerequisites for the development and formation of clusters in Saint-Petersburg and the Leningrad region, with due consideration of the functional features and benefits of each constituent territory of the district.