The 4th Eastern Economic Forum took place in Vladivostok on 11–13 September 2018. The theme of the Forum was ‘The Far East: Expanding the Range of Possibilities’.
“We were thinking how to make the Eastern Economic Forum better next year. Given the outcome of the EEF business programme sessions, we will define key directions for the development of the Far East, such as logistics, energy, natural resources. Moderators of the sessions will report the suggestions worked out in the EEF discussions to the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin. It will not only increase accountability, but also build a path from Forum discussions to state-level decisions,” Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation and Presidential Plenipotentiary Envoy to the Far Eastern Federal District Yuri Trutnev noted.
1. Programme
The Forum’s programme consisted of over 100 business events on the most relevant topics of regional and international agenda, including panel sessions, business breakfasts, roundtables and TV debates.
There were four main theme blocks:
● Tools To Support Investors: Next Steps;
● Industry Priorities In The Far East;
● The Global Far East: International Projects for Cooperation;
● Improving Living Conditions.
The key event of the Forum was the plenary session ‘The Far East: Expanding the Range of Possibilities’ with the participation of the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin, President of the People’s Republic of China Xi Jinping, President of Mongolia Khaltmaagiin Battulga, Prime Minister of Japan Shinzō Abe, Prime Minister of the Republic of Korea Lee Nak-yon. The plenary session was moderated by Anchor, Deputy Director of Russia TV Channel, President of the Bering Bellingshausen Institute for the Americas Sergey Brilev.
Vladimir Putin noted: “We are working hard to create a strong centre of international cooperation and integration, business and investment activity, education, science and culture in the dynamically growing Asia-Pacific Region. We are building this centre primarily in the interests of Russian citizens, the residents of the Far East, for their wellbeing, as well as for people to fully realize their potential.”
President of the People’s Republic of China Xi Jinping emphasized: “The Eastern Economic Forum, established by the initiative of President Putin, has already been successfully held three times and has become an important platform for consolidating brainpower and discussing key cooperation-related matters. This year the Forum is attended by an unprecedented number of guests and friends from different countries.”
President of Mongolia Khaltmaagiin Battulga said: “The Annual Eastern Economic Forum is becoming an important discussion platform for outlining further ways of cooperation for the APR countries. Each year the level of participants is rising, and the Forum is expanding.”
Prime Minister of Japan Shinzō Abe: “Russian–Japanese relations are now going through a breakthrough period with unprecedented acceleration. The plan of bilateral cooperation that we discussed with President Putin includes over 150 projects. Over a half of them are already being implemented or are approaching this stage.”
Prime Minister of the Republic of Korea Lee Nak-yeon said: “Leaders of the Northeast Asian states have gathered at this platform to consolidate efforts and ideas for the development of the Far East and ensure peace and well-being for the region. This is crucial.”
Reference information:
The Forum’s programme included the following events:
● 5 business dialogues (Russia–ASEAN, Russia–Europe, Russia–China, Russia–Republic of Korea, Russia–Japan);
● ‘Joint Meeting of Russia–Korea and Korea–Russia Business and Investment Councils’ business breakfast;
● ‘An Investment Breakthrough for the Regions of the Far Eastern Federal District: What Next?’ business breakfast;
● Roundtable for Russian and Chinese Regional Leaders;
● Intergovernmental Russian–Chinese Commission;
● International APEC Conference on Cooperation in Higher Education;
● Valdai Club Session;
● TV Debates of Russia 24 and the Valdai Discussion Club;
● Sberbank plenary session ‘Education in Transitional World: New Priorities’;
● Presentation of the Digital Economy School;
● Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre (HKIAC) Pre-Dispute Strategy Seminar;
● Presentation of investment projects and investment attractiveness of the Far East, including:
- presentation of the Digital platform for investors and exporters of the Far East;
- Interactive session of the Russian Export Centre ‘The export industries of the Far East’;
- presentation of 28 investment projects worth 1,162,933,000 roubles.
