Putin's Pre-Eastern Economic Forum Events

A very busy schedule after hustling through Tuva and Mongolia

Part of the area where a new shipbuilding facility will be constructed in Vladivostok.

0900 and Putin is on a boat for a tour of Vladivostok’s harbor to inspect the site.

Here we have the main actors pouring over the plans which the Kremlin describes:

Vladimir Putin from the boat inspected the site in the Intermediate Bay, where it is planned to by 2031 to build a new shipyard. The implementation of the project was entrusted to President of VTB Bank and the United Shipbuilding Corporation. The company will specialize in the merchant marine (bulk carriers, tankers, container ships, LNG carriers). The construction site is located on the border of the city of Vladivostok, which will contribute to the provision of the future shipyard with labor resources. Other benefits include proximity road (including railway) and engineering infrastructure, the possibility of connecting gas and increasing energy capacity.

The President was accompanied by First Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov and Governor of the Primorye Territory Oleg Kozhemyako, President and Chairman of the Management Board of VTB Bank Andrey Kostin, Chairman of the Board of Directors of USC Andrey Puchkov.

I recently reported the naming of VTB bank as the new managerial overseer to the United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC) and the naming of Nikoli Patruschev as Putin’s personal overseer of overall marine activities, which he discussed in the interview posted in the archives. Given the lessons learned from the sanctions, Russia will construct its own fleet of merchant ships designed for the Northern Sea Route. The Vladivostok project isn’t the only one as facilities in the St. Petersburg region are to be expanded mostly for naval construction.

After the cruise, Putin inspected the Marine base and one of its vessels prior to his meetings with high state representatives from China, Vice President of the People's Republic of China Han Zheng; Serbia, Deputy Prime Minister of Serbia Aleksandar Vulin; Malaysia, Prime Minister of Malaysia Anwar Ibrahim; and then Governor of Primorye Territory Oleg Kozhemyako. I’ve linked to the four readouts which are generally all the same—greetings on coming to Vladivostok for the EEF and short reminiscings about recent meetings where little of importance was discussed for the cameras.

With the sideline meetings concluded, three important events followed: Presentation of the results of the development of the Far East and the launch of new enterprises; Meeting with moderators of EEF 2024 sessions; and Meeting on infrastructure development in the Far Eastern Federal District. And today we have the EEF’s plenary session. The plan is to report on the meeting with the moderators to finish this article, then combine the two meetings on development into one large report. Then the plenary session report will follow. Yes, there’s lots to read and digest.

Vladimir Putin held a meeting with the moderators of the key sessions of the Eastern Economic Forum, which takes place on the campus of the Far Eastern Federal University in Vladivostok.

Y.Trutnev: The forum is currently hosting sessions on all major issues related to the development of the Far East. We invited seven, in our opinion, the most important moderators, who held discussions on attracting investment, finance, tourism development, and the implementation of master plans.

If possible, can I give you the floor?

Vladimir Putin: Please.

First of all, I would like to thank you for your active participation in the forum. We have meetings with moderators on a regular basis during the event itself. Your work is extremely important, because you are not just moderators, you summarize the suggestions of business colleagues on how best to organize work in the Far East, which is extremely important, and give the authorities, and at all levels, starting from the municipality and ending with the federal Government, to orient themselves in measures to support the development of the Far East economy.

I know that in the course of this work, you develop certain questions that could be formulated and then generalized, proposed for solution at various levels of decision-making.

Please, what are your ideas and suggestions?

Vladimir Solodov : May I ask your permission, Vladimir Vladimirovich?

Vladimir Putin: Of course.

Vladimir Solodov: Vladimir Solodov, Governor of the Kamchatka Territory. I moderated the session "It's good to live where we are", where we discussed the implementation of the master plan.

If I may, I would like to start by celebrating a significant event that we are celebrating today for the entire Far East. Exactly 170 years ago, in 1854, an Anglo-French squadron was defeated near a remote, very small, then unknown port, which was and is called Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. This is symbolic for us, because when discussing the fate of cities…

Vladimir Putin: By the way, thanks to the heroism of a fairly small group of our military personnel and volunteers, local residents, who gave an unprecedented heroic and very effective military rebuff to the enemy.

Vladimir Solodov: Thanks to the unity of the armed forces and the population.

And why is this important from the point of view of urban development? In the Far East, cities were founded precisely for this purpose – to repel the enemy, ensure the safety of the population in extreme conditions, and provide industry with personnel.

But today we understand that this is not enough. The task is to ensure the rapid development of the Far East. And the Russian Government's team is working with the regions on a daily basis. Effective mechanisms for rental housing, Far Eastern mortgages, and Far Eastern concessions have been put into operation. A very important role is played by the presidential subsidy, which allows us to develop infrastructure.

