The 8th Eastern Economic Forum Opened In Vladivostok
On Sunday, September 10, the 8th Eastern Economic Forum (EEF) opened in Vladivostok, the main city and largest Pacific port of the Russian Far East. The four-day event that will last until September 13 is attended by delegations from the countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), China, India, Singapore, North Korea, Laos, Myanmar, Vietnam, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, as well as Belarus.
On Monday, September 11, Russian President Vladimir Putin arrives in Vladivostok and will deliver a keynote speech at the Forum on September 12. In addition, according to some information, Putin may receive North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Vladivostok. Usually, President Kim Jong-un travels by armored train, but on Sunday, local Russian media, citing the “chief of the Far Eastern Railways,” reported that “for now, everything is working as usual, no orders have been received to switch to a special operating mode.”
The slogan chosen by the organizers for the 2023 Forum is “Towards cooperation, peace, and prosperity.” The Economic Forum, founded in 2015, is a platform for the development and strengthening of political, economic, trade, and humanitarian cooperation between Russia and primarily the countries of Southeast Asia and the so-called Global South.
Western sanctions, and in particular the EU’s introduction of the “price ceiling” system on Russian oil, forced the Kremlin to redirect hydrocarbon flows to the East. Currently, the two largest importers of Siberian oil are China and India, but many other Asian countries are considering the possibility to start importing “black gold” and liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Russia. On the eve of the Vladivostok Forum, Philippine President Bongbong Marcos said that “the issue of importing oil and chemical fertilizers from Russia is on the agenda and will be discussed in detail after the Economic Forum, in October, at the annual meeting of the Joint Philippine-Russian Trade and Economic Commission.”
Russia is increasing production and export of LNG from year to year. Russian Energy Minister Nikolai Shulginov said on Sunday at the EEF that “there are importers of Russian LNG all over the world – from Asia to Europe.” Currently, the largest European importer of Russian LNG is Spain.
Latin America is also increasing imports of Russian energy resources. Last month, Brazil, together with Russia, India, China, and South Africa, one of the founding countries of the BRICS group, increased imports of Russian petroleum products by 2.1 times compared to July. “In August, Brazil imported 920 thousand tons of various types of petroleum products from Russia for a total amount of about 673 million dollars,” said a representative of the Brazilian government, according to whom Russian exports were three times higher than similar supplies from the USA.