in late january there was a visit to australia by Sergey Lavrov,...

in late january there was a visit to australia by Sergey Lavrov, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation (31 January – 1 February, 2012. Front running the visit was the upcoming apec forum they will head up in september, so they had strategic reasons for the visit, economic and political..

his visit was very important, and a few days before his visit here to australia, the following article was published which gives a very good appraisal of how important they see the far east and its economic development.

if you look at the interview and media release from the russian embassy, it points out a lot detail on how they view the region you can see it on the web here


there is an indonesian summary from his visit there, also extremely interesting, and the following quoted section is from the second link down, which was published in the russian newspapers a few days before he came here.. regarding the upcoming apec forum they will host this year.. the article tackles trade and development and apec and how important it is and goes on about its regional issues with japan and china korea

the emphasis they put on the far east development is very interesting! looks like they are opening up and wanting to see success in the far east, so companies like Tigers realm coal investing in the region on tier 1 projects like ammam and ammam north will be important to the russian federation.


Full Version of the Interview by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov “Russia Will Become a Stabilizing Factor in the Asia Pacific Region (APR)” published in the “Izvestia” newspaper on January 27, 2012

Question: On September 8-9, Vladivostok will host the APEC Summit. How much has been done so far in the preparation for this important event? What edge-cutting achievements in Russian economy and foreign policy can be expected?

Answer: It won’t be an exaggeration to say that the presidency at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum, whose culmination point will be the 8-9 September APEC Summit in Vladivostok, is of paramount importance to Russia. Its successful implementation is expected to give a considerable impetus to the realization of the strategic line approved by President Dmitry Medvedev and aimed at strengthening our positions in the APR, including the active involvement of Russia, particularly the regions of Eastern Siberia and the Far East, in the Asia-Pacific integration. This means providing favorable environment that would help Russia follow the innovation path of economic development, contribute to the effective use of the region’s potential for the purposes of the social-economic recovery of our eastern territories and to the strengthening of the position and role of our country in the regional security and cooperation architecture.

In the course of preparations for the Summit we will hold about a hundred different events at the ministerial and experts levels. Their outcomes will directly influence the results of the leaders’ meeting. We therefore focus on giving real substance to the work of the forum throughout the Russian presidency.

The agenda reflects first of all the priorities of the APEC work for 2012 presented by Russia. These include liberalizing trade and investment, expanding regional economic integration, establishing safe transportation and logistics systems, active collaboration in order to ensure innovation growth, food security. Our proposals received consensual support at both the symposium and the APEC informal senior officials meeting held in Saint-Petersburg in December 2011.

We hope to make full use of the Russian presidency in order to draw attention to the intellectual, technological, and natural-resources potential of our country, first of all of its eastern part, to highlight the prospects related with the creation of the Common Economic Space with our neighbors, Kazakhstan and Belarus. To this end, we plan to hold APEC events in different cities of the Russian Federation, particularly in Moscow, Saint-Petersburg, Kazan, Khabarovsk, Yaroslavl, and of course Vladivostok.

Our approach in relation to APEC presidency aims at providing a maximal possible integration of Russian initiatives into practical cooperation projects. An effective realization of this task will directly contribute to increasing Russia’s weight and influence in the APR, as well as strengthening regional stability and security.