Interaction between APEC, Russia needed for development of Russian Far East - expert

MOSCOW, November 1. /TASS/. Interaction between Russia and member-states of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum is required for development of the Russian Far East and Siberia, Deputy Director of the Institute of Far East Andrei Ostrovsky told TASS on Wednesday. "The APEC format is definitely needed," the expert said. "The Far East accounts for more than a half of the territory of our country. We certainly need to develop eastern contacts in order to make the ‘turn to the East’ as the national leadership said, while these are predominantly APEC countries. Interaction with APEC states is needed for real development of the Far East by Russia, in order to get required investments, create new ventures and infrastructure and attract population there," Ostrovsky said. "The share of our economic cooperation is small," the expert said. "We continue cooperating with Europe and if we take the structure of our foreign trade, then 85% go to Europe and Asia accounts for just 15%, including 13% of China and just two percent for all other countries," he noted. Russia should maximize use of international resources for development and the APEC forum is among such tools, the expert said. "We need to use international resources in current environment and take advantage of the APEC summit in Danang in order to sign agreements on investments for development of infrastructure in the Russian Far East and Siberia," Ostrovsky said. "This is needed for development of our territories beyond the Urals, where we have mineral resources," he added. The APEC summit will be held in Da Nang, Vietnam, on November 10-11. Read more