We continue to follow the progress of the Eastern Economic forum in vladivostok and move on to the session of the International Discussion club. Valdai where they discuss the place and prospects of the Russian Far East in the world economy. When one dear participants of the Eastern Economic forum, my name is timofey vyacheslavovich bordashov, i am a professor at the Higher School of economics and the Program Director of the club. Valdai is very pleased to welcome you today to the Traditional Club session dedicated to discussing the analysis of what the progress last year for a certain reporting period. E turns russia to the east, the development of trade and economic ties with the foreign far east and the integration of the far east into these processes. And with us today is a whole group of absolutely fantastic participants, whom i will introduce before, uh, before their performances. And now i would like to convey. Uh, word to the chairman of the board of the club and Andrei Yurievich bystreisky to welcome us. Yes. Thank you very much vyacheslavovich first of all, first of all. I would like to thank everyone who came to this hall, who participates in our panel and for those who participate remotely, like Yuri Petrovich trutnev, the authorized representative of the president in the far eastern federal district. Thank you very much for your participation , traditionally, almost from the very beginning of the Eastern Economic forum, the altai club has been holding its session here. We try to structure our sessions. So that they, if you want, answer the most pressing , most significant questions of development, the situation is changing. We see that we live in a complex , rather contradictory world, but it is precisely in moments like these, at the moment of some kind of change or turning point in the world , that new Development Opportunities open up, which is why our session is specifically named and connected with the future and what kind of development it will be. How is our creativity even the creative beginning of us between russia and neighboring countries. East asia first of all, which we interact through the far east. How we can create together. This is the very future in which everything will be interesting and forta it seems to me that despite all the difficulties, this is precisely the key point in the development of modernity, but i would not like to detain your attention for long. Once again i want to thank everyone for participating. I. I hope our discussion will be interesting and impressive. Dear curious, and Yuri Petrovich, first of all. Let me thank you for regularly supporting our activities and finding time in your difficult schedule to speak at the beginning of the club session. Valdai at the Eastern Economic forum and uh, everyone times when we meet here, your speech gives a lot to the other speakers and participants in our session. E, in order for the concept to comprehend the most important changes in the development of the far east and trade economic relations of russia with Asian Countries. And as andrei georgievich bystritsky noted, in the present modern era the modern era is indeed. Uh, there are very fundamental changes inherent in it. And, probably, over the last year and a half. We could see. Eh, what has actually been achieved . Us in the development of the far east and its interaction with Asian Countries. And what worked. What worked to a lesser extent. Uh, what has been achieved . And what remains to be done . Well, actually, to this, i would like to turn my question to you and ask you to bring us into the most current state of the far eastern agenda, and the main achievements and the most important priorities from your point of view, please or petrovich thank you very much, dear colleagues, dear Participants Forum members of the valdai club first of all, the main role in uh the far east in the development of our country has not changed. The president of the Russian Federation , we say vladimirovich putin, declared the development of the far east a national priority. Uh, as part of this errand. We are carrying out our work today ; to be honest, we report not, as usual , for 1 year, but rather for 10 years, because the forum is the eighth, but nevertheless, 10 years ago. Uh, a team has arrived that today, uh, is mainly engaged in the development of the far east. 11 years ago it was organized by the ministry for the development of the far east, which done during this time. Uh, first of all, today we can say with confidence that an integral system of supporting the development of macroregions has been formed. Adopted in 10 years, 75 federal laws, more than 400 acts of the government in the far east , a territory of Proximal Development and the free port of vladivostok arose. The far eastern hectare is a mechanism for equalizing Energy Products , an electronic visa and a special administrative region. Far eastern mortgage, a single far Eastern Airline has recently emerged, a new preferential regime on smoked. Uh, k. What did this lead to . This led to the fact that we attracted more than three and four tenths of a trillion rubles of investment into the macroregion, built 673 enterprises, created 125,000 highly paid, highly qualified jobs. Well, we are interrupting the Discussion Club session about him. Valdai and studios. Our guest is Alexander Kalinin, president of the allrussian Public Organization of Small Businesses. Supporter of russia Alexander Sergeevich well, you are on the organizing council of the uh Eastern Economic forum, how is this Forum Different this year from last or previous years , in fact, on the one hand, we are summing up the results of a certain tenyear development of the accelerated development of the far east. Here , uh, an unprecedented number of participants and magnificent stands and the main