With the host of the Eastern Economic Forum (EEF), Russian President Vladimir Putin, scheduled to deliver the EEF’s keynote in Vladivostok on Sept. 4, experts have begun to evaluate the forum’s significance. Sputnik reported on comments by Professor John Gong, of the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing, who noted that the economic development of the Russian Far East “is of immense interest to China, for several reasons.… First of all, as a result of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Russia has adopted a strategy of orienting to the orient, essentially against the backdrop of massive sanctions against Russia imposed by the Western countries. What it means is that there are lot of investments being made to improve the infrastructure in the Far East to accommodate more trade, more economic interactions with countries in Asia, particularly with China,” Dr. Gong explained.
“Against that backdrop, this [EEF] conference speaks volumes about how the Russian economy is totally transforming, in my opinion, and further highlighting the importance of this economic forum.” Gong said he expects these multi-billion dollar mega-projects to “contribute immensely to the bilateral economic relationship between China and Russia” in the years to come. “And China also sent a high-ranking government official, [Vice President] Mr. Han Zheng, to attend the conference as well. So overall, as you can see, still a lot of countries, particularly the Global South developing world, maintain a very good relationship with Russia.”
Sputnik also spoke with Rajah Rasiah, executive director of the University of Malaya’s Asia-Europe Institute, who said that “the new force in international politics and economics represented by the expanding BRICS bloc is a powerful new take on an old idea dreamt up by one of Southeast Asia’s most celebrated post-independence leaders.… This is a good start as it rekindles the initiative Indonesia’s first president—Sukarno, began when organizing the 1955 Bandung Africa-Asia Conference on the Non-Aligned Movement.”