It is very important that cities keep up with this movement, so that they become real magnets of attraction for the population and the quality of life. And this historic chance allows us to solve the implementation of the master plans that were created by you…

Vladimir Putin: 22 cities. Then we plan to reach 200 cities.

Vladimir Solodov: Absolutely. But we are pioneers here. And that's just Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky was the first in 2022.

What should I mention? All master plans were developed based on the wishes of our residents, and we must not deceive their expectations, we must create a truly attractive living environment.

Master plans for practical implementation. More than 70 objects will be commissioned this year. I would like to note separately that the first stage of implementation has been provided with funding, and I would like to thank the Government of the Russian Federation for this.

At the same time, we will certainly need constant support and attention from now on. And in this regard, Mr President, there are several proposals that the session participants formulated.

First. In the national projects that are currently being finalized and will be approved by the end of the year, it is very important to prioritize the development of master plans and their implementation. At the last stage of implementation, Mr Putin, you mentioned a mandatory task – to take into account a certain limit for the Far Eastern regions in all state programs. We would like to extend this principle to national projects in proportion to the number of residents of the Far East.

Second. An effective mechanism that already works is the so-called infrastructure menu. Budgets that we allocate for the implementation of infrastructure projects. In December 2022, you gave instructions to allocate 100 billion rubles for the implementation of master plan objects. Unfortunately, it is not fully implemented. We would like to ask you to set a target amount in the new limit of infrastructure budget loans that will now be determined, so that the objects of the master plans here in the Far East will be implemented and your task will be completed to the end.

The third. I would like to ask you to support the proposal to speed up and simplify the procedures for transferring federal property, if it is not used, for the implementation of objects of master plans, this could be an effective mechanism (either land plots, or port facilities in Petropavlovsk that are now abandoned, belong to various federal authorities, Natrybresurs and the Ministry of Defense in some cases) if we agree and there are no objections from the point of view of the country's defense capability, we understand here. Speed up the procedure itself.

And one last thing. Vladimir Vladimirovich, our regions even in the Far East are in different conditions. Construction is most difficult in those regions where everything is imported by sea, for example, in Kamchatka. We would like to take this factor of northern importation into account when determining the subsidy coefficient.

In general, Mr Putin, on behalf of the people of our regions, I would like to thank you for your constant attention to urban development. All your assignments will be executed unconditionally.

Vladimir Putin: We need to see if the budget is currently being formed, the final stage of work on it, and we need to talk about this infrastructure menu and these subsidies. We will definitely come back to this in Moscow again.

Vladimir Solodov: Thank you.

Vladimir Putin: Please.

Vladimir Mamontov: Mr President, good afternoon!

My name is Vadim Mamontov, I run the tour operator RussiaDiscovery, which has been engaged for more than 20 years in helping our compatriots, and not only them, discover our country.

Today, the Far East is rapidly developing, and tourism is developing along with it. This can be seen even in the sessions that are currently taking place at the EEF. Today they were at four venues.

With your support, the projects "Five Seas and Lake Baikal" and "Trails of the Far East" are being implemented. And this will also be a very strong driver of future development.

Today, together with our colleagues at the Far East – Land of Adventure section, we discussed in detail what other measures could help and support the development of tourism in the Far East-40 percent of our country, which, unfortunately, are still unknown to most residents.

The first, of course, is tourism. Especially in such difficult regions as the Far East and the Arctic, of course, this is transport logistics. We are very much looking forward to it and ask you to pay attention to small aircraft. We really need planes, we really need helicopters, which could help us discover all the tourist routes that operate in these regions.

Secondly, this applies, of course, to the placement facilities. The Government is very effective in implementing programs for the construction of small hotels with 120 rooms or more. But in the Far East and the Arctic, this amount is sometimes excessive in one place. I would very much like to ask for the possibility for one developer, while maintaining this criterion as a whole, to allow him to build hotels, possibly in several regions or in several places. Keeping the total number-120 rooms, but from several hotels.

Vladimir Putin: To receive subsidies for this amount, yes?

Vladimir Mamontov: Yes, absolutely.

The following. Of course, the Far East and the Arctic are the sea, these are our borders of Russia, which abound in simply amazingly beautiful places. These are Wrangel Island, Franz Josef Land, Kuril Islands, Commander Islands. Now we are seeing very rapid growth in the world…

Vladimir Putin: Do you mean ocean cruises?

Vladimir Mamontov: Quite right, yes, expedition cruises that not only call at ports, but also stop in various places, allowing their passengers to disembark on special boats. And of course, the growth of interest in such cruises in the world is now very large and rapidly developing.

In this regard, our country is a very attractive region, where many people really want to go. But, unfortunately, now there are few vessels that would be ready to perform such work, with rare exceptions-literally on the fingers, even one hand will be enough to count them.