● Educational platform of the Forum, including:
- Youth Platform Lecture Course Programme featured famous Russian and foreign speakers talking about the development of digital economy, educational system and energy cooperation. Among the speakers were Chairman of the Management Board, SIBUR Holding, Dmitry Konov; Chairman of the Executive Board, ROSNANO Managing Company Ltd, Anatoly Chubais; Secretary General, China Overseas Development Association, He Zhenwei; Member of the National Assembly of the Republic of Korea Song Young-gil; Professor Emeritus, Incheon National University, Chung Rae Kwon, etc;
- Island 10-21 intensive course programme;
● Grand opening and 10 social sessions of the NPO LAB: Social Impact Lounge;
● Opening of the innovation carousel of the Territory of Innovations project.
2. Participants
The Forum was attended by 6,002 delegates and 1,357 media representatives from 60 foreign countries. The most numerous delegations (officials and businessmen) came from the People’s Republic of China (1,096 people), Japan (570 people), the Republic of Korea (335 people), as well as Mongolia, the USA and the UK. North Korea was represented by 12 people.
Among high-ranking foreign politicians were President of the People’s Republic of China Xi Jinping, President of Mongolia Khaltmaagiin Battulga, Prime Minister of the Republic of Korea Lee Nak-yeon, Prime Minister of Japan Shinzō Abe.
Over 340 heads of foreign businesses took part in the Forum. For the first time it was attended by the leaders of two largest Chinese oil companies that are numbers 3 and 4 in the Fortune Global 500 international rating respectively: President of SINOPEC (China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation) Dai Houliang and President of China National Petroleum Corporation Wang Yilin.
● Chen Lip Keong, Founder, Controlling Shareholder and Chief Executive, Officer NagaCorp Ltd;
● Yinbiao Shu, Chairman, State Grid Corporation of China;
● Lyu Jun, Chairman, COFCO Corporation;
● Liu Qitao, Executive Director, Chairman of the Board of Directors, China Communications Construction Company Limited;
● René Berkvens, Chief Executive Officer, Damen Shipyards Group NV;
● Kag-Gyu Hwang, CEO & Vice Chairman, Lotte Corporation;
● Keun-tae Park, Chief Executive Officer, CJ Logistics Corporation;
● Moon Sung-Joon, President, CEO, LS Networks;
● Seong-rip Jeong, CEO, President, Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co Ltd;
● Cheong Seung-Il, President, Chief Executive Officer, Korea Gas Corporation;
● Brian Chang, Director, Singapore Oil and Energy;
● Christian Wolfensberger, Chairman of the Board of Directors, Molumin AG;
● Tetsuhiro Hosono, Chairman, Chief Executive Officer, Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation;
● Masayuki Sato, Representative Director, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, JGC Corporation;
● Masaji Santo, President & CEO, Chiyoda Corporation;
● Takashi Nishijima, President and Chief Executive Officer, Yokogawa Electric Corporation;
● Masamichi Kogai, President, Representative Director and Chairman of the Board, Mazda Motor Corporation;
● Teruo Asada, Chairman of Japan Business Federation;
● Masami Iijima, Representative Director, Chairman of the Board of Directors, Mitsui & Co., Ltd;
● Yoichi Nishikawa, President, Representative Director, Iida Group Holdings Co Ltd;
● Yukio Temma, General Director, Hokkaido Corporation.
As well as 383 heads of Russian companies, including:
● Igor Shuvalov, Chairman, State Corporation ‘Bank for Development and Foreign Economic Affairs (Vnesheconombank)’;
● Anatoly Chubais, Chairman of the Executive Board, ROSNANO Managing Company Ltd;
● Vladimir Evtushenkov, Chairman of the Board, Sistema;
● Alexey Rakhmanov, President, United Shipbuilding Corporation;
● Sergey Frank, President, Chief Executive Officer, PAO Sovcomflot;
● Kirill Dmitriev, Chief Executive Officer, Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF);
● Alexander Dyukov, Chairman of the Management Board, Chief Executive Officer, Gazprom Neft;
● Alexander Abramov, Chairman of the Board, EVRAZ plc.
Among Russian and foreign officials there were 5 Deputy Prime Ministers of the Russian Federation, 11 Ministers of the Russian Federation, 12 heads of federal services and agencies, 19 heads of federal constituent entities of the Russian Federation, 9 foreign ministers from 6 countries: Vietnam, India, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the People's Republic of China, Mongolia and Japan.
