Vladivostok Novosti Company
April 03, 2007

Ministers tour Far East

The Vladivostok News

Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov on Tuesday arrived to the town of Anadyr to start his three-day working visit to the country’s remotest districts of Chukotka, Kamchatka and Magadan while First Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov is expected to pay close attention to Primorye, Khabarovsk and the Kuriles starting Wednesday.

Fradkov’s visit was advised by Russian President Vladimir Putin and is aimed to boost the development of Russia’s Far Eastern territory, national media reports said. Fradkov will hold meetings in each of the three districts to consider perspectives on energy and transportation as well as programs for long-term development.

Meanwhile Russia's First Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov will begin on Wednesday his political tour to the three Far Eastern regions of Primorsky, Khabarovsky and the Kuriles.

Ivanov, the former defense minister who is now in charge of economic diversification and industrial innovation, plans to visit the Arseniev defense plant in Primorye and an aviation plant in Komsomolsk-on-Amur. Ivanov also plans to inspect two airports, a port and a fishery plant in the Kuriles.

The close attention of top government officials to Russia’s remote and poorly-developed far-eastern districts seems to be the result of Putin’s recent push for the government to concentrate efforts on developing the territory which is under an indirect threat from the neighboring countries of China and Japan.

Japan has not solved its territorial dispute with Russia over the four Kuril Islands seized by the Soviet Union in the closing days of World War II. As for China, its booming economy and growing population pose a territorial threat to the spacious but sparsely populated Russian far eastern territories.
Other materials of this Issue:
Chukotka asks $4 billion
Russian Easter traditions
Vladivostok celebrates Easter
Women drivers start engines
Ivanov talks Russky tourism
Vladivostok Mayor convoyed to Khabarovsk
HIV-positive girl charged with reckless exposure
Gemstones, icons on display in Vladivostok museums
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