There are investors who are ready to come and buy such vessels. But, unfortunately, in order for this program to be fully implemented and become a really good example of tourism diplomacy, when opening our country, we show just how beautiful it is to foreigners… To help this, it would be worth expanding the ports where these vessels could call, possibly under a foreign flag, which will be purchased by investors, and the points of disembarkation of tourists – boarding and disembarking.

Vladimir Putin: Today it is closed by the Ministry of Defense or border guards?

Vladimir Mamontov: The list is very small, very narrow, and extremely limited. I would very much like to expand it, add more exit points, disembarkation points, and more ports where this can be done. This is a very important measure. Indeed, there are investors, but so far this limitation is holding them back a little, because it makes these cruises not very attractive.

We will be grateful if we can solve it.

Vladimir Putin: As for the number of places in hotels. Another topic is the construction of non-capital buildings, which is also very important for the development of tourism.

Vladimir Mamontov: The Ministry of Energy is also very helpful in this regard. There is a large support program, and this is also very valuable.

Vladimir Putin: This must be maintained further.

Of course, what you just said concerns disclosing the region for possible visits, which is extremely important. Many things were accepted in ancient times, and today these prohibitions are absolutely irrelevant. At one time, the whole of Vladivostok was closed, it was a closed city. Only, in fact, a naval base, and that's all. And now Vladivostok is booming.

Vladimir Mamontov: This is a very powerful point of attraction.

Vladimir Putin: Yes. So I totally agree with you. Please fill out all the details. I will be happy to support you. The development of tourism in the Far East is one of the main lines of development of the region as a whole.

Vladimir Mamontov: Thank you very much.

If you'll excuse me, I'll continue a little more. Today we discussed this at the section called "The Far East - the Land of Adventure". Just like the name of the contest that Yuri Petrovich proposed.

I am sure that the success of the competition that we have seen today will allow us to expand it to the Arctic competition in the near future, including in the Far East. This is, of course, a powerful tool for promotion. We are waiting for these videos to appear on federal channels and make your trip more attractive.

I would also like to continue promoting Russia outside the country, first of all, creating a tourist brand of Russia and a whole promotion program that would allow us to show what is behind the brand, what is behind the word "Russia", what amazing natural beauty is present in this word.

In this regard, I would very much like us to slightly reduce the obstacles that foreign citizens have to come to our country. The electronic questionnaire currently consists of more than 50 questions. I think, following the example of the FAN-ID that was used for the European Football Championship, it would be possible to reduce it somewhat. Not that much, but…

Vladimir Putin: Come on. This is all possible to do.

Vladimir Mamontov: Excellent. I would really appreciate it.

Vladimir Putin: I assure you that anything is possible.

Vladimir Mamontov: In fact, for South-East Asia, which is a powerful neighbor with a huge market, it may even be possible to cancel this visa over time, or at least make it multiple-entry and free of charge so that they can come.

Vladimir Putin: Please submit your proposals. I am sure that many steps will be taken towards this goal.

Vladimir Mamontov: I will definitely prepare it.

The last thing, Mr Putin, is to hold a forum of adventure tourism.

Vladimir Putin: What is it?

Vladimir Mamontov: Adventure tourism is the kind of tourism that shows people exactly what it is-our nature, what it is – our amazing country. We usually joke: "How do you understand an adventure tourist? When people ask him if you prefer red or white, he says, " I prefer Barents." These are the same tourists who prefer to go into the wild, rather than stay in the cities. This, I think, is a powerful magnet for all other people.

We once held such a forum within our company. This greatly helped the growth of the service that we saw in the region that hosted other partners. They saw firsthand how you can do things differently, how you can do things better by getting feedback from colleagues. Therefore, I very much hope that you will support this idea and that such a forum will become a regular event that will bring together many operators from other regions.

Vladimir Putin: Do you mean within the framework of the Eastern Economic Forum or separately?

V. Mamontov: I would expand it to the whole country. But I think that it would be possible to start, of course, with the Far Eastern Federal District. Here are the most interesting places and a lot of strong operators who already show a fairly high level of service.

Vladimir Putin: Yes, in the Primorsky Territory, in Kamchatka, of course, there are a lot of interesting places, just unique, especially on the islands. Do you think that the same interest will be aroused by the tourist development of the Arctic?

Vladimir Mamontov: I have no doubt about it. I've been in love with the Arctic for over 20 years. I'm from the Arkhangelsk region myself. And I have no doubt that the Arctic has a huge potential for growth. Therefore, there will definitely be many operators who will be interested in hosting such forums. Murmansk alone is worth a lot, you probably already know about its success, as they are growing rapidly in terms of the number of tourists in the territory.

Vladimir Putin: Good. Thank you.

Dmitry Demeshin: Dear Vladimir Vladimirovich,

Dmitry Demeshin. Acting Governor of the Khabarovsk Territory.

