“A year ago, on the sidelines of the 8th FEE, the President of Russia again identified the Asia-Pacific region as one of the priority frontiers of the country’s modern foreign policy,” said Boris Stupnitsky, Chairman of the Chamber of Representatives of the Primorsky Krai Trade and Industry Union. – The idea of Pacific integration runs like a red thread in the strategies of economic development of the Far East. The Asia-Pacific region has all the conditions for effective international integration: capital, labor, technology. These components can and should be used for the development of the Far Eastern Federal District.
Despite sanctions, international cooperation continues to expand, as evidenced primarily by direct investment and trade relations.
Thus, Legendagro Primorye and Legendagro Logistics Amur companies, with the participation of Chinese capital, are implementing investment projects with the status of residents of priority development territories (ADT) in the agricultural sector of Primorye and the Amur region. The regime of the free port of Vladivostok (FPV) helped the Yubo-Sumotori company to launch the production of trucks of the Chinese brand FAW, Yi Sen to open a wood processing plant, and Qiaoxing DIK to create a complex for growing soybeans and corn. With the participation of Indian capital, the JT company, as a FPV resident, opened the first and only tea packaging factory in the Far East. Preferential regimes attract foreign capital to other industries: mariculture, housing construction, mining and hydrocarbon processing, tourism and even education. The Primorye company “Lunmei” is creating an educational center where they will prepare applicants from China for admission to Russian universities.
The share of Asia-Pacific countries in Russia’s commodity exports and imports is constantly growing and in 2021 amounted to 43.6 percent. The most important partners in this region remain China, India, Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Russia’s main export categories are oil and its products, coal, fertilizers, and fish.
Over the past 10 years, trade turnover between the Russian Far East and the People’s Republic of China has doubled and reached 2 trillion rubles last year. Checkpoints in the Far Eastern Federal District will process 211 million tons of cargo in 2023. At the same time, land checkpoints increased cargo volume from 29.9 to 40.4 million tons. A significant contribution to the growth was made by two new bridges across the Amur: Blagoveshchensk – Heihe and Nizhneleninskoye – Tongjiang. Over the past year, 3.8 million tons of cargo were transported on them, and the potential of these facilities is an order of magnitude higher.
Joint work on the development of Bolshoy Ussuriysky Island near Khabarovsk continues. The project is implemented within the framework of the “One Island, Two States” concept and provides for the creation of a cross-border cargo and passenger crossing, as well as a tourist and business infrastructure. The total volume of investments from the Russian side amounts to at least 80 billion rubles.
The world’s only cross-border cable car is being built between Blagoveshchensk and Heihe. A large-scale project is being implemented at the Amurskaya ASEZ. The highway will be able to transport up to 1.7 million people a year.
“The new conditions create additional prerequisites not only for the development of trade between countries, but also for the implementation of joint projects and the launch of new production facilities. The development of cross-border cooperation between friendly states is one of the possible answers to the challenges of the time,” says Nikolay Zapryagaev, Director General of the KRDV.
Meanwhile, from January 1, 2025, a special regime of an international priority development territory (ITOR), developed by the Ministry of Eastern Development of Russia and the Far Eastern Region, will begin to operate in the Far East. A Russian company that attracts funds from foreign investors from friendly countries, has a high-tech investment project for the production of high added value products and capital investments exceeding 500 million rubles, registered in this territory, can become a resident. The conditions for doing business in international priority development territories will correspond to the best practices existing in similar special regimes both in Russia and abroad. Companies willing to implement high-tech projects in Russia will be offered tax incentives, infrastructure support, and special conditions for customs regulation and attracting labor resources.
