Assessment of economic cooperation between the Far Eastern regions of Russia and the countries of the Asia-Pacific region

Abstract

The article presents an assessment of the state of trade, economic and investment cooperation between the Far Eastern regions of Russia and the key countries of the Asia-Pacific region: China, South Korea and Japan. The authors studied the contribution of the countries of the Asia-Pacific region to commodity exports and commodity imports of Russian regions included in the Far Eastern Federal District, which made it possible to identify the predominance of energy resources and seafood in the export of this region. The most dependent on supplies to China are the Amur Region, the Jewish Autonomous Region, the Baikal Territory, on supplies to Japan — the Kamchatka Territory, on supplies to South Korea — the Sakhalin Region. The countries of the Asia-Pacific region supply cars, machinery and equipment, various consumer goods with high added value to the Far East. After the start of the military conflict in Ukraine, Japan joined the anti-Russian sanctions, South Korea remains neutral, and China uses the opportunities that have arisen to deepen economic cooperation with the Far Eastern regions and Russia as a whole. At the beginning of 2022, $113 billion of foreign investment was accumulated in the Far Eastern Federal District, incl. $84 billion — in the Sakhalin region, where large oil and gas projects are being implemented, but offshore territories are the main investors, which does not allow us to reliably assess the contribution of China and other countries of the Asia-Pacific region to the investment activities of the Far Eastern regions. At the same time, according to the Chinese side, by the end of 2022, Chinese investments in the Far Eastern Federal District exceeded $13 billion, there are significant opportunities for further development of bilateral trade and investment cooperation between the Far Eastern regions and the People's Republic of China.