topics, of course, are not just summing up some results. And there is something to be proud of, that the contribution of the gross product of the far east in the coming years will approach the 40 mark, but together there are development prospects. And not only our far eastern district, but also asian and oceanic cooperation. In addition, certain issues are paid to logistics prospects, and the system of payments for transactional crossborder cooperation. Technological cooperation between our countries is discussed here, and a separate track is dedicated. Uh, education and personnel problems. The support of russia will even have a separate session here dedicated to the issue of the lack of personnel for todays Business Development in the far east, they said that they met with africans. What about the far east for africans . Well, after the forum held by the roscongress, st. Petersburg, burg, there was such a resonance when african businesses became more interested in what russia in particular could offer them. Today we signed. The association of west africa, of course, is primarily interested in seafood, technologies of not only cultivation, but also processing, but, of course, they are also interested, in addition to this, in what the far Eastern Region is rich in. This is, for example, ah, timber, uh, timber processing, but they themselves are ready to offer it to our markets. What maybe what africa is rich in . And what obstacles remain today for the work of small and mediumsized businesses in russia in general and in particular in the far east with foreign countries. I see that our technological cooperation between Small Enterprises and enterprises, for example , the peoples republic of china, has deepened and now we no longer just want to import goods from there, or export, for example , food products. Uh, the forest processes raw materials. Ahh. Well, they are actively finding common points of growth in terms of technology, and already, mmm Many Chinese Companies are thinking about localizing their technological production here, and russian Small Businesses are quite flexible. And he is, uh, ready to solve any logistical problems, including the problem with payments. Eh, after all, if we want , for example, to enter the Government Procurement market, and we are now actively purchased by the state, and there are a lot of products for investment projects for logistics projects. And for this there are requirements for the localization of business here, well, a striking example, for example, hawala, this is probably a Large Business. And the hawala is already coming for many government contracts. He built huge modern production facilities in the tula region. And the same thing is happening now. The duma is localizing cherry and is looking closely at our production facilities, but i assure you. I just know this, that a Small Businesses. For example , the far east is already thinking about taking technology from china and producing it here, for example. Eh, capsule hotels, and today about 30 Million People go to Small Businesses. Uh, small and mediumsized businesses are involved , show the latest statistics. Wherein gdp contribution today. What 20 you say, but in china 60 such an imbalance is also an obstacle to the interaction of our small mediumsized businesses with chinese ones. And in china , enormous successes have really been achieved in the development of smes. You correctly noted that there is 60 hair product . This is a Small Business 80 employment 50 , tax revenue, of course, the economy is different. We have a lot of a sector aa, but i want to note that in china it is very developed. This is the business impoverishment of the business association. These are our partners. From the pillars of russia we are friends with these Business Associations, and in many ways it is easier for us to work, for example, than for Government Agencies in china because we come there. Chinese Business Associations meet us there. They have built their own contacts, relationships with authorities, control and supervision bodies , and it is much easier for us to solve business problems when we go to Business Associations literally after vladivostok. And i immediately fly to shanghai, we are conducting a Large Business mission in the province of shanghai, dzhansu and our entrepreneurs easily find a counterparty there, and thats why for partnership today a lot, and just like we supply there, so do chinese entrepreneurs supply to russia. Yeah, if there is a shortage of personnel, does the uh , as kids sometimes call it, feel it, because low unemployment, of course, Large Companies have the opportunity to retrain specialists to invest in this, and for smes this is an inaccessible option, so to speak. Eh, how should you be here . This is a problem now. Here we have fresh data, yes, and employment in Small Businesses, including the selfemployed, has reached 30 Million People, or about 40 of those employed in the Russian Federation. Federations but of these, eight million are selfemployed, 3. 6 are individual entrepreneurs, individual entrepreneurs without hired employees, and in legal entities, the amount of work has always even slightly decreased, and from eighteen, in my opinion, to four million. Uh, up to 183 Million People, on the one hand, it turns out that the selfemployed are taking away from Small Businesses. All of the staff on the other hand are big business. Many are deploying three shifts, but now they are operating their own production facilities. And, of course, for Small Businesses. Now there is a definite call you need to pay more, but for this you need to sell. Its more expensive. And that may not always be necessary, including dealing with issues of attracting labor from other countries in particular. We hope that people from the Korean People of the democratic republic will come here, there is enough good offer in india, and an educated population with the necessary competence, and today issues including immigration policy, especially in the far east. They are, of course, very pressing. Well, in conclusion. Which your further plans are on form today. Tomorrow. We recently went through a strategic communication, conducted by Mikhail Vladimirovich mishustin for development. Small mediumsized businesses have noted that there are Certain Services and achievements. But, uh, if, for example , the contribution to the countrys gross product increased by 8 trillion rubles. Over the past 3 years, we still see that we have a Small Business structure. Eh, hmm, a Small Business itself. Uh, about 3 , uh, Medium Business is 0. 