Concept of the Five Pacific economic congress

IMPORTANCE

The Asia-Pacific Region (APR) is currently one of the most rapidly developing world regions, and thus definition and realization of the Russian policy in it is of becoming vitally important.

Concerns for the future of the Far East of Russia are becoming more and more relevant as the Asia-Pacific Region is accumulating the economic advantages of the production sphere; is becoming an influential and valued partner of the large economies of the US and Western Europe; is increasingly influencing the transportation flow; and is becoming the key part of the international transportation complex, while the economic development of some of its countries is taking the front row in the world.

IDEA

The Pacific-Economic Congress (PAC) is a Russian federal platform in the Asia-Pacific Region, an event of the national and international level  annually hosted in Primorsky Territory, with the participation of the representatives of Russian and foreign businesses, science communities, and State institutions.

The APEC-2012 Summit, which will take place in Vladivostok, is to become a starting point for a new phase of development of the Far East. In this case, the role of the preliminary stage is especially vital. It is the Fifth Pacific Economic Congress - the centre for communication between Asian countries in Russia - that by means of comprehensive discussions will define the agenda of Russia for the year to come. Not only does the agenda of the Fifth Pacific Economic Congress share the ideas of the future Summit, but on the basis of the discussions relevant to the entire PAC community it emphasises the discussion and elaboration of the development strategy for the regions of the Far Eastern Federal District, taking the domestic and international viewpoints into account.

The Congress mission is to strengthen business cooperation and to expand international ties between the Far Eastern Federal District and Russia on the whole, and the Asia-Pacific Region countries; to define the international view of the strategic development of the Far East and the external Russian markets; and to increase the importance of the Far East in the regional integration processes.

SUBJECT

The Congress will be devoted to:

• building a dialogue with the key partners from the Asia-Pacific Region and the APEC concerning topical issues;
• discussing priorities of Russia in the APEC, the strategies for the development of the Far East and Primorsky Territory within the context of the economic cooperation in the APR;
• exchanging the international experience in implementation of the most successful projects in the spheres of transportation, industry, education, trade and economic relations; as well as the development of the education, science and innovation spheres;
• finding areas of international cooperation in the business sector;
• discussing the possibility of implementing a programme for training internationally qualified personnel at the Far Eastern Federal University in order to meet the demands of all the interested participating countries, which will serve as a base for strategic cooperation between countries and for the development of international relations.

Main formats of the discussion environment at the Congress are:

• a plenary session (in the format of an expert panel) - definition of the main questions to be discussed within the frames of the Congress, the potential ways of development of relations between Russia and the APR countries, the presentation of the vision of the future, according to the results of the Congress.
• a presentation session of the real successful projects, which were implemented in Primorsky Territory and abroad in several domains (transportation, industry, education, trade and economic relations).
• business-dialogues on topical issues with the APR partner countries and APEC members - China, the Republic of Korea, Japan, Singapore - which will have memorandums of cooperation as their result.
• a discussion (in the form of debates) - a new format that implements a modern communicative technology of brainstorming with the elements of a strategic game for groups of 20 people (4 mini-groups of 5 people).

 PARTICIPANTS

Business representatives (The APEC Business Club, large companies operating in the APR), an expert community (political scientists and economists), representatives of government authorities of APEC countries, representatives of federal authorities and regional authorities of the Far East and Siberia, mass media representatives, as well as representatives of social and research establishments.