An update on the Eastern Economic Forum, 2021
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- The story: The Eastern Economic Forum was established by decree of the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin in 2015 to support the economic development of Russia’s Far East and to expand international cooperation in the Asia-Pacific region. It is an international platform aiming to foster communication and cooperation between members of the business community, political figures, experts, and journalists from Russia and the Asia-Pacific region. It takes place each year in Vladivostok, a city in Russia.
- Sixth EEF summit: The PM of India addressed the plenary session of the 6th Eastern Economic Forum (EEF) via video-conferencing. He spoke of the importance of India-Russia relations and potential areas of cooperation in line with the ‘Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership’. He praised Russia’s vision for the development of the Russian Far East region and reiterated India’s commitment (as part of its "Act East Policy”) of being a reliable partner of Russia in this regard. The sectors discussed were health and pharma, diamond, coking coal, steel, timber etc.
- What EEF does: The Forum’s business programme includes a number of business dialogues with leading partner countries in the Asia-Pacific region, and with ASEAN, a key integration organization of dynamically developing nations in Southeast Asia. Over the years, it has emerged as an international platform for discussing the strategy for developing political, economic and cultural ties between Russia and Asia Pacific.
- India-Russia relations: Russia has been a long-time friend of India; it not only provided India arms to maintain a formidable military profile but also gave invaluable diplomatic support on a variety of regional issues. Apart from traditional areas of cooperation such as weapons, hydrocarbons, nuclear energy (Kudankulam), space (Gaganyaan) and diamonds, new sectors of economic engagement are likely to emerge — mining, agro-industrial, and high technology, including robotics, nanotech, and biotech.
- The Chinese aggression in the border areas of eastern Ladakh, brought India-China relations to an inflection point, but also demonstrated that Russia is capable of contributing to defusing tensions with China. Russia organized a trilateral meeting among the foreign ministers of Russia, India, and China following deadly clashes in the Galwan Valley in the disputed territory of Ladakh.
- India’s footprint in the Russian Far East and in the Arctic is set to expand. Connectivity projects may get a boost too.
- Russia seeks to leverage India’s soft power to gain legitimacy in the success of the Eurasian Economic Union, and re-establishing its hegemony, as it existed during the cold war era.
- India and Russia are working to close the gap on Afghanistan and are calling for early finalization of the Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism.
- Russia supports India’s candidacy for permanent membership of a reformed United Nations Security Council and of the Nuclear Suppliers Group.
- Although India has consciously diversified its new defence purchases from other countries, the bulk of its defence equipment (60 to 70%) is still from Russia. Te BrahMos Missile System as well as the licensed production in India of SU-30 aircraft and T-90 tanks, are good examples.
- Knowledge centre:
- Russian Far East - The Russian Far East is a region in Northeast Asia, the easternmost part of Russia, and is located between Lake Baikal and the Pacific Ocean. It has maritime boundaries with Japan to its southeast, and with the United States along the Bering Strait to its northeast. It is considered as a part of Siberia by foreigners, but locally, it has been historically categorized separately from Siberia in Russian schemes (and previously in Soviet era when it was the Soviet Far East).
- Cities and population in Russian Far East - The key cities are Vladivostok, Khabarovsk, Ulan-Ude, Chita, Komsomolsk-on-Amur, Blagoveshchensk, Yakutsk, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, and Nakhodka. The population is largely urban. In 2016, a programme was approved to resettle at least 5,00,000 Ukrainians in the Far East. This included giving free land to attract voluntary immigrants from Ukraine and the settlement of refugees from East Ukraine. Uniquely for Russia, most cars have right-hand drive though traffic still flows on the right-hand side of the road!
- Bering Strait - The Strait is named after Vitus Bering, a Danish explorer in the service of the Russian Empire. It is a strait between the Pacific and Arctic oceans, separating the Chukchi Peninsula of the Russian Far East from the Seward Peninsula of Alaska, USA. The present Russia-United States maritime boundary is at 168° 58' 37" W longitude, slightly south of the Arctic Circle at about 65° 40' N latitude.
- Siberia - It is a vast region of 13.1 million sqkm in Eastern Europe and North Asia, a part of Russia since the latter half of the 16th century, after the Russians conquered lands east of the Ural Mountains. Siberia is sparsely populated, home to just one-fifth of Russia's population. Novosibirsk and Omsk are the largest cities.
- EXAM QUESTIONS: (1) Explain the idea behind the Eastern Economic Forum. (2) In what ways is the Russian Far East different from Russian Siberia? Explain. (3) What is the geoeconomic significance of the Russian Far East? Why is India interested? Explain.
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