The Role of the far Eastern Macroregion of Russia in Keeping the Economic Potential with the Countries of the Asian Region

Stepanov Nikita Sergeevich ORCID: 0000-0002-5136-8580 PhD in Economics Senior Scientific Associate, Institute of Economics of the Russian Academy of Sciences 117218, Russia, g. Moscow, ul. Nakhimovskii Prospekt, 32, kab. 720 stepanov720@inecon.ru Other publications by this author

IntroductionCurrently, in the context of a special military operation in Ukraine, the system of international relations is undergoing a structural transformation, entailing the birth of a new architecture of the world order.

The economy of the Russian Federation is experiencing an unprecedented external impact of the sanctions policy of the "collective West" and a number of other states of the world community, led by the United States. In this regard, our country needs to find new partners or to increase cooperation with already established partners. Proceeding from this, one of the priority vectors of the development of the foreign policy of the Russian Federation is the Asian vector. Indeed, in recent years, under the influence of the shift of the center of gravity of the world economy to the Asian region, the share of Asian countries in the foreign trade turnover of the Russian Federation has significantly increased. The Ukrainian crisis contributed to the reorientation of our country's economic cooperation towards Asia, which in turn received several serious incentives for its further development. Under these conditions, the special role of the Far Eastern macro-region of Russia in preserving the economic potential with the countries of the Asian region is highlighted. The relevance of the article is caused by the current geopolitical relations between Russia and Asian countries, which have entered a new era of relations against the background of greater instability and unpredictability in the world. Russia and Asian countries have a rich experience of jointly overcoming emerging obstacles to independent development. 

The purpose of the study is to analyze the problems of socio-economic development of the Far Eastern region, which acts as a key component for maintaining economic potential with Asian countries and finding ways to solve them.

In the article it is necessary to solve a number of tasks sequentially:

1) conduct an analysis and review of the literature in accordance with the stated purpose of the study;

2) to determine the causes and analyze the results of the emergence of a fundamental transformation in the foreign trade turnover of counterparty countries; associations and organizations of the macro-region of the Far East;

3) to identify trends and prospects of interaction of the Far Eastern macroregion with Asian countries;

4) identify the problems of socio-economic development of the Far Eastern region and identify ways to solve them in accordance with the stated purpose of the study.

Problem statementThe Far Eastern macro-region of Russia has an important geopolitical location and is of particular importance in the organization of cross-border cooperation with the countries of the Asia-Pacific region.

This is where the main attention of Asian partners planning to implement investment projects in our country is focused. Many territories of advanced development, special economic zones, as well as the presence of the free port of Vladivostok make the Far Eastern region an attractive platform for stimulating investment and further increasing cooperation with Asian countries.

The scientific hypothesis of the study is based on the assumption that the turn of the Russian Federation towards Asia is due not only to the radical reformatting of the spheres of international politics and economy that occurred as a result of the special operation in Ukraine, but also to the expectation of receiving benefits as a result of integration with the fast-growing markets of the Asia-Pacific region, however, to carry out such geo-economic reorientation without solving problems socially-the economic development of the macro-region of the Far East, which acts as a "bridge" or a key component of this reversal, is impossible. In this regard, the study of trends and prospects of interaction between the Far East and a number of states of the Asian continent, taking into account Russian state interests and the interests of business structures, requires careful study and is an urgent scientific task.

Literary reviewThe basis for the functioning and development of regions is the economic potential, since it largely determines the quality of the state of socio-economic development of Russian regions.

Economic potential is one of the basic concepts of economic theory.   Based on the analysis of the state of the economic potential of regional economic systems, they determine the opportunities and directions of development not only of the region, but also of the state as a whole. The problems of the composition and structure of the potential of regions were actively covered by such scientists as V.B. Dzobelova and A.V. Olisaeva, who studied scientific and technical, labor, production and financial potential, as well as technological structure in accordance with the typology of regions ^[5]. Topilin A.V., Rostanets V.G., Kabalinsky A.I., considered the ways of regional development and the problems of regional and interregional planning of socio-economic development in the Far Eastern macroregion, identifying the shortcomings of organizational and methodological problems of strategic planning ^[12].

In our opinion, the economic potential of the region is a combination of available and possible to mobilize resources necessary for the development of regional economic systems and meeting the needs of current and future generations, taking into account the interests of the state and business.

The issues of studying the integration of the Russian economy with the countries of the Asian region have become the subject of research by Izotov D.A. The author is inclined to believe that "Russia with geographically close countries of the Asia-Pacific region has a noticeable potential for expanding trade and economic cooperation. At the same time, the sanctions imposed by a number of Asian countries (Japan, the Republic of Korea) against Russia may have a significant negative impact on its manufacturing sector, due to the ban on the export of critically needed investment and innovative goods to our country" ^{[6, p. 44]}.

