On September 3, the Eastern Economic Forum (EEF-2024) opened in Vladivostok at the FEFU site. The Eastern Economic Forum is a leading platform for the development of the Far East economy and the expansion of international cooperation in the Asia-Pacific region.
The Forum’s business program includes business dialogues with leading partner countries in the Asia-Pacific region, as well as with ASEAN, a key integration grouping of rapidly developing countries in Southeast Asia.
Let us recall that in 2023, the EASTERN ECONOMIC FORUM was attended by more than 7,000 participants and media representatives, more than 2,400 business representatives, more than 700 speakers and moderators, 12 heads of diplomatic corps from 62 foreign countries. According to preliminary data, on the first day of the EEF-24, the total number of participants and the number of countries they represent will exceed last year's figures. Representatives of the International Congress of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs are also taking part in the EEF-24 sessions.
Taking into account the goals and objectives of the ICIE, the Vice President of the ICIE E.A. Rusetsky and the staff of the ICIE representative office in the Asia-Pacific region worked on thematic sessions on the first day of the forum: “Opportunities for Russian SMEs in the Chinese Market” and “Expanded BRICS: New Components of Global Stability”.
At the session dedicated to BRICS, touching upon the trade potential and transport interconnectivity of the BRICS countries after the expansion of 2024, it was emphasized that, based on the results of 2023, Russia demonstrated the greatest orientation of foreign trade towards BRICS. Trade with the members of the association accounts for almost half of its foreign trade turnover. Russia's figure was 49%, while the average share for the BRICS countries was only 20%, which is due to the rapid reorientation of Russia's foreign trade from West to East in the last two years.
In the BRICS space, two freight flows stand out most significantly: Brazil-China (iron ore exports) and Russia-China (oil, oil products, LNG and timber supplies). Consequently, transport connectivity between Russia and China is the backbone of the transport framework of both Eurasia and BRICS.
It was emphasized that all key ASEAN participants are interested in rapprochement with BRICS. If the current wave of BRICS expansion covers mainly the regions of the Middle East and North Africa, then the next one will probably affect the region of Southeast Asia, which fully meets the strategic interests of BRICS, especially in the area of development of international transport corridors. The BRICS platform can make a unique contribution to the construction of a more stable global economic structure, acting as an "integrator" for numerous regional integration agreements in the Global South. The geographical position of Russia, its Pacific regions (in particular, the Primorye 1 and Primorye 2 projects) provides an opportunity to use the territorial aspect as an additional tool for integration into the international economy. Active participation in the development of the Eurasian transport framework and international transport corridors of BRICS allows taking into account national interests in the emerging transport architecture.
It should be noted that the next BRICS summit will be held in Russia from October 22 to 24 in Kazan. The International Congress of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs as a whole and its members are actively involved in the process of forming the agenda for the development of trade and economic ties, industrial cooperation with business representatives of the BRICS countries.