Heads of diplomatic corps of 11 states participated in the Forum: Brunei Darussalam, Canada, China, Mexico, Moldova, Mongolia, the Republic of Korea, El Salvador, the Philippines, France, Japan.
Among high-ranking guests were Rashid Alimov, Secretary General, Shanghai Cooperation Organization, and Tigran Sargsyan, Chairman of the Board, Eurasian Economic Commission.
3. Agreements
According to preliminary figures, 220 agreements worth 3.108 billion roubles were signed at the Forum (only agreements, the value of which does not constitute a commercial secret).
The most significant agreements of the Forum:
● Baimskaya Mining Company, KAZ Minerals PLC, Government of Chukotka Autonomous Area and the Ministry of Economic Development of Russia signed an agreement in the amount of 360 billion roubles on the implementation of the investment project to develop the Baimskaya ore zone (Chukotka Autonomous Area);
● United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) and Aeroflot signed an agreement in the amount of 210 billion roubles on the consignment of Sukhoi Superjet 100 aircrafts;
● Nakhodka Fertilizer Plant and Far East Development Corporation signed an agreement to create a clean methanol and ammonia production facility;
● NOVATEK, Government of Kamchatka Territory and Ministry for the Development of the Russian Far East signed an agreement in the amount of 69.5 billion roubles on the construction of a terminal for transshipment and storage of liquefied natural gas;
● Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), Japanese conglomerate Marubeni Corporation and AEON corporation signed an agreement on the terms for financing the construction of a chemical cluster in Volgograd;
● The Russian Direct Investment Fund, Alibaba Group, MegaFon and Mail.Ru Group announced a new strategic partnership to integrate Russia’s key consumer internet and e-commerce platforms and launch a leading social commerce joint venture in Russia and the CIS
● Leonid Petukhov, CEO of the Far East Investment and Export Agency, and Yoichi Nishikawa, CEO of Iida Group, signed an agreement in the amount of 14.960 billion roubles on cooperation in the implementation of the project for the construction of a wood processing complex for the production of sawn timber for wooden model houses, as well as the construction and sale of wooden low-rise houses;
● Aysen Nikolayev, Acting Head of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), and Yuri Korotaev, CEO of Duracell Russia, signed the agreement in the amount of 15 billion roubles on interaction in the area of social and economic development of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia);
● Dmitry Kobylkin, Minister of Natural Resources and Environment of Russia, and Yuri Korotaev, CEO of Duracell Russia, signed an agreement on mutually beneficial cooperation in the establishment of a new class 2 waste management system;
● Rosneft and Beijing Gas Group Co. Ltd. signed an agreement to secure the essential conditions for the establishment of a joint venture for the construction and operation of a network of gas filling compressor stations (CNGS) in Russia;
● Gazprom and Mitsui & Co. Ltd. signed a memorandum of understanding on the Baltic LNG project, in order to consider the opportunities for cooperation in the project;
● Far East Development Corporation and Rostelecom PJSC signed an agreement on connecting the 18 advanced special economic zones in the Far East to fiber-optic communication lines;
● Novatek and Rosatomflot signed an agreement on the intention to jointly develop and build an icebreaker fleet operating on LNG.
4. Forum Partners
43 companies became Forum partners, including:
- 4 general partners: Russian Export Centre, Rosneft, Gazprom, RusHydro.
- 11 official partners: FESCO Transportation Group, Kolmar, ALROSA, VTB Bank, State Atomic Energy Corporation ROSATOM, Gazprombank, Russian Railways, Polyus Krasnoyarsk, Russian Agricultural Bank, SME Bank, VostokCoal.
5. Exhibitions
The following exhibition formats were represented at the EEF 2018:
1. ‘Doing Business in the Russian Far East’ exhibition (including the photo exhibition celebrating achievements in Russian–Chinese trade and economic cooperation);
2. ‘Welcome to the Far East’ exhibition;
3. Exhibition (Fish restaurant);
4. EEF 2018 partner networking areas;
5. Exhibition by the federal executive authorities:
● Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation;
● Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation;
● Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation;
● Federal Service for Surveillance of Consumer Rights Protection and Human Wellbeing (Rospotrebnadzor);
● Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment of the Russian Federation / Federal Subsoil Resources Management Agency / Federal Agency for Forestry;
● Ministry of Agriculture of the Russian Federation;
● Kemerovo Region;
● Far East Development Informational Support Fund.
