The two-day-long Eastern Economic Forum (EEF) aimed at attracting billions in international investments for the Russian economy, has begun making deals on Russky Island, off the coast of Vladivostok, in Russia’s east.
READ MORE: Russia’s Eastern Economic Forum to attract over $15bn in investment
03 September 2016
The forum has seen more than 200 agreements worth at least 1.7 trillion rubles (more than $26 billion) signed, Russia’s Far East Development Minister Aleksandr Galushka said.
“More than 3,000 people from 60 countries are taking part in the Eastern Economic Forum. The largest delegation has come from Japan. The second largest is from China while the third is from People’s Republic of Korea,” Galushka also noted.
As many as 34 investment projects totalling 1.5 trillion rubles (more than $23 billion) have been unveiled at the forum so far, Galushka added.
Korean Peninsula nuclear issue to be solved amid general de-escalation in region – Putin
Russian President Vladimir Putin says that military and political de-escalation is key for trying to end the nuclear dispute on the Korean Peninsula. “I want to stress that our countries [Russia and South Korea] did not accept the self-proclaimed nuclear status of Pyongyang [North Korea],” Putin said on Saturday.
“Russia believes that the solution regarding the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula should be found by military and political de-escalation in north eastern Asia,” he stressed. He added that ways needed to be found to lower the level of military confrontation and increase trust amongst neighboring countries in order to prevent further provocations.
“Only by combining our efforts can we create favorable conditions for countries in the region to ensure stability, security and prosperity,” Putin concluded.
Earlier on Saturday, South Korean President Park Geun-hye urged Russia and other concerned parties to increase pressure on North Korea to halt its nuclear weapons development program.
South Korea confirms its interest in free trade zone with EEU – Putin
South Korea confirmed it is interested in creating a free trade zone with the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU), Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Saturday.
“Our Korean partners have confirmed their interest in creating a free trade zone with the Eurasian Economic Union,” Putin said after talks with South Korean President Park Geun-hye. “We are ready to jointly think through our integration plans and President Park’s idea within her Eurasian initiative,” he added.
The Russian leader also complimented Korean companies Hyundai Motors and Samsung for carrying out successful work on Russian soil, as well as the construction of maritime vessels in South Korea for Russian customers as examples of successful cooperation between the two states.
Putin added that he expects Korean companies to take part in work to develop areas in Russia’s Far East.
Cooperation between Russia and South Korea in the sphere of transport to open up new possibilities to develop resources, South Korean President Park Geun-hye said at the EEF.
"Through cooperation between [South] Korean and Russian businessmen in the sphere of creation of infrastructure, including in the sphere of transport and ports, it will be possible to work out a new multimodal logistical route that will allow to unite the Eurasian continent. Particularly, the Northeast Passage will open new possibilities for a sustainable development of resources," Park said, according to Sputnik.
"Today, we already provide direct state subsidies to investors for the development of transport, energy and other infrastructure, for the opening of new production facilities. We are now thinking about improving support mechanisms. Investors who will build external infrastructure on their own, should receive this additional support from the government," Putin said, according to Sputnik, adding that "various proposals" on the issue "are being discussed."
The Russian leader proposed that Japan and South Korea reflect on the creation of joint investment ventures with Russia to finance industrial and high-tech projects.
"They could focus on the financing of projects not only in agriculture but also in industry, in the sphere of high technologies and in the field of natural resources," Putin said, expressing confidence that "the Far East with its land resources is capable of becoming one of the leading suppliers of quality, ecologically pure food products for the Asia-Pacific Region, where almost 60 percent of our planet’s population live," Putin said, according to Sputnik.
Russia is ready to offer competitive energy prices for countries of the Asia-Pacific Region and wants to create an intergovernmental working group on the Asian energy super ring project.
"For a faster, more dynamic realization of this project [Asian energy ring] we are offering to create an intergovernmental working group. At the same time I want to stress that Russia is ready to offer our partners a competitive, in the Asia Pacific Region, price for electric energy and fix it for a long-term period," Russian President Vladimir Putin stated, according to Sputnik
Putin says that access to natural resources in the Far East should be linked to investment in their processing.
Vladimir Putin proposed to create common "digital economy" space for the states located in the Asia Pacific region.
"We are living in the century of information society, of rapid development of digital telecommunication technologies and it is necessary to seize opportunities, which are opened up through cooperation in order to let public agencies and companies from different countries to cooperate in electronic format… In that context we propose to create a common digital economy space," said Putin, Sputnik reports.
02 September 2016
Russia doesn’t want eurozone to fall, Moscow keeps 40 percent of reserves in euro, Russian President Vladimir Putin told Bloomberg in an interview.
Putin said Russia has no need for external borrowing. According to the president, Russia has enough reserves to preserve economic stability and there is no need to borrow externally.
"We just do not need it now," Putin told Bloomberg. "It is simply senseless, bearing in mind the costs of borrowing."
The Russian President told Bloomberg that the euro area may shrink after the Brexit precedent.
Putin said ties between Russia and Britain haven’t been "the best lately" and can only improve if Theresa May rethinks her country’s closeness to the US and conducts a “more independent foreign policy.”
“The UK’s relations with Russia depend not on its presence or absence from the EU, but on its special relationship with the US,” Putin said. “If the British think there’s a need for dialogue in some areas, then we’re ready. We aren’t going to pout.”
