vlad.tribnet.com / Issue #164 / Business / Reading article...

Million of dollars in American trade bound for China may soon be routed through Primorye, if officials here can work out a package tempting enough to investors on the other side of the Pacific.

Krai Duma Chairman Sergei Dudnik recently suggested rerouting sea cargo through Vladivostok and Nakhodka ports, then sending it by land to China. The move would cut transportation time by five days, and quicken development in Primorye’s road and rail infrastructure, Dudnik said.

“Our system is working at 60 percent of capacity, and we need to change that,” he said in a recent press conference.

The idea was one of many Dudnik and Primorye Gov. Yevgeny Nazdratenko presented at recent talks held under the Gore/Chernomyrdin Commission in San Jose, California. The meeting gave the two regional officials a forum to present a more favorable image of the region to American investors and high-ranking government representatives.

Dudnik’s proposals were bolstered by the success of Clear-Pac, an experiment designed to speed up the customs process in the Far East. Clear-Pac reduces customs formulation times by sending documents via electronic mail, and is expected to spread to other regional ports later this year.

But though customs may be easing, Dudnik’s ideas have circulated for some time, and the business climate may not be ready for them.

“The role the Russian Far East will play as a transportation hub is clear,” said American consul to Vladivostok Jane Miller Floyd. “If [krai leaders] are able to demonstrate the economic efficiency of their alternative, there’s nothing barring that move.”

Nazdratenko also proposed that the United States focus on using the region’s cheap and plentiful work force. Couple these workers with Primorye’s numerous idle defense factories, and the region could produce a range of goods, Nazdratenko said.

The plan would use Primorye as a “trampoline,” Nazdratenko said. Partially assembled goods from America would move to the region, where they would be assembled here with a cheap labor force, and then shipped to Southeast Asian countries.

The two leaders also proposed shifting the Far East’s air cargo hub from Khabarovsk to Vladivostok, because jet fuel, imported from Singapore at low cost, would be much cheaper here.

“The prices [in Khabarovsk] are higher than world standards,” Nazdratenko said. “And we now have the possibility of creating a safe and profitable system at the Vladivostok airport.”

Beyond these proposals, Dudnik celebrated a growing relationship with the United States. A teaming program with west coast states and regions in the Far East will hasten development in the region, he said.

“Right now, Russia does not have this type of relationship with any government besides the United States,” Dudnik said.

“We now plan to use each other’s experience to create a solid legislative base in the Far East.”