The Russian Far East and integration in Asia: tuning of connectivity
Russian policy of Pivot to Asia has been institutionalized through the establishment of specialized Ministry for the development of the Far East and Arctic, a series of laws and normative acts, development of the Far East was declared by President Vladimir Putin as a “national priority for the whole 21st century”. However a principal element of the Pivot and advanced development of the region, i.e. active integration of the Far East into trade and economic ties of the Asia-Pacific region (APR) is still far from reaching it’s potential. The authors analyze foreign trade of the Far East as one of key indicators of successful integration of the region in Asia and come to a conclusion that there are no substantial differences with average Russian indicators. The latter represents clear evidence that existing potential of the Far East hasn’t been realized yet. At the same time the authors provide a wide list of recommendations and suggestions on successful integration of the Far East in Asia both through institutional solutions, i.e. soft infrastructure and particular hard infrastructure projects able to considerable improve physical connectivity between Far Eastern producers and Asian markets.