6. Photo exhibitions of the Forum:
● ‘Wilderness of Far East’ photo exhibition;
● ‘Water Treasures of Russia’ photo exhibition;
● Photo exhibition of archival documents and photos for the Year of Russia in Japan and Year of Japan in Russia;
● ‘Japan and Russia. Innovations and ecology in coal handling’ photo exhibition;
● ‘Friendship sails’ photo exhibition.
Governors’ Club
For the first time the Forum had the Governors’ Club. This format was successfully used at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. At the Governors’ Club negotiations with the participation of 16 regional administrations took place: Chukotka Autonomous Area, Amur Region, the Jewish Autonomous Area, the Republic of Udmurtia, Tambov Region, the Republic of Karelia, Yaroslavl Region, Irkutsk Region, Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Area, Sakhalin Region, the Republic of Buryatia, the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), the Republic of Tatarstan, Kamchatka Territory, Khabarovsk Territory, Kemerovo Region, Magadan Region.
6. Accommodation
7585 rooms in 26 Vladivostok hotels and on the FEFU campus were prepared for Forum participants, media representatives and service staff. This year, for the first time, 800 Forum participants were accommodated on board luxury cruise liner Costa neoRomantica.
7. Food service
7 free coffee break areas (including two in the Roscongress & Governors` Club), 3 restaurants, 20 paid cafés serving cold and hot starters throughout the day were available for Forum participants and guests.
Separate coffee break, lunch and dinner areas in buildings D and G were available for media representatives.
8.Transport
The official automobile of EEF 2018 became the Hyundai Genesis G80. This year, Forum received 215 such vehicles for the transport service.
In order to maximize participants’ comfort, regular shuttle service was organized between the city centre and FEFU, as well as to the venues of cultural and sporting events and across the FEFU campus.
9. Volunteers
Over 580 volunteers from Primorye Territory, St. Petersburg, Moscow, Sochi and Arkhangelsk took part in the Forum. The main task of volunteers was providing service support to the participants.
10. Venue
Over 110,000 square meters of the FEFU campus were used for conducting the Forum.
11. Media
1,357 media representatives (941 Russian and 416 foreign) from 443 organizations (268 Russian and 175 foreign) covered the Forum this year. Applications were received from 25 foreign countries: the UK, Vietnam, Germany, Hong Kong, Denmark, Egypt, India, Iraq, Iran, Spain, Italy, Kazakhstan, Canada, Qatar, China, Mongolia, the Republic of Korea, Singapore, Slovakia, the USA, Finland, Czech Republic, France, Switzerland, and Japan.
12. Cultural and sporting programmes
The central event of the sporting programme was the International Jigoro Kano Junior (U18) Judo Tournament under the Auspices of President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister of Japan Shinzō Abe.
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Cultural and sporting programme included the following events:
● Russian Ministry of Economic Development Go Cup;
● International Mas Wrestling Tournament;
● Friendly International Football Match between Luch FC (Vladivostok) and Yanbian Funde FC (Yanji);
● Roscongress Cup. Tennis and Table Tennis Tournaments, Far Eastern Corporate Games;
● Roscongress Cup. Platu 25 Class Regatta;
● Olympic Patrol project featuring master classes by Olympic 2012 judo champions Tagir Khaibulaev, Mansur Isaev, and Arsen Galstyan, together with Olympic 2008 high jump champion Andrey Silnov;
● ‘Far East Street’ exhibition;
● Intellectual game What? Where? When? for Forum participants; ‘Far Eastern Constellation’ Cultural Festival for guests and inhabitants of Vladivostok;
● Open-Air Cinema
● Historic Milestones on the Map of Russia, from the Collection of the Moscow Kremlin Museums; The Great Karl: Works by Karl Bryullov and His Students from the Collection of the State Russian Museum;
● Arts evenings with actor and film director Vladimir Mashkov and playwright Evgeny Grishkovets at the Kuzbass Art Gallery;
● Russian stage of the SCF Far East Tall Ships Regatta 2018.
13. Organizer
The EEF 2018 is organized by the Roscongress Foundation, a socially oriented non-financial development institution and a major organizer of international conventions, exhibitions, public events.
