A Russian ground will judge everyone

By Syrializm Analytics

While Europe is squabbling with Russia under militant teams from the USA, Washington is establishing business contacts with Moscow, preparing for a joint development of the Arctic zone

From September 4 to 6, the next Eastern Economic Forum (WEF) will be held in Russian city, Vladivostok, in which about 4 thousand delegates from 60 countries of the world intend to take part.

The official delegations of their countries will be led by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad and many other officials.

This year the forum in Vladivostok is being held for the fifth time.

Over the years, it has become a leading international platform for discussing global problems of the global economy, integration processes in the Asia-Pacific region (APR), and the development of new industries and technologies.

At last year’s forum, 220 agreements worth about $ 50 billion were concluded. Judging by the representative composition of participants, this year Russia and its Asian partners intend to significantly increase the volume of contracts.

Today, the WEF business program includes about 50 events – panel discussions, round tables and business dialogs with leading representatives of the Asia-Pacific countries, as well as ASEAN, an association of actively developing countries in Southeast Asia.

The main events of the Eastern Economic Forum will be held on the campus of the Far Eastern Federal University on Russky Island.

A number of sites are also booked under a rich cultural and sports program.

Apparently, this year the Russians will try to demonstrate all their hospitality in Vladivostok.

The exhibition of antique jewelry from the Hermitage collection, world stars of opera and ballets, the Roscongress Cup sailing regatta, the international judo tournament named after Jigoro Kano are just a fraction of the entertainment that forum participants can brighten up their leisure time.

As part of the discussion of the prospects for expanding cooperation between the Russian Far East and the Asia-Pacific countries, it is planned, in particular, to consider the development of the Northern Sea Route and the creation of transnational corporations to develop the wealth of the Arctic zone.

Unfortunately, these, frankly, vital topics for European countries will be discussed without them.

Of course, some representatives of the European business community and experts will take part in the forum, but in the absence of officials, it is hardly worth hoping for any preferences for Europe that has cooled down to Russia.

The heads of European states, sometimes demonstrating enviable leadership qualities during the pre-election debate, are unlikely to dare to disobey the USA in real life and, in conditions of the sanctions war, to improve business relations with Russia.

Forgetting their own national interests (it’s not difficult to calculate that Europeans themselves suffer from US anti-Russian sanctions first of all), the European Union is demonstratively distancing itself from its eastern neighbor, forcing Russia to increasingly turn its eyes towards Asia, and, judging by the growing volumes of investments made by large Asian companies in large-scale projects in the Russian north, this situation is quite satisfactory for both Russia and China.

However, the United States, leading its global game on the world stage, is also, as it turned out, not in vain.

At the 24th meeting of the Russian-American Pacific Partnership, which took place at the end of June this year in Khabarovsk, the Americans were invited to participate in the development of the Arctic and joint work in other industries in the Far East, and even promised certain preferences.

The director of the Department of Human Capital and Territorial Development of the Ministry of the Russian Federation for the Development of the Far East and the Arctic Grigory Smolyak promised to discuss the details of future cooperation just at the Eastern Economic Forum.

Frankly, I don’t really believe that, bargaining for a place in the Arctic consortium on the forum, the United States will remember its European partners … However, only 3 weeks are left before the forum – so time will tell!