3 , that is, microbusiness. Thats a lot of questions. How can he capitalize faster and buy technologies are the same robots in the peoples republic of china in japan, for example, and the same Technological Lines and here are the obvious disadvantages of investment tools, especially after the central bank raised the key rate, loans became significantly more expensive. Even with Government Support of 17 . We need to find a balance between Inflationary Pressure and investment instruments , primarily in the production sector, and we will discuss this here, and in the far east at the Eastern Economic forum. Thank you very much, we wish you success on we were with you president ax, russia Alexander Kalin well , we are returning to the broadcast of the Discussion Club. Valdai materialization of such important projects as the Shipbuilding Complex Zvezda udokan mining metallurgical plant amur Gas Processing gas chemical plants are called mineral fertilizers boevsky mining and processing plant. Now no change. What has changed, uh, in recent years in the development of the far east, first of all , the changes associated with the reversal of russian export supplies to the east are significant increased the load on the baikalamur mainline Transsiberian Railway to the ports, the volume of applications only from far eastern shippers for loading in the twentysecond year. Uh, grew by 70 or 100 million tons. This turnaround requires us to take much more energetic action to develop the infrastructure to modernize the eastern Training Ground and increase the transshipment capacity of the ports. The development of the northern sea route is beginning to take on new meanings in conditions of, lets say , an imbalance in International Relations and the presence of a sea route located the entire exclusively under the jurisdiction of russia therefore absolutely safe. Eh, they have global significance. Uh, the government has adopted a plan for the development of the northern sea route. It is being carried out, icebreakers are being built, a satellite constellation is being created and many other different works are being carried out in order to make navigation along the northern sea route safe and comfortable. Now lets talk about what we will do next. Eh, the fact that the work on the development of the far east has its results does not mean at all that we consider the Mission Accomplished we are perfectly we understand that the system for attracting investments is competitive. Uh, we are attentive to the experience of the strange asiapacific region around us and commit. Our own methods of working with investors we try to make their work as safe, reliable and effective as possible. In october, uh, in the government of the Russian Federation , under the leadership of Mikhail Vladimirovich mishustin, a strategic session will be held, at which we will discuss the next steps, the next government measures for the development of the far east, work is already underway on uh, the creation of a territory of advanced international development, this should be a new format that is maximally adapted to the needs that exist in the surrounding countries cooperating with us, created in the format of a territory of advanced development within a patriotic framework, which we support in the production of the dual use products we need. In general, summing up the results of the work, we say that all measures, uh , developed and applied by the government on behalf of the president of the Russian FederationVladimir Vladimirovich putin today, uh, affected 5 Million People living in the far east, or 62 of the population, we believe that our goal is to improve 62 of 100 uh 100 of life. That is, we want our forms of work to help every resident of the far east live. Thank you thank you big aa Yuri Petrovich a dear collegium and club. Dai e traditional tires have been paying very great attention to for more than 8 years. The development of russias relations with Asian Countries and the issue of integration of the participation of the far east , the central roles of the far east and in these processes, as i already said. It happens regularly. This is our session in the format of our conversation today. But now i would like for half a minute to stop being the Program Director of cubes, and to just become a professor at the Higher School of economics , because the question that i will ask the next speaker is a little naive and in some ways even stupid, and the question is the following sergei alekseevich you represent one of the largest, probably the largest in terms of number of employees and one of the most successful russian companies, but this is the railway. We are well aware of the role of the railway as the most important transport and logistics system in the eurasian space. But when i look at a map of asia, i see numerous islands and seas, and its completely impossible for me, as a layman, to imagine. How does a company like Russian Railways play a vital role in strengthening the trade economy . Connections with this region, which is scattered across