270 pacts worth 3.4 trillion rubles signed at EEF

Altogether 270 agreements worth 3.4 trillion rubles were signed at the 5th Eastern Economic Forum (EEF), which was held here from September 4 to 6 with the theme 'The Far East – Development Horizons'.

The EEF is held annually by Russia with an aim of attracting investments in its under-developed region of Far East. The endeavour is led by Russian President Vladimir Putin himself since the last five years.

"1800 projects launched in the Far East – it is simply amazing. I am confident the preferential economic policy, initiated at the behest of the President of the Russian Federation works. It improves people's lives and the Far East is only going to keep getting better year after year," said Yuri Trutnev, Deputy Prime Minister of Russia, Presidential Plenipotentiary Envoy to the Far Eastern Federal District.

"We are still going to aim high. At the same time, if prior to the first EEF five years ago you would have asked me to guess the future – I don't think I would have said 1800 projects. Perhaps, I would have been ambitious enough to guess 300, and I would have thought that daring," he said.

He said the economy will continue to grow and there will be more theatres, schools, museums, libraries, and scientific centres.

The Forum hosted over 100 panel discussions, roundtables, and business breakfasts dedicated to the most relevant topics on the international and regional agendas, according to the organizer Roscongress.

The discussions were broken into 4 thematic areas: New Solutions for Accelerating Economic Growth; Improving the Business Environment; The Far East and Asia Pacific: Fostering Collaboration; and New Solutions for Improving Quality of Life.

Key event of the business programme took place September 5 when Putin, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Bin Mohamad and Mongolian President Khaltmaagiin Battulga attended the Plenary session of the EEF.