Jewel of Russia’s Economic Crown: How the Far East Can Become 21st Century's Engine of Growth

Here’s why that’s the case:

Representing nearly 41% of Russia’s total land mass (some 6.95 million square km, or nearly the size of Australia), the Russian Far East is home to an array of untapped resource riches. The territory accounts for 100% of Russia’s antimony production, 98% of its diamonds, 90% of borax production, 50% of gold, over 40% of tin, 14% of tungsten, about a third of Russia’s coal and hydroengineering reserves and resources, and 40% of Russia’s fish and seafood output. The region is rich in an array of ores, metals and rare earths materials, lime and building stones, and other resources, and represents some 30% of Russia’s total forested area – representing part of the world’s two forest ‘lungs’ (one in Siberia and the other in Brazil’s rainforest).

Despite its vast economic potential, the Far East could use more people, with Khabarovsk and Vladivostok – the territory’s largest cities, having about 613,000 and 600,000 residents, respectively, and the territory as a whole having a population of just 8 million. With this in mind, along with incentives for business, the government has come up with the so-called ‘Far Eastern Hectare’ program, offering residents a free hectare of land to develop as they see fit. The program is open to Russian citizens, and foreign nationals living in Russia for five years or more.

The Far East is also a crucial strategic transport hub, home to the easternmost part of the Trans-Siberian Railway, and much of the Baikal-Amur Mainline, which is now undergoing modernization and expansion. It’s also home to important port infrastructure, including the port of Vladivostok. Its infrastructure potentially represents part of China’s global, multi-trillion dollar Belt and Road Initiative, which seeks to link Europe and Asia via a modern-day Silk Road.

Along with its resources and processing industries, the Far East is home to an array of industrial enterprises, including mechanical engineering and shipbuilding and repair, automotive factories, defense enterprises, chemical, food and medical product factories, and the Komsomolsk-on-Amur Aircraft Plant. The Russian state has created 17 Priority Development Territory Zones in the Far East since 2015 designed to ease doing business for investors.

Speaking at the EEF on Thursday, Chinese Vice Premier Han Zheng said trade between China and the Russian Far East reached the equivalent of $33.8 billion in 2023, up 54% in a single year. This represents about 14% of total Russia-China trade turnover of $240 billion that year, and is only logical, given that the two nations share a sprawling, 4,209 km border, all of it in the Far East.

The Far East has been characterized as Russia’s gateway to the explosive economic power of the Asia-Pacific region. In his speech Thursday, President Putin stressed that the region’s development will remain a national priority for the duration of the 21st century, and that Moscow’s decision to focus on the Far East has proven correct, given the “objective trends…that are gaining strength in the global economy, where the main business connections, trade routes, and in general the entire vector of development is being reoriented more and more toward the East and the Global South.”