vlad.tribnet.com / Issue #592 / Business / Reading article...

Forty six projects worth 2 trillion rubles ($80 billion) were presented by Russians for consideration by Japanese businessmen on October 26 at the first meeting of the Russian-Japanese Business Cooperation Committee in Vladivostok. “It would be an immense success even if we could attract investment for 10 percent of these projects,” head of international cooperation and tourism department for Primorye administration German Zverev commented.

“We do not know about the investment plans of Japanese businessmen yet but if they get interested in at least 10 percent of our projects it will bring some 200 billion rubles ($8 billion) of investment,” Zverev said, commenting on the results of the meeting which gathered more than 60 Japanese business men and representatives of diplomatic bodies.

The idea of cooperation between Russia and Japan was first voiced in Sydney, where Russia announced its intention to hold the APEC Summit of 2012 and was granted this right.

“The Japanese side for the first time sent to Vladivostok such a large-scale reconnaissance delegation, and businessmen try to weigh up all our projects, starting with resource prospecting and finishing with the aviation industry,” Zverev stressed.

According to Zverev, Vladivostok needs Japanese investment, but both sides will benefit from it. For example, Vladivostok receives 8,000 Japanese tourists annually but the number could be more if there were a Japanese hotel and Japanese airlines operating in the city, Zverev noted. According to him, these projects are currently among the most attractive for the Japanese side.

“It is early to talk about actual joint projects but all presented projects were attractive for Japanese businessmen,” Senior Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs of Japan Kimura Hitoshi revealed in an interview. “If we talk about the APEC Summit of 2012, there is much to be done. Russia and Vladivostok have good perspectives for development and the present meeting can become a good starting point for profound growth of Russian-Japanese economic relations,” he concluded.

Nurali Rezvanov, deputy director of the Economic Development Ministry's regional development, who headed the Russian delegation at the meeting, mentioned in an interview that Russia has a strategic plan to develop the Russian Far East in the coming years and make it a Russian hub in the Asian-Pacific region.

“The Russian government supports its political decision with economic funding. Finances allotted by the government for the Russian Far East will grow from 4.5 billion rubles in 2007 to 35 billion in 2008 ($180 million to $1.4 billion),” he promised.