Interview: Eastern Economic Forum to promote Russia's Far East development: minister

The upcoming Eastern Economic Forum (EEF) to be held in Russia's Far East city of Vladivostok will inject powerful impetus into the region's development, Russia's Far East Development Minister Alexander Galushka told Xinhua in a recent interview.

Noting that the domestic market in the Far East is small because the district is an enormous but sparsely populated territory, the minister said that its natural and human resources could only be developed in close cooperation with the region's neighbors, particularly with China.

"It is natural that the region has been oriented towards the export to Asia-Pacific countries: China, Japan, South Korea and Singapore," Galushka said.

People in these countries need green agricultural products, clear water and other goods that Russia can provide, the minister said, adding that the Far East region is ready to respond to those needs.

The demand from Asia-Pacific countries would give the region the opportunity to develop the production of export goods, he said.

Galushka added that cooperation with China will give a green light to the creation of transport corridors connecting Russian and Chinese cities and ports.

In July, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law to give Vladivostok and 15 other maritime administrative districts the "free port" status.

"That would dramatically cut the logistical cost for companies in northeast China, thus speeding up their growth," Galushka said.

This is a direct response to the alignment of the Russia-led Eurasian Economic Union framework with the China-proposed Silk Road Economic Belt, which was agreed upon between Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping during Xi's visit to Moscow in May, Galushka said.

"This is beneficial for Russia's Far East, so we welcome such cooperation," Galushka said, adding that the Russia-China cooperation agenda is very broad and promising.

Moreover, the minister said that during the BRICS and Shanghai Cooperation Organization summits in Ufa in July, Putin has sent invitations to leading Chinese entrepreneurs to participate in the EEF.

"Now we see a big interest in that event from Chinese entrepreneurs," he said.

The EEF, which will be held from Sept. 3 to Sept. 5, is an annual event proposed by Putin in order to speed up the development of eastern Russia and expand multilateral cooperation in the Asia-Pacific region.

"The forum will be a platform to promote projects and mechanisms which would help Russian and foreign investors succeed in the Far East," Galushka said.

"We are going to present these opportunities during the forum," Galushka said, adding that they expected investors to consider the new opportunities.

According to Galushka, foreign investment in the region has grown by over 10 percent in the first seven months of this year. "So the EEF has become an important accelerator for the Far East development even before the event kicks off," the minister said.

"Mutually respectful and beneficial interaction between the peoples is bound to be successful. Russia-China relations have become an example of such interaction, thanks to both leaders' creative approach to remove all obstacles for cooperation," he said. Endi