From the system of control and supervisory bodies, I moved to the development system, worked in the prosecutor's office. My session is called " How much does the control cost?". We assess what is more important for the state: control or the function of business and entrepreneurship development?

On your instructions, the country is undergoing administrative reform. In five years, the number of inspections decreased from 1.5 million to 350 thousand per year. About 140 thousand different licensing and control procedures have been canceled, which makes it possible for businesses to earn more than 200 billion rubles a year. In other words, this is a concrete contribution that we already see in implementation.

A risk-based approach helps a lot. Nine out of ten preventive visits or remote inspections show that the business changes its approach, stops committing violations, and this does not frighten the business. But at the same time, there are a large number of investment projects where even a shovel has not yet managed to stick in the ground, and the inspection authorities are already going to check.

Unfortunately, we see here in the Far East that out of three thousand residents, 1033 were checked over the past year. This is a lot, and, of course, residents, including those with foreign participation, are often afraid of it, especially since, for example, there are examples in the field of tax control – the session participants gave them-that up to 10 requests are received per month. By the way, my native prosecutor's office is also often not far behind, and there are situations when requests are voluminous with deadlines of up to three days.

There are control bodies, such as pozhnadzor, or state fire supervision, which accounts for more than a quarter of all inspections in the country. And the most annoying thing is that more than 55 percent of inspections do not give results.

I would like to give a sad example here – the famous tragedy in Perm, "Lame Horse", "Winter Cherry" in Kemerovo, Kuban village, where, unfortunately, our elderly people died-just all these organizations were checked for up to six months by fire supervision, but this did not give its result. Of course, we draw a conclusion from this, and whether such supervision is necessary, which does not give results, but at the same time often very seriously stops the development of business. Isn't it better to transfer it to the function of compulsory insurance? Naturally, with different risk indices. Of course, we are not talking about those enterprises that pose a risk to people's lives and health.

But at the same time, if it does not concern security issues, then the number of inspections, and all participants in the session note this, including civil servants, should be significantly reduced. In particular, we are talking about customs checks and border control.

For example, here in the ports of Primorsky Krai there is a good "pilot" that allows customs authorities to combine four control bodies: enter a ship, check this ship and give a conclusion once within four hours. This reduced the inspection time from 72 to 24 hours and increased the transshipment capacity from 7 to 12 million tons, or almost twice.

We have the same situation in the Khabarovsk Territory – we have a closed transshipment facility, similar to the Dry cargo that we saw today. The situation is the same there: we have reduced the number of ship calls with the pilot project – from two times during the ship's entry into port and during the departure period - to one. This allowed us to triple the amount of time we spend, and the business to earn three times more.

Of course, this leads us to a fair question: how much does the control cost and do we need a control that stops railway pastures, for example, when checking coal, with a continuous crossing? Because the losses for business are estimated at hundreds of millions, and the real output, even if there are some violations, is worth a million or two million.

In addition, of course, there is a very big problem with land crossings – this is the time of customs clearance. By the way, in February you set this task in your Address to the Federal Assembly – to reduce it to 10 minutes. Now it is 64 minutes in the Far East, and 26 minutes for imported cargo. This significantly reduces the opportunities for crossing both rail and road transport, and, as a result, a very large number of complaints that do not give us the opportunity to earn more. At the same time, we do not reveal a large number of violations.

I myself come from the control and supervisory system, but I see with perfect clarity that it is necessary to reduce the number of continuous inspections. And most importantly, in the indicators of control and supervisory activities, we definitely need to take into account their effectiveness for the development of the state: that is, how much the state earns from this and how much loss the bodies that are engaged in entrepreneurial activities suffer. In general, it may make sense to change certain types of control to compulsory insurance. This will give an additional increase in investment, and the businessmen themselves will insure their liability.

Vladimir Putin: You see the problem from both sides. So formulate your suggestions. We will definitely discuss this with the Prosecutor General's Office and the Government.

Control, of course, cannot be an end in itself. The goal is first of all development, and nothing should interfere with this development. The only question is that control, of course, is necessary in order to ensure the safety of citizens, but its mechanisms need to be improved. Please arrange and prepare everything.

A. Kakhidze: Dear Vladimir Vladimirovich,

Alexander Kakhidze, General Director of FinInvest.

For more than a decade, we have been investing in railway transport and logistics centers all over the country. To date, I have moderated a logistics session in the Far East. As you know, the entire turn of logistics to the Far East has become the basis of all the current things that we see in the Far East.

I would like to say that today, when it comes to freight transportation from West to East, we are working together with Russian Railways to increase the length of the container train – as the delegates and participants of the session noted today-in order to bring out more containers with one locomotive. Today, there was a positive trend in increasing such operations.

The second thing that was noted at the session today was the increase in cargo in the seaports of the Far East.

