September 5, 2019
13:20
Russky Island, Primorye Territory
Vladimir Putin attended
the plenary session of the Eastern Economic Forum.
Invitations to the forum
have been sent to foreign heads of state and government,
the heads of major Russian and foreign companies, as well
as leading politicians and experts.
The theme
of the forum is The Far East – Development Horizons.
* * *
Excerpts from transcript
of plenary session of the Eastern Economic Forum
President of Russia Vladimir
Putin: President Battulga, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Prime Minister
Mahathir Bin Mohamad, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe,
Ladies and gentlemen, friends,
First of all, I would
like to address our foreign guests, both leaders
of the countries represented here and our foreign partners
in the audience. Thank you for showing so much respect
for Russia, and for your interest in developing relations
between our countries.
I hope, I am certain that
our work during this forum will be most productive and rewarding
for everybody here. I am happy to welcome you all
to the Eastern Economic Forum.
It is the fifth time that
Vladivostok, the capital of Primorye Territory and now
of the entire Far Eastern Federal District of Russia, has
brought together heads of major Asia-Pacific states, the largest
investors, business people, representatives of the public and expert
communities.
This year we are hosting over 8,500
participants from 65 countries. Since the first forum, representation has
increased more than twofold. We believe this is a convincing indication
of the growing interest in the Russian Far East
and the cooperation opportunities offered by this truly colossal
region.
The power and competitive
advantages of the Far East lie in its talented, hard-working
and energetic people, educated and ambitious youth, in new
centres of research, industrial growth, and industries
of the future.
Its power is in rich natural
resources, enormous logistics potential such as the Northern Sea
Route and other trans-Eurasian routes. Last but not least, its power is
in its proximity to rapidly-developing economies and the world’s
most dynamic region, the Asia-Pacific.
It is hardly surprising that, while
mapping out a long-term strategy for the development
of the Russian Far East in the mid-2000s, some 15 years
ago, we opted for the region’s maximal openness and its close
integration in the economic, transport, educational
and humanitarian space of the APR and, in a greater
scheme of things, the world at large. We made it our priority
to promote international and cross-border cooperation as well
as investment and technological partnerships, which implies creating
new opportunities, primarily for Russian citizens, their life
and work.
In fact, this was
a radical, historic turning point. Let me remind you that many Far Eastern
territories, including the city of Vladivostok, where we are now,
were mostly used for military purposes and had an off-limits
status in the early 20th century,
in the middle of the 20th century,
and later during the Cold War.
This certainly had an impact
on the development of these regions. Properly speaking, there
was practically no development in the social and economic sense
of the word.
To reiterate,
the situation has changed radically over the past years and we
are proud that the Russian Far East has become a symbol
of openness for the whole country, a symbol
of innovation and resolve in lifting all sorts of barriers
to business and human contacts.
Of course, we are aware that
this result would have hardly been possible were it not
for the effort to enhance an atmosphere of trust
and constructive cooperation in the APR as a whole. We
are interested in promoting these positive trends to make
the region we share safe and stable.
Our relations with India, China,
the Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Mongolia, Japan and other APR
countries are based on the principles of respect and honest
dialogue. I am confident that these relations are showing great promise
concordant with the growing role that the Asia Pacific Region is due
to play in the coming decades. I think that our esteemed
foreign guests present here, our friends, agree with this.
