Foreign Workers to be Sent Home from Russian Far East

Apr. 5 – Moscow has forced Vladistok’s regional authorities to kick out foreign workers from the Russian Far East as soon as they finish their work on construction sites for the upcoming APEC 2012 Summit, which will be held in the city this September.

The majority of the foreign workers, mostly citizens of China and North Korea, came to the Russian Far East to work on the APEC Summit and benefit from a simplified foreign labor entry regime to Vladivostok, which was set up by the country’s Ministry of Regional Development upon mass requests by APEC contractors. Read the rest of this entry »

McDonald’s to Expand into Siberia

Mar. 29 – U.S. fast food giant McDonald’s Corporation reportedly has begun to search for franchisees to expand into Siberia.

The fast-food giant intends to open new outlets using the franchise business model that is the basis for 80 percent of its restaurants worldwide, but has not been used in Russia yet, according to RBC Daily. All of the company’s 314 restaurants across 85 Russian cities are operated independently.

Last week, McDonald’s announced plans to open restaurants in the West Siberian cities of Novosibirsk, Tomsk, and Barnaul. According to a city official from Tomsk, the company intends to open on its own, and also by granting franchises. Read the rest of this entry »

Russia to Lease its Unused Farmland to Asian States

Mar. 20 – Russia may officially welcome Asian nations to lease its abandoned Far Eastern farmland at the APEC summit in Vladivostok this upcoming September.

“Since last year, we’ve been preparing a strategy to develop Russia’s Far East and east-west Siberia to announce at the APEC summit. We have 20 agricultural investment items to offer to Asia-Pacific countries,” Deputy Economic Development Minister Andrei Klepach told reporters. Some of these projects include up to 150,000–200,000 hectares.

For now, an area for lease includes the Primorsky Krai, Amur and Khabarovsk regions of the Russian Far East, where only half of the farmland is cultivated since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Read the rest of this entry »

Sino-Russian ‘Bad Dates’ and Chinese Relations with ‘Abandonment Child’ of Moscow

By Marina Romanova

Sino-Russian series of bad dates
Chinese-American international energy consultant Edward Chow once said that the Russian-Chinese energy relationship isn’t a marriage, but rather “a series of bad dates.” As far as their energy relationship goes – also keeping in mind the two rather extreme types of relationship of ‘honeymoon’ (1950s) and ‘divorce’ (1960s and 1970s) between Beijing and Moscow – the whole Sino-Russian strategic partner can be described with this kind of metaphor.

Chinese businessmen and bureaucrats are playing a part in almost every Russian investment round-table and economic forum. And it wouldn’t be too much to say that almost every presentation by Chinese participants contains some words about Russia’s “investment unattractiveness” as one of the main reasons not to invest in the Russian economy. Read the rest of this entry »

Gasprom, Japanese Companies to Build LNG Plant near Vladivostok

Apr. 28 – State-run gas Gazprom and a consortium of Japanese companies led by Itochu Corp. have agreed to study building a liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant and a gas chemical complex in Russia’s Far East city of Vladivostok, as Japan seeks to boost fuel supplies after its worst nuclear accident.

The companies will carry out a feasibility study for a plant with the capacity to produce 10 million tons a year of liquefied natural gas. Read the rest of this entry »

Radioactive Iodine Found in Russia’s Primorye Region

Mar. 31 – Traces of radioactive iodine-131 from Japan have been found in Russia’s Primorye region, the head of the local meteorological service, Boris Bulai, said on its web site.

“Its concentration is more than 100 times lower than the acceptable level, and thus presents no threat to people’s health,” he said.

Primorye is the southeasternmost region of Russia bordered by China, North Korea, and it also verges on the sea with Japan. Read the rest of this entry »

Hong Kong Businesses Eye Investments in Primorsky Krai

Jun. 1 – The Hong Kong business community, led by the Financial Secretary of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region John Tsang, participated in the Vladivostok investment conference last week.

“We are here to strengthen collaboration between the two nations. This particular region of Russia has huge natural resources…we have to use these advantages for our mutual benefits,” Tsang said to local media. Read the rest of this entry »

State Plans Could Cripple Vladivostok’s Outdoor Advertising Revenue

May 14 – The State Duma might halve Vladivostok’s outdoor advertising market to give the city a face lift ahead of the 24th Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit, to be held in the city in 2012.

The bill, which can grant Vladivostok administration rights to forbid outdoor advertising in certain parts of the city, was amended yesterday by the Russian parliament. “It is necessary to prohibit outdoor advertising along the route to be taken by guest delegations attending the APEC summit,” an explanatory note attached to the bill said. The new amendment to the law suggests that earlier established billboards should be dismantled at the expense of a city. Read the rest of this entry »

South Korea to Increase Trade Links with Russia’s Far East

May 3 – Korean businessmen are ready to invest their funds in joint ventures with Russian companies, but they are looking for remarkable projects, stated the head of the informal delegation from South Korea in Vladivostok last week.

Groups of investors came to the Russian Far East to participate in a meeting dedicated to 20 years anniversary of diplomatic ties between Russia and South Korea.

According to the Russian state agency Rosrybolovstvo, South Korean investors are already involved in Far East fishery development projects like constructing and modernization fish processing factories, erecting waste-less fish product factories, modernization of tinned fish making and coastal infrastructure development, including fish markets, modern paper container manufacture, shipbuilding and ship repair yards. Read the rest of this entry »

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