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| Image: Flickr User - Thomas Claveirole |
By Duncan Brown
Domestic Russian initiatives aim to capitalize on the country’s vast far eastern region and boost ties with Asia.
In 2015, Russia has aimed to revive its expansive Far Eastern Federal District through unprecedented levels of cooperation with the Asia-Pacific region. In this three part series, we’ll explore those efforts. Part 1 reviews domestic initiatives in the pragmatic transformation of this vast territory.
The center of Russia’s Far Eastern Federal District, Khabarovsk, is 6,000 kilometres and 8 time zones from Moscow. With the proximity of the dynamic Asian economy, the consolidation of the BRICS alliance and further economic decline facing the region due to the weakening ruble, President Vladimir Putin and his administration have accelerated their attempts to revive the region.
Projects this year have featured both internal and external designs. Within the territory of the Far Eastern Federal District, 2015 has seen land incentive schemes, a network of ‘free-ports,’ renovation of the Trans-Siberian and Baikal-Amur railways, construction of oil refineries, gas pipelines, a sprawling national space-center and the upgrading of nuclear shipyards.
With the hope of broadening cooperation with the Asia-Pacific region, the Russian government announced the creation of the Eastern Economic Forum (EEF) in May 2015. Alongside the new policies to liberate and grow the local economies of a region spanning 35 percent of the country’s total landmass, the conference – held from September 3-5 this year – brought together economists, political delegations, investors and industrial experts from all over the Asian continent. Over 20 countries and 800 foreign companies participated in the forum, and Russia has used the event as a spearhead to consolidate and expand ties with many of its close neighbors. New agreements have been reached with China, Japan, Indonesia, North Korea, South Korea, Thailand, Vietnam and India so far this year, and the number could yet rise further as Putin’s ambitious strategy of infrastructure links, trade, military and energy cooperation reaches ‘unprecedented’ levels.
With the primary aim of displaying the Russian Far East’s potential and attracting investment, the first EEF closed with reported agreements of up to 1.3 trillion rubles, with Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Trutnev confirming over 80 separate projects. Combined with domestic policy to initiate internal migration flows and establish a sustainable economic climate in the region, Russia is rapidly refocusing its attention eastwards.
Read the full story at The Diplomat