Vladimir Putin: Cargo transshipment?

A. Kakhidze: No, the ports are busy. Today, approximately 90 percent of the capacity in the Far East is already occupied, close to 95 percent. The average container loading time is 25 days.

Vladimir Putin: 25 days?

A. Kakhidze: Yes, 25 days. You remember that in 2022 you gave an assignment. At that time, an experiment on the transportation of containers in gondolas was successfully implemented. We were one of the first companies to accept the first open-car container train in the Urals at our new state-of-the-art terminal.

This practice has become effective and has shown its importance for the country, because with the turn of logistics to the East, all our TLCs that are being built along the Trans-Siberian Railway are very much in demand in this situation.

To date, not all gondola car rolling stock operators approach this in a state-like manner, so one of the proposals at the session was to consider the possibility of legally instructing the Government, perhaps the Ministry of Transport, to consider sending gondola cars in container trains in the same direction. That is, to date, often three out of four gondola cars that are returned for loading coal, go in an empty state. We would like to somehow, through rationing, perhaps oblige or consider some other measures to ensure that our colleagues take a state-like approach, and we can ship much more containers in open wagons here.

For our part, we have already built the Sibirsky TLC together with Russian Railways, which today has become the main hub for transshipment of these containers from gondolas with their further installation on fitting platforms and shipment to the European part. In other words, we have actually reached a looped route: coal goes in one direction, containers go in the opposite direction. Then they are delivered to the European part.

One of the proposals that we ask you to consider is the rationing of gondola car operators to provide them for loading containers in the same direction.

Vladimir Putin: You are probably aware of this, and the Russian Railways management reports, including Oleg Valentinovich, that they are trying to do this, not to send anything empty to either side. Nevertheless, you have specific suggestions on how to organize it in the best way. Please register.

Alexey Kakhidze: Mr President, we will definitely present our proposals.

Our second offer. You know that, of course, today, as I have already said, the infrastructure of the Far East is overloaded. And one of the proposals made at the session today is the creation of dry ports in Vladivostok following the international example. That is, the withdrawal of operations that are not directly related to transshipment, but with storage, to rear terminals, which will make it possible, without investing financial costs, to actually increase cargo processing, that is, processing capacity, by one and a half times…

Vladimir Putin: Which need to be handled.

A. Kakhidze: Yes.

Vladimir Putin: Costs will still be required. We need to build these warehouses.

A. Kakhidze: Yes. In accordance with your instructions, I am very grateful that you supported our idea of creating the largest dry port in the Russian Federation in the city of Artem. With your assistance, a plot of land was allocated. Thanks to Yuri Petrovich and the entire team of the Ministry of Regional Development and Development of the Russian Far East, we have started designing it and have already finished it. The construction phase is currently underway. Understanding the importance of this issue, please consider it. We take this opportunity to open the Eastern Economic Forum next year. We would like to invite you to the opening of Russia's largest dry port in Vladivostok at the upcoming Eastern Economic Forum.

Vladimir Putin: There is still time, and the year is still ahead. This forum isn't over yet. The offer is good. I would like to wish you a successful completion of this work.

A. Kakhidze: Thank you very much.

Vladimir Putin: Please.

N. Zapryagaev: Dear Vladimir Vladimirovich,

Nikolay Zapryagaev, Far East and Arctic Development Corporation.

We were just discussing the reserves for developing and attracting investment to the Far East. As Yuri Petrovich said, it is possible to raise the bar in attracting investment and the goals until 2030. It was attended by both federal agencies and, most importantly, representatives of various industries and entrepreneurs who have either already built or are currently building enterprises and have real experience. Thanks to the decisions that have been made, really serious results have been achieved and a good system of attracting and supporting investors to the Far East has been created.

A truly unique system has been created that is in demand by investors and allows them to fulfill their goals. At the moment, Yuri Petrovich has already said that more than 2,800 investment projects worth $ 9 trillion have been attracted, of which half have already been invested in the economy of the Far East and Russia.

Vladimir Putin: One more time. We're talking about 2030, right? Until 2030?

N. Zapryagaev: Yes. We can actually increase this rate by 1.5 trillion rubles. Because their opening reserves take time. While we are structuring our projects, we will certainly achieve more serious results by 2040, when these projects will be fully implemented.

The growth rate that we have achieved increases the base. In order to implement them every year, we need new relevant solutions. Solutions are not only infrastructure and financial, but also administrative, which are narrowly focused on specific industries and take into account the specifics of the Far East, such as the scale of the territory, logistics, or climatic conditions. We have 65 percent earthquake – prone areas, 45 percent permafrost, and it is really more expensive to build everywhere.

We propose to make a list of priority sectors that make the greatest contribution to the development of the economy. Analyze their investment potential and make decisions that will open up niches for investors.

Vladimir Putin: I thought you'd already done that.

Nikolai Zapryagaev: Mr President, of course we are in the process. We don't ask for any errands. We will carry out this work. We propose to create a productive plan for the development of the forces of the Far East, which will be combined and synchronized with both infrastructure support and the creation of new enterprises.

At one time, this work was done by the State Planning Committee of the USSR. We also have such personnel – the Eastern State Planning Center, relevant ministries. We will also do this, and we need the support of relevant ministries that also deal with the energy sector, the Ministry of Industry and Trade, and various industries. This should all be linked together.

Vladimir Putin: And you say that you don't need any instructions, you need them to coordinate all this.

Nikolai Zapryagaev: Just two examples, Mr Putin.

Subsurface use accounts for one-third of the Far East's economy, 32 percent of GRP, 23 percent of fixed capital investment, and the Far East has more than 60-80 percent of all-Russian reserves and production of tin, uranium, tungsten, zinc, and gold. At the same time, the level of geological exploration of the Far East is 35 percent. That is, we managed to achieve such results with such a level of knowledge. Therefore, the state's contribution to new geological exploration, because it is a basic infrastructure, will bring significant results.

We talked to investors, the same subsurface users, who are ready not only to produce concentrate, but also to produce products of higher processing, in fact, to develop metallurgy. We have it in the Far East, but not much of it. To do this, they need guarantees in electrical energy. Only confirmed projects need three gigawatts of additional generation by 2030. And if we are talking about reserves, we can actually multiply the needs by two, because metallurgy requires a more serious supply.

Vladimir Putin: Of course.

N. Zapryagaev: The second example is shipbuilding. The need for a commercial and cargo fleet in the Far East only until 2037 is more than 330 vessels - these are logisticians, fishermen, various shippers who need from icebreakers to dry cargo ships, tankers, support vessels worth more than 2.5 trillion rubles. This is an investment in itself, but we need shipyards. Their creation is really difficult to overestimate, so we will determine in this work where and which shipyards need to be built. Shipyards and shipbuilding are the development of the Northern Sea Route, which in itself is an incentive for creating new enterprises along its route.

We also discussed development, agriculture, gas chemistry, logistics, and many other industries. It is possible to attract more than 10 trillion rubles only in the listed industries (we roughly coincided), only in specific ones. We need to conduct a more serious selection process. That is why we will carry out this work, Mr Putin, and present a plan for creating new enterprises.

Vladimir Putin: Consider this together with solving problems in the field of logistics and energy supply. It is impossible in isolation.

Please, please.

Alexey Vedyakhin: Good evening, Mr President.

My name is Alexander Vedyakhin, I am the first deputy chairman of Sberbank. And we discussed where to find funding for the projects that our colleagues mentioned, especially in conditions of high interest rates. We had such a financial session, but we looked at these tasks from the point of view of the master plans that we talked about, and realized that there are five ways in which it makes sense to move.

The first is, of course, the maximum use by the regions of the support tools that you, Mr Putin, mentioned in your Message to the Federal Assembly. Everyone found the use of investment budget loans particularly interesting. At the same time, colleagues on the panel also said that it is very important that the tools that are currently available continue to work, including concessional loans from VEB.Russian Federation, and joint programs with the Ministry of the Far East Development, and so on. But here it is also important to supplement and expand them so that they attract more money, so that they are a financial lever, so that for one unit of budget funds as much as possible you can get market funds, so that you can get the maximum amount of project financing and at the same time reduce the interest rate. This is the first approach we discussed.

The second is prioritization.

Vladimir Putin: How can we lower the interest rate?

Alexey Vedyakhin: Since the state's money is subsidized in one way or another, the average interest rate on the aggregate of loans will decrease due to state subsidies.

Vladimir Putin: Is this the simplest thing Sberbank can offer?

A. Vedyakhin: This is the first one, Mr Putin, and there are four more to come.

Vladimir Putin: Come on.

A. Vedyakhin: The second is prioritization. Of course, the projects that are being implemented must be completed. Projects that are planned, they should be reviewed and prioritized, choose the most profitable, the best projects with the maximum effect. Thus, such an investment spiral would develop in a good way. That is, we take the project, it has a good profitability and effects, due to these effects, additional infrastructure is created, which Nikolai spoke about.

Vladimir Putin: I absolutely agree. The logic is the most elementary and most advantageous. Sure.

Alexey Vedyakhin: Thank you, Mr President.

The third is supportive banking regulation. If the Central Bank reduces the so-called risk weight for loans for the development of infrastructure projects, it will reduce the burden on banks ' capital and, most importantly (this is our internal history, but it is important), banks will lower the interest rate. This movement will be small, but it is important nonetheless.

Vladimir Putin: We need German Oskarovich to discuss this issue in a business dialogue with Elvira Sakhipzadovna. I am ready to participate as an intermediary.

Alexey Vedyakhin: Thank you very much, Mr President.

Vladimir Putin: They have known each other for many years, and they speak their "bird" language quite confidently, but in fact I support them, there are, of course, some lines that the regulator will not cross, but nevertheless we need to speak absolutely on this topic.

Alexey Vedyakhin: Thank you very much.

The fourth direction is the attraction by regions of debt, market debt. We all understand that the debt of subjects should be treated very, very carefully. At the same time, we also understand that if the region is strong and if the project is good and agreed at the federal level and the debt burden on the region is small (the average load on the Far Eastern regions and the Arctic is about 24 percent), then in principle it is possible to increase the debt, again, with consent. This will simply allow us to implement these projects much faster, because the inflation of the projects themselves is developing quite quickly.

Vladimir Putin: You and I understand what we are talking about right now. I do not want to step on the same rake that the Ministry of Finance and the federal Budget in general have repeatedly slapped on the forehead. Although, of course, there is also logic in what you say, there is common sense, but this is simply the easiest way for financial institutions to enlist essentially state guarantees, because we are ultimately talking about state guarantees, bearing in mind that the state will pay in one way or another.

It is difficult to argue with what you said about the quality of the projects that are offered and that could be financed on the basis of market principles. Here, of course, we need to work together with the Ministry of Industry (in this case), the Government as a whole, and financial institutions, so that we are talking about projects that will absolutely and absolutely give the necessary market return.

Alexey Vedyakhin: That's right, Mr President. And we thought that there might also be such special financial instruments, for example, as we called them, Arctic bonds, or Far Eastern bonds, which would be available to all subjects, including individuals in the Russian Federation, so that every resident of the country could participate in the profit that a certain project brings, that object located in the Far East.

Vladimir Putin: We use these tools. We have just mentioned issues related to logistics and Russian Railways. Russian Railways also produces such tools, and quite efficiently. But here, too, you need to approach this very carefully. All participants in this process should be absolutely sure that this is a reliable, secured tool.

Alexey Vedyakhin: Mr President, as a financial institution, we are ready to undertake the verification of these projects and work together with the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Eastern Development to carry out this expertise.

Vladimir Putin: Yes, this is very important. And Sberbank's participation, of course, will be highly demanded in this case.

A. Vedyakhin: It will be so. And we can release them in the format of digital financial assets, so that there is maximum turnover, liquidity and availability throughout Russia.

Vladimir Putin: Yes, come on, it's a good suggestion.

Alexey Vedyakhin: Thank you very much.

And the fifth area, which we thought about during our session – is working with international contractors. For the Far East, these are Chinese partners, in fact, large Chinese construction corporations that can bring modern technologies, and at the same time they come with their own financing, and this is quite a big plus. Financing is quite cheap, and, as a matter of fact, it can somehow solve some issues.

These are the five areas that we have considered, Mr President.

Vladimir Putin: Of course, of course.

There is a plenary session tomorrow, and it would also be good to hear this in the presence of the Chinese delegation. Colleagues support projects of this kind.

Alexander Vedyakhin: Thank you.

Vladimir Putin: Thank you.

You are welcome.

Alexander Blagov: Good evening, Mr President.

Alexander Blagov, Vice-President of the Kurchatov Institute.

Today we held a session dedicated to the scientific and technological development of the Russian Far East and Russia as a whole. And what I would like to note.

In fact, here on Russky Island, unique conditions have been created and are being developed for the entire development of the Russian Far East and the entire region. Thanks to your solutions, a key university, the largest in this territory, FEFU, has been created here, and a unique infrastructure, a new campus, and a world-class infrastructure have been created.

When you visited the Kurchatov Institute in 2019, you supported Mikhail Kovalchuk's proposal to create a synchrotron source of synchrotron radiation here on Russian Island, a unique facility that we called the Russian photon Source. I would like to thank you separately for this. The existence and availability of such sources at the university completely changes its status, transfers it to another rank – to the rank of such a system-forming center, not only in the Far East, but also in Russia, and thus makes Russia one of the key players on the agenda of the APR countries, on the scientific and technological agenda.

Such installations are first of all very important hubs of new technologies, hubs of all competencies and knowledge, in fact factories for creating interdisciplinary specialists for interdisciplinary research. In fact, the installation being created can now unite more than 20 universities of the Far East with their scientific tasks, combine the remaining, preserved competencies of academic institutions.

And the third component, which Alexey Olegovich already mentioned in his report – is the INTC. In other words, we have an INTC (Innovation and Technology Center)-in fact, a tool for the development of technologies, for their transfer to the real sector of the economy. In fact, we are forming a place that is not really anywhere else in the world. This is, on the one hand, the synchrotron, this unique center, and the university. This potential must be properly used and adjusted for the accelerated development of the region as a whole.