many maritime territories, and if you find a couple of minutes in your speech to tell me, perhaps many of the same to laymen, how can i explain, we will be very grateful to you, please, among alekseevich pavlov, representative of the Russian Railways, please. Thank you very much, dear colleagues timofey, indeed. Russian railways is a company that is called upon. To develop and unite the regions of the country, even the continents, and this we are doing probably began during the construction of the Longest Railway line, this is our Transsiberian Railway back at the end of the 19th century. It was the most outstanding and most probably a significant event that made it possible to connect the socalled bear corners, which were generally very difficult to get to by land, and almost impossible by sea. It was very difficult and dangerous. And with the construction of the Transsiberian Railway, completely new opportunities appeared for the development of these territories , then the second transport artery, which has already been said from severobaikalsk to komsomolsk here. More than two Million People took part in the construction of this highway alone. And many cities of siberia the far east just appeared. Uh, after and during the construction of these two railway arteries, which made it possible for industry to develop, including infrastructure, which, as i already said, cities. What are cities . They are social facilities. These are schools, kindergartens, hospitals, that is, the whole spectrum of Regional Development associated with the asiapacific region. Indeed, these are islands , these are countries that are on islands, but the far east is historical, it has always been the gateway of the russian empire with the asiapacific region, both uh , sea and land. And now this role is increasing, as Yuri Petrovich spoke about , there has been a turn to the east. Uh, well, if last year our trade turnover with china was 190 billion. This year they are already expecting 200, but the media are already making more uh optimistic forecasts. Why because in just 8 months 155 billion dollars . And, if we talk specifically about railways these are transportation by transportation, only through the ports of the far east, so we compare, right . He said there is no need to compare year to year 10 years, thats 10 years. The volume of traffic to the ports of the far east and this again is connectedness. It was with those islands that it doubled and reached 81 million. And in my unit there were a lot of drug addicts , they said that the fighters who were running near me were shooting chaotically in the same way. , they shot through the windows of the houses. Those pills that we saw are a serious tranquilizer , a person forgets what pain is, fatigue , everything that is used in ukraine is factorymade way they do, the Research Institute and nato based on the alphabet. And then similar activities are carried out all over the world, dozens of those same biological laboratories in ukraine immediately come to mind. We are used to watching videos, work , install, open, watch russian channels and all movie series and cartoons , Educational Programs and documentaries. We continue to work here at the Eastern Economic forum in our studio, yakov sergienko, general director and partner of the company, as a partner. Im here hello i understand that this is your first time at the Eastern Economic forum. Why did you decide to participate here . What topics will you discuss . It seems to me that russia is quite clearly turning to the east. In fact, it can even be said more precisely closer to the global south. And this definitely concerns us, if earlier we focused primarily on our western colleagues when thinking about best practices for largescale projects, now, of course, the east , the Russian Far East is probably becoming zones growth. We see this in the scale of projects being implemented in the far east, we see this also in the victories of regional cooperation. We recently published a study together with business in russia on the interaction between russia and india and we see a potential that is measured in places, if not more, by billions of dollars in terms of investments in our countrys gdp. Only a special case, of course, there will be more and more such examples during the day, so you have to be here. About the problem of Human Resources in our country, really our personnel challenges are perhaps one of the most important challenges now. Tell me, how much is the personnel shortage estimated at, and how can this issue be resolved now . By the way, i communicate with business colleagues. Every day i hear the key phrase personnel there are not enough people in all positions at all levels of specialties, not only in quantity and quality. Today we published another study that specifically affects the fuel and energy sector, oil and gas , our sphere, and we assess the shortage of specialists. There are 25,000 people at different levels, starting from drillers and ending with specialists. This is a significant figure and, of course, a huge factor that stands in the way of economic growth, both in the industry and in our country. Same problems. We see it in retail trade and in the sports industry. Now the icon is developing, we understand how significant restrictions are now associated with labor. Yes, and thats why its necessary and accurate. It is necessary to develop things like robotics, which we are now seeing more and more, and at the same time launch new education programs. We are together now whistled and grew with difficulty. We are doing a large study that is devoted to the relevance of education in our secondary education , higher education, and the granularity of each Educational Institution. To what extent are graduates of this Educational Institution in demand by the market