1. Deputy Foreign Minister for Political Affairs Lee Jeong-kyu, together with Deputy Minister Alexander Krutikov for the Development of the Russian Far East, held the eleventh meeting of the Republic of Korea-Russia Far East and Siberia Subcommittee at the Foreign Ministry, Seoul, on June 26.

※ The ROK-Russia Far East and Siberia Subcommittee, a working-level consultative mechanism affiliated with the deputy prime ministerial joint economic committee, seeks ways to increase substantive cooperation in Russia’s Far East and Siberia as well as exchanges and cooperation between provincial governments of the two countries.

2. At the eleventh Subcommittee meeting that brought together a number of officials from central and provincial governments of the ROK and Russia, the two sides discussed a wide range of ways to work together in the latter country’s Far East and Siberia, including in trade, investment, healthcare, medical services, agriculture, fisheries, ports and other forms of infrastructure, logistics, the exploration of Arctic routes and research on the Arctic, energy, shipbuilding and provincial affairs. They agreed to cooperate closely with each other in helping Korean companies make a success of their investment projects in Russia’s Far East and Siberia.

※ The ROK delegation to the meeting included officials from such central government agencies as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Strategy and Finance, the Ministry of Health and Welfare, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, and the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, as well as from the governments of Gwangwon-do (province), Busan City and Incheon City.

- The Russian side consisted of officials from public organizations and federal government agencies, including the Ministry for the Development of the Russian Far East, the Far East Investment and Export Agency, the Trade Representation in the ROK, the Federal Agency for Fishery and the Federal Customs Service, as well as from governments of Khabarovsk and other provinces.

° The two sides selected eleven cooperation projects to be conducted in the Russian Far East with priority, including six projects in the sectors of fisheries, transportation and manufacturing of daily necessities; setting up a consultative hotline between the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA) and Russia’s Far East Investment and Export Agency in order to render support to Korean investors in the region; and Russia’s investment relations events for Korean investors. They agreed to continue working together to move these projects smoothly forward.

3. Deputy Minister Lee stressed that it is important for making substantive progress in the ROK-Russia strategic cooperative partnership that the two countries undertake economic cooperation in the Russian Far East successfully and in a way that can guarantee profitability and sustainability, asking for active cooperation of the Russian government to that end.

° Deputy Minister Lee asked the Russian government to make efforts to resolve challenges facing Korean agricultural enterprises operating in the Russian Far East. The Russian delegation responded that a direct communicative hotline will be set up with the Far East Investment and Export Agency.

° The two sides agreed to work more closely together to support bids of Korean medical organizations to build presence in the region, including by setting up a system for information and communications technology (ICT)-based tele-medical service, and to boost bilateral exchanges in the sectors of pharmaceuticals and medical equipment.

° The Russian delegation shared with the ROK side the Russian plan to modernize its ports and use sea routes in a bid to increase its use of Arctic routes. The two sides, taking note of the launch of the “first Yamal LNG icebreaker” by a Korean shipbuilder in March, agreed to jointly seek Arctic routes and closer cooperation in shipbuilding.

※ Yamal LNG Icebreaker Project
- The project calls for building 15 icebreakers to carry liquidified natural gas (LNG) produced on Russia’s Yamal Peninsula near the Arctic Sea. The first of the 15 vessels built by the ROK’s Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co. was delivered to Russia in March. On June 3, its naming ceremony was held in St. Petersburg in the presence of President Putin.

- The Yamal LNG icebreaker is seen as an exemplary case of the ROK-Russia cooperation that not only has resulted in the building of the large-scale carrier but also can lead to the opening of Arctic routes.

° In a bid to seek closer cooperation with the ROK in its Far East, the Russian side decided to hold in the ROK a briefing session on Russian projects to modernize its agriculture, port and other forms of infrastructure as well as its energy-generating facilities in the region.

° In an effort to diversify cooperation actors in the development of the Russian Far East, the two sides agreed to establish an “ROK-Russia forum for provincial cooperation.” To that end, they agreed to hold working-level consultations on specific measures and have them drawn up before the third Eastern Economic Forum takes place in Vladivostok in September.

※ The ROK-Russia forum for provincial cooperation is a dialogue mechanism that the two countries are working to establish with the aim to promote economic and cultural exchanges and cooperation between provincial governments of the ROK and Russia’s Far East.

4. The Subcommittee meeting on June 26 marked the first economic consultation between the ROK and Russia held under the two governments’ new position on bilateral cooperation set by the telephone conversation between their Presidents on May 12 and the visit to Russia from May 22 till 25 by a special envoy of the ROK President. It is seen to have served as an opportunity to express the two countries’ firm commitment to move their strategic cooperative partnership substantially forward, mainly in developing the Russian Far East and creating more engines for future growth, as well as an opportunity to set a basic direction of the partnership.

° The measures for cooperation discussed at the Subcommittee meeting will be made more concrete at future meetings of the deputy prime ministerial joint committee on economy, science and technology, and at the third Eastern Economic Forum.


* unofficial translation