United Aircraft Corporation plans to double production of the Superjet 100 (SSJ100) airliner, said the head of Sukhoi subsidiary Aleksandr Pekarsh. He added that 18 Sukhoi Superjet 100 planes were built last year.
Moscow hasn’t yet received a formal invitation to the OPEC meeting which will take place from September 26-28 in Algeria, Russian Energy Minister Aleksandr Novak told reporters.
“We have not received an official invitation yet because the sides are still discussing the possibility of such a meeting. Most likely, the sides will discuss the current situation [on the oil market] at the meeting,” Novak said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said he’d like OPEC and Russia to reach an agreement on freezing oil output and expects the dispute over Iran’s participation to be resolved.
“It would be right to find a compromise... We think it is the right decision for global energy markets,” Putin told Bloomberg.
Russia and Japan are discussing the implementation of almost 50 projects, including energy, industry, agriculture, health, high technology and robotics, said Russia’s Deputy Minister of Economic Development Stanislav Voskresensky.
READ MORE: Japan focuses on closer economic ties with Russia
“We have already developed a list of 49 possible joint Russian-Japanese projects,” he said.
The Russian authorities do not intend to restrict capital transfer, President Vladimir Putin told investors.
“We have never moved away from once approved principle to liberalize movement of capital. Even in the most difficult conditions of 2008-2009 we did not limit exports of capital,” he said.
The Eastern Economic Forum is of great importance for China which wants to promote the development of the Russia's Pacific regions, according to the Chinese Foreign Ministry’s spokesperson Hua Chunying.
"China would like to play a positive role in the development of the Far East and to promote cooperation," said the spokesperson.
Rosneft, BP and Schlumberger have reached a deal on joint research and development of wireless seismic exploration technology. The new forms of technology will increase the efficiency of exploration and mining.
ALROSA opened the Eurasian Diamond Centre within the Vladivostok Free Port. The first foreign resident of the center became the Ramkrishna Export Private ltd of India. The Russian giant hopes that the new precious stone hub will attract some 450 Million roubles ($8 billion) in investment. The Center is designed to host trading in rough and polished diamonds focused on consumers in the Asia-Pacific region.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stressed that Russia must play a more vibrant role in mastering the economic opportunities offered by the Asia Pacific. Lavrov added that the region accounts for 60 percent of world GDP and nearly half of the world’s trade.
"We have opened new economic opportunities in the East, which coincided with the adoption of Russian government policy decisions on the accelerated development of Eastern Siberia and the Far East,” the minister told the Council on Foreign and Defense Policy, dedicated to the opening of the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok.
"We’re a Eurasian power, a large part of our territory is in Asia, and this part is the least mastered and developed compared to European,” Lavrov told the Council on Foreign and Defense Policy, dedicated to the opening of the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok.
The EEF program "aims to give investors a better idea of our Far East’s rich potential and of the favorable conditions for investment in the regional economy," Russian President Vladimir Putin said in his greetings to the forum’s guests.
He stressed that EEF "will attract great interest among our foreign partners, and that we will work together to coordinate promising projects and initiatives that will help to promote mutually beneficial cooperation in the Asia-Pacific region."
More than 520 billion rubles ($7,9billion) of investments and 176 residents have already been siphoned into priority development areas Vladivostok Free Port, Denis Tikhonov General Director of JSC "Development Corporation of the Far East" told TASS.
Tikhonov added that local state authorities are now working with some of the 26 foreign firms in arranging their documents regarding their status in relation to the specially set up economic regions in the Far East.
A delegation of businessmen from the Chinese port city of Qinhuangdao is ready to invest some $750 million in Russia’s Far East agricultural sector to cultivate soy, a representative of the delegation told TASS.
Ahead of the Forum, speaking in Vladivostok’s Gymnasium No.2, the Russian President stressed the importance of the Far East region, pointing out that the Asia-Pacific region is developing very rapidly.
"That’s why we, I mean Russia, are paying increasing attention to the Asian vector of our cooperation," Putin said.
Noting the importance of holding the EEF, the president voiced confidence in the development of Russia’s Far East, adding that "we need, of course, to cooperate with our neighbors ... these are high-tech countries."
Russian President Vladimir Putin will hold talks with the Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Friday on the sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum.
According to reports, the politicians will focus their discussion on the eight-point economic cooperation plan presented to Putin in Sochi in May, Japan’s Mainichi Daily reports. The plan envisions Tokyo’s assistance in developing Russia's Far East. Putin and Abe will also discuss the disputed Kurli Island chain.
The Japanese’ PM visit to Vladivostok will mark his fourth consecutive trip.
While one of the forum’s three stated objectives is to strengthen ties between the international investment community and Russian, the forum also aims showcase the Russian Far East’s economic potential. The forum will also focus on presenting new investment and business conditions, such as priority development areas and Vladivostok Free Port.
Some 240 Russian and 57 foreign companies are expected to participate in the forum, being held from September 2-3. Overall more than 3,000 people from 55 countries have signed up to attend.
The forum started with a welcome address delivered by Yury Trutnev, the deputy prime minister of the Russian Federation, and Shamshad Akhtar, executive secretary of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP).