The Asia-Pacific today is the most dynamically developing part of the planet, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum is the largest international event devoted to trade and economic issues bringing together over 20 states. It has neither established strict organizational structure nor bureaucratic staff. APEC functions as a free and prestigious consulting association of member states. It unites the population of 2, 5 billion (around 40% of world population) and accounts for over 53% of world GNP (around 13 trillion dollars) and about 44% of world trade.
The Russian Federation has great interest in large scale projects like APEC. Besides geopolitical and general security agenda, the issues related to the Trans-Urals region development are of key importance. At the beginning of September the traditional meeting of APEC member states leaders will take place on Russian soil, in Vladivostok and the Russky Island.
The Far East is not only the land of 6,2 million square kilometers, making up for a third of Russia’s territory, it’s also the area boasting enormous investment potential that is still to be realized. Nature, energy, transport, communications and manufacturing are the areas for attracting money flows. It’s a real treasure land of mineral, raw material and biological resources that have been barely developed. The prospects for this region to great extent depend on changing the balance between the world economic centers…
Even now it’s the Asian giants like China and India who act as the locomotives of world economic progress. One of the prime missions of Russia’s external economic policy in the East is getting maximum profit from beneficial cooperation with the Asia-Pacific states, getting access to financial-investment, commodities, technology and other markets.
In the times of President Yeltsin the issue of incorporating the huge, richest territories into one social-economic entity was not on the agenda. To say pure and simple the country was just not viewed as a single integrated economic complex. There were no investments in the region; the richest lands were becoming devastated.
At last at the beginning of the century, after the hard times of the 90s, the country started to shape its eastern policy that envisaged creation of up-to-date engineering, transport and social infrastructure around already existing populated areas, as well as those in the process of construction. The concrete measures already taken in this direction give birth to the hope of converting the Trans-Urals Russia into a vast area of economic growth. Among the measures in question are:
• The preparation of Vladivostok for the APEC summit, one of national priority mega-projects,
• The creation of adequate infrastructure around Vladivostok, the Pacific sea-port city, to facilitate its becoming a center of international cooperation with the world economic leaders situated in the Asia-Pacific,
• Large scale construction funded by government that creates new stimulus for business,
• The regional investment projects protected by federal budget,
• Using the airport as a basis for making Vladivostok a hub (transport-logistical junction) that would allow integration into macro regional transportation system and become a Russia’s “gate” into Asia,
• The construction of new facilities, in particular bridges, to support internal consumption as a way to strengthen the”eastern gate” of Russia.
The Chinese Jemin Jibao newspaper has mentioned the speeded up development of Siberia and Far East and economic growth as one of five most important goals for the tenure of President Vladimir Putin. The newspaper said these were the regions clearly underdeveloped, with obsolete infrastructure but rich in resources. Speaking in front of State Duma V. Putin himself said the development of Russia’s territory including Siberia and Far East were his main priority along with tackling demographic problems.
The country has everything to make this effort a success. First of all the unique transit and energy potential. Russia is ready to play a key role in creating a new transport and energy architecture in the Asia-Pacific – along with the APEC partners and using their opportunities as a base.
It’s well known, or instance, that cargo transit through Russia’s territory is much cheaper than the sea trade routes between Europe and Asia. The Russian President mentioned it not once that the use of these opportunities requires an international effort within the boundaries of the super large region. APEC is the mechanism for this type of cooperation.
Energy projects are no less profitable for APEC. It allows Russia to broaden the geography of gas and other energy supplies encompassing far away areas (the gasification of East Siberia, for instance).
The creation of wide Pacific free trade zone from Canada and Chili to China and Far East within the framework of APEC has already been initiated and is taking shape. The “workshop” created as a result of unification could, for instance, come up with offers of beneficial projects that the “golden majority” ruling the WTO and oriented on the USA would not be able to block. It should be noted that the Customs Union members: Russia, Belarus, and Kazakhstan, have started talks on creation of a free trade zone with the European Free Trade Association. Now Russia is intent on promoting the stance previously agreed on by all members of Eurasian economic space. It finds it propitious to add it to the agenda of the APEC forum that gives great importance to the issues of liberalization of commerce and doing away with the barriers on the way of economic cooperation.
The economic, transport and energy projects aimed at speeded up development of Russia Trans-Urals immediately influence Russia’s prospects in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and in the Arctic taking into consideration great attention paid by Moscow to the development of North, in particular within the framework of Arctic Council.
The Siberia’s agricultural products have wide opportunities for gaining access to East Asia, not to mention the colossal deposits of oil, natural gas, precious stones, gold, silver, copper and other natural resources. The development of all these riches requires utmost strengthening of Russia’s sovereignty over its Trans-Urals space by speeding up the elimination of the infrastructural backwardness. A lot of things are needed here: stimulating national private capital investments in the region, attraction of small businesses into providing northern areas with goods, enhancement of industrial and technological level of developing the natural resources, including the resources of the Pacific ocean, the reconstruction of railways, sea ports and moorings, stable, mutually beneficial ties with the APEC member states and a lot of other things.
The main thing is to create decent living conditions for people and to attract qualified workforce to the European part of the country and the Community of Independent States. The Far East makes up for a third of the Russia Federation’s territory but it boasts only around 5% of the country’s population. The number dwindles every year. What is needed is that the people would go there from here not vice versa. Make it so that they would not just move but get settled down to live, work, strike roots, give birth to children. That’s the goal that was set a hundred and fifty years ago by the first governor general of Eastern Siberia, count Nikolai Muravyev-Amursky whose mission was to cultivate the huge unpopulated lands. He understood well that the guarantee of success was in the formula “state for people, not people for state”. Today it serves as the formula for revival of a strong and prosperous state “from taiga to the outskirts”. That’s the prime state’s priority.