Mr Putin, we are currently developing programs, regional programs for scientific and technological development, and 20 pilot regions have been selected (the Government is developing such programs), but so far the regions of the Far Eastern Federal District have not been included.

It is important to launch such a comprehensive program for the entire Far Eastern Federal District, and to focus as much as possible on those priority tasks that are very important in the region. First of all, this is marine robotics – these are underwater vehicles, robotics for ships and fleets. The second area is materials and chemistry, first of all anticorrosive properties of materials, there is a climate center in Vladivostok to study such properties, we have a whole network of such centers. This can also be developed.

And a separate area is very important – it is chemistry and improving the efficiency of processing mineral extraction. The latest areas are biology, biotechnologies and engineering biology. We must make the most of it…

Vladimir Putin:Is engineering biology a natural-like technology?

A. Blagov: It's close. In fact, engineering biology is actually a set of technologies where we study biological mechanisms and, firstly, reproduce them, and secondly, we can combine them to create such manual objects, but of a biological nature. I will now give one of the examples. Here, in one place, the richest bioresource base is concentrated, which probably does not exist anywhere else in the world. Of course, this rich database should be used for the development of pharmacology, medicine, and biotechnologies related to bioenergy.

A separate example is biomineralization. This is a natural process of formation of 3D printing, the so-called 3D printing, for example, the hard shell of a sea urchin or the shell of a clam of some kind. It is not organic, it is reproduced at the expense of natural processes, biochemical processes, a whole series. Studying such mechanisms is a way to create and develop artificial nature-like technologies and mechanisms.

Of course, training should be a cross-cutting technology, as they say. In every speech of today's speaker, it was said that personnel is a very important component of development in general. In fact, with such clear mechanisms, we can create a fairly clear trajectory for training and developing personnel within this framework in a targeted way.

Vladimir Putin: When our colleagues spoke, they formulated their tasks and wishes to the authorities at various levels. What do you want to offer?

A. Blagov: To form a separate program for the scientific and technological development of the entire Far Eastern region, following the type of programs that are currently being prepared and implemented. They are called regional state programs of scientific and technological development, that is, there is already a certain mechanism.

Vladimir Putin: Good.

A. Blagov: In conclusion, to make all this work effectively, we need to use the mechanism of leading scientific organizations that are responsible for the directions and coordinate all the work.

Vladimir Putin: What are the participants in this case?

A. Blagov: In fact, it can be divided into areas, and there may be other very important organizations.

Vladimir Putin: Good. And what is the current state of work on creating these priorities that you mentioned?

A. Blagov: Rif installations?

Vladimir Putin: Yes.

Alexey Blagov: We have already completed the design this year, and we have carried out all the geological exploration, and we even had to change the place that we originally planned.

Vladimir Putin: Yes, the foundation should be appropriate there.

A. Blagov: Yes, there is a geofill, we will have to blow up part of the rock now, it is not very convenient, but there is already a completely suitable place for the foundation.

Vladimir Putin: Is work progressing?

A. Blagov: Yes, the work is underway. This year we should receive a positive conclusion from Glavgosexpertiza, and we have funding assigned to this facility from 2026. But we are currently working on a program, and together with the Far Eastern University, we have prepared a program for training personnel.

Vladimir Putin: I understood. Yuri Petrovich, we need to make sure that this is taken into account in the budget process.

Yu.Trutnev: There is.

Vladimir Putin: 2025-2026, so as not to be thrown out, not to be cleaned up. Otherwise, they will carry out the work now, and then it will stop due to lack of funding. It is absolutely necessary to do this, to bring it to the end, I fully agree here.

And about the program-very correctly. This will create a good base for the development of the region as a whole.

Good. I want to thank you, that's the first thing. And secondly, it is absolutely necessary, at least one of our colleagues said that there are no separate instructions, but you should definitely summarize these proposals, because they are usually specific in nature. And it is necessary that none of this is forgotten, so that it was not so that we met, talked about a given topic, like interesting ideas, suggestions, and then something went into the sand and was forgotten. Nothing should be forgotten. Proposals are all specific projects aimed at the development of the region. By the way, then you can scale some things to the whole country.

So thank you very much. See you at tomorrow's plenary session.

Thank you very much.

I do not know whether it is now or when, but I think we will definitely need to pass through these key points and see how the work is really going on the spot. [My Emphasis]

That was just seven of the moderators and their session feedback, while there were many more that might have been included. The wide gamut of elements going into this regional development scheme as you read is astounding yet is all being coordinated as a whole. It will be interesting to see which if any of the above proposals/ideas are mentioned in the next two sessions that are specifically about Far Eastern Regional development. The scale of the task is equal to the region’s scale. The financing and investment aspect is actually the easiest part; assembling the proper people to accomplish the task, will be its most difficult part.

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