Economic Forum in Vladivostok to attract foreign partners despite sanctions - Putin

MOSCOW, September 1. /TASS/. The Eastern Economic Forum that will be held in Vladivostok on September 3-5 will attract foreign partners despite sanctions, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in an interview with TASS and Xinhua news agencies. "The St Petersburg International Economic Forum held in June demonstrated that, despite the sanctions imposed against Russia that hinder the development of quality economic cooperation, the interest in this country among foreign business circles has grown. More than 10,000 participants from 120 countries came to the forum," Putin noted. "Therefore, we have no doubt that the first Eastern Economic Forum to be held in Vladivostok on September 3-5 will also attract our foreign partners, primarily those in the Asia-Pacific region," he stressed. "The main purpose of the forum is to position Russia as an active participant in economic and integration processes in the Asia-Pacific region and to present specific projects to investors for joint implementation," the Russian president explained. "Business circles in India, Vietnam, South Korea, Japan, Singapore and some other countries geographically not belonging to the region are already showing interest in the forum." "We highly value our Chinese partners’ intention to send a strong delegation that will include businessmen from over a hundred leading energy, mining, transport, agricultural, machine building and other companies, as well as representatives from major financial institutions, the central authorities and governors. We expect them to be especially active at the forum," Putin said. Read more