New Delhi, 5 September, 2022.
The 7th Eastern Economic
Forum (EEF), which will take place on 5–8 September in Vladivostok, will serve
as a platform for the event plan of Russia’s chairmanship of the Arctic Council
in 2021–2023 and other Arctic-related events, which are being organized by the Roscongress
Foundation.
“Holding events on the Arctic
agenda at such an important communication platform as the Eastern Economic
Forum will draw additional attention to the problems and prospects of the Far
North. Leading specialists and experts will discuss the economic development of
the Arctic zone, international cooperation, and the progressive development of
creative industries in the North. The successful experience gained from holding
events of Russia’s chairmanship of the Arctic Council at [the St. Petersburg
International Economic Forum] 2022 demonstrated the importance of discussions
about the development of the Arctic,” said Anton Kobyakov, Adviser to the
Russian President, Executive Secretary of the EEF Organizing Committee, and the
Organizing Committee on Russia’s chairmanship of the Arctic Council.
The EEF 2022 will feature several
events related to Russia’s chairmanship of the Arctic Council in 2021–2023. One
such event will be a conference in the format of a business breakfast called ‘Investment
and Trade in the Arctic’, at which the participants will discuss both the Far
Eastern preferential regimes (advanced special economic zones and the Free Port
of Vladivostok) and the regime of the Arctic Zone of the Russian Federation
(AZRF) that has been specially developed for the Far North. Experts from
leading Russian companies and key agencies will discuss prospects for Russian
and foreign partners to cooperate in the Arctic and opportunities for the
development of the Northern Sea Route (NSR) while building new logistics
chains.
“The Far Eastern and Arctic
territories cannot be developed without the involvement of entrepreneurship and
companies’ direct contact both with the state and with other business entities.
The AZRF is successfully employing a set of support measures from the state, and
preferential regimes are one of the main ones. A new challenge is the
development of the NSR and the successful integration of this route into the
global supply chains. Thanks to productive cooperation between the state and
the business community, we will be able to achieve the goals that have been set
to increase cargo traffic along the NSR,” Minister for the Development of the Russian
Far East and the Arctic Alexey Chekunkov said.
Participants in the conference
‘Creating a Healthy Society in the Far East and the Arctic’ will discuss the
demographic agenda in the Arctic region and the Far Eastern Federal District
and ways to increase the birth rate as well as strengthen family health and
traditional family values. One of the event’s themes is the role of women in
implementing public projects to promote a healthy lifestyle in remote areas.
The participants will discuss support measures for working women, the
conditions needed to engage in public health activities, as well as
opportunities to integrate regional programmes into the federal agenda. In
addition, the conference will also address the quality, accessibility, and
safety of medical care.
In addition, one of the key events
on the Arctic agenda at the EEF 2022 will be a meeting of the Arctic Economic
Council (AEC), which Russia is also chairing in 2021–2023. The AEC is an
independent international organization whose purview includes developing
business and B2B cooperation in the Arctic, as well as promoting the region’s
responsible economic development through the dissemination of best practices,
technological solutions, and standards, the exchange of experience, and the
establishment of partnerships. The expanded meeting of the Russian chapter of
the AEC will focus on key areas of cooperation with partners from Asia,
including for the development of transportation along the NSR, energy, and
mining.
In addition, the EEF2022 will
feature the Creative Business Forum ‘Social and Cultural Development of the
Northern Regions’, which was initiated as part of Russia’s chairmanship of the
Arctic Council. The forum’s business
programme will focus on the social and cultural development of the northern
regions, promising areas of creative industries, and the development of the
social sector in the northern territories. The discussion participants will
discuss specific aspects of the development of northern cities, industrial
Arctic design, the traditions of small-numbered peoples, tourism, technology’s
impact on life in the North, the regional film industry and animation, national
cuisine, and the creation of local art residences and art hubs. Social aspects
will be devoted to sessions on supporting young people and Indigenous peoples. Many of the
forum’s sessions are planned as part of the EEF 2022 business programme, and several
events outside the business programme will be held at the House of Indigenous
Peoples pavilion during the Far East Street exhibition, a new platform that is dedicated
to the culture of the Indigenous peoples of the North. The forum is being organized
by the Innosocium Foundation, the social platform of the Roscongress Foundation.
The Creative Business Forum will
also include the ‘Soul of Russia. The North’ Youth
Multimedia and Discussion Campus at the Lounge pavilion at the Far East Street
exhibition. In addition, the ‘Soul of Russia. The North’ Festival of
Audiovisual Culture will also be held. EEF participants and young people will
learn about the achievements of the northern regions and see the centuries-old
traditions, culture, and epos of the small-numbered peoples of the region in a
modern interpretation by both young artists and prominent cultural figures.
“A cross-cutting priority of our
chairmanship of the Arctic Council in 2021–2023 is to ensure responsible
management for the sustainable development of the region that is balanced in
terms of its environmental, social, and economic dimensions. I am certain that
holding events at the EEF 2022 on a wide range of issues on the Arctic agenda
will help achieve this goal,” said Nikolay Korchunov, Ambassador-at-Large of
the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Chairman of the Arctic Senior
Officials.
The Arctic theme at the EEF will
also include sessions of the ‘Think Arctic – Think Global’ analytical project,
which is being implemented as part of Russia’s chairmanship. The session
‘Eastern Dimension of International Cooperation in the Arctic’ will focus on
the importance of building flexible formats of interaction in this region. The
emergence of a significant number of centres of power on the world political
map that differ in terms of the degree of the development of information
technology and economic potentials creates additional requirements for the
leading players to maintain sustainable ties in the Arctic region.
The session ‘Russia–India: The
Waterway for the Joint Development of the Arctic’ will focus on positioning and
considering India’s interests in this region, taking into account its great
distance from the Arctic region. Opportunities for cooperation raise many
questions and also make it important to hold discussions at the international
level in the new economic reality. The results of the two sessions will be part
of an analytical report on international cooperation on the sustainable
development of Russia with Arctic and non-Arctic states.
Detailed information about the EEF 2022 programme is available on the
official website: forumvostok.ru. The Roscongress Foundation is organizing the Eastern Economic Forum.
All the latest news about preparations for the EEF 2022 is available in
the Forum’s official social media networks.