A significant contribution to the development of the Far East and to the search for new areas of interaction between the macroregion and Asian countries was made by the outstanding scientist Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences Minakir P.A. Pavel Alexandrovich pays special attention to the development of relations of the Far Eastern Federal District in the context of cooperation with the countries of Northeast Asia ^[7].  Russian researcher N.S. Stepanov discussed the prospects for the development of the Expanded Tumangan Initiative (RTI) in the new geopolitical reality. According to the author, the RTI is "a promising vector of cooperation between the border regions of the Far Eastern Federal District (Far Eastern Federal District) with the countries of Northeast Asia (DPRK, PRC, Mongolia and the Republic of Korea)", where "international alliances do not compete with each other, but strive to complement each other" ^[10]. The problems of the development of the Primorsky regions and the Russian Federation as a whole in cooperation with the countries of the Asian region were actively covered by other scientists: L.B. Vardomsky ^[2], P. Ya Baklanov ^[1], B.A. Heifets ^[13] and others, emphasizing the shortcomings of the development of their transport links.

In the works of foreign researchers, the role of the Far East in the development of cooperation with the countries of the Asian region is analyzed. A number of Korean foreign researchers, such as Park Junho and Seok Hwan, note that the Far Eastern region strategically connects the Russian Federation and the Eurasian continent both in economic and political aspects, and in cultural aspects ^[22]. In accordance with the opinion of H. The strategic importance of the macroregion of the Far East for the Russian Federation is significant and its economic potential in the current conditions is becoming a critically important reserve for the further development of Russia ^[15].

N. Song notes in his work that "In recent years, the escalation of international tensions in view of the development of the Ukrainian crisis, the Russian Federation has further accelerated the foreign policy of "turning to Asia", which focuses on cooperation between its macro-region of the Far East and the countries of East Asia." In fact, the author claims that the Far East is now an essential and conceptual "frontier" both for Russia and for the countries of the Asian region ^[20].

A. Yoshio's research is devoted to the influence of Japanese policy on the development of the Far East ^[14]. The article by Hyun Sub Byun and Myong Su Jeon drew conclusions on various aspects of Korean-Russian cooperation by analyzing trends in the participation of Western and Japanese companies in sanctions against Russia in the Far East in the process of conducting a special military operation in Ukraine. The authors interpret various scenarios for further Korean-Russian cooperation ^[16].

Lee Han-Sol's work is devoted to the analysis of the investment policy of border countries in relation to the Far East from the point of view of data on the inflow of foreign direct investment (FDI). The author argues that "For Russia, despite the significant volume of Chinese and Japanese FDI compared to South Korea, South Korea remains the most attractive partner in terms of the absence of external threats: Chinese expansionism and the dispute over the Kuril Islands with Japan" ^[18].

N. Horie explores the development of relations between the macroregion of the Far East and Asian countries from the perspective of conducting agribusiness and developing the supply of agricultural products. The scientist suggests that "The development of agribusiness in the region could become an attractive incentive for Chinese, Korean and Japanese investments, and together solve the problem of food security both in Russia and in Asian countries" ^[19].

S. Park examines the problems of the development of the macroregion of the Far East in the aspects of Russia's new eastern policy within the framework of transnational cooperation with the countries of the Asian region ^[23].

In fact, all researchers emphasize the special role of the Far Eastern macro-region of Russia in preserving the country's economic potential through the development of intensive cooperation with the countries of the Asian region. In this regard, it is necessary to emphasize the importance of solving the tasks of ensuring the spatial development of the Russian Federation, including in terms of socio-economic development by the Russian state of the Far Eastern macroregion.

Analysis of structural changes in the foreign trade turnover of the participants of the foreign economic activity of the macroregion of the Far East  The number of contracting countries of foreign economic activity (hereinafter referred to as FEA) that carried out trade activities in the Far East region in the period from 2017 to 2022 ranged from 148 to 150 states ^[4].

Table 1

The volume of export-import foreign trade turnover of participants in the foreign economic activity of the Far East region by organizations and associations (in millions of US dollars) ^[4]

Analyzing the total export volume of foreign trade participants in the Far East region 2017/2021 (according to the organizations and associations represented), it should be noted that the share of exports of the region increased by 17% relative to 2021 in percentage terms and by $ 4,554 million in monetary terms. However, based on the results of the region's foreign trade activity in 2022, we are witnessing sharp fundamental structural changes in the export foreign trade turnover. Thus, by the end of 2022, the share of the total export volume of foreign trade participants in the Far East region in relation to 2021 increased by 46% in percentage terms and by $ 14,523 million in monetary terms. There was a sharp increase in the share of exports from the Far East region to the APEC countries (by 79.74% in percentage terms and by $ 14,023 million in monetary terms), represented, among others, by the countries of the Asian region: China, Vietnam and other states. There was also a sharp increase in the share of exports of the Far East region to other countries (by 168.45% in percentage terms and by $ 3,081 million in monetary terms), represented, among other things, by such a major country in the Asian region as India and other states of the Asian region that are not part of the represented associations and organizations. According to the results of 2021/2022, there was a sharp increase in the share of exports of the Far East region to the EAEU countries (by 82% in percentage terms and by $ 500 million in monetary terms), represented, among others, by countries of the Asian region, such as the Kyrgyz Republic and the Republic of Kazakhstan, and the share of exports of the Far East region increased significantly to the CIS countries (by 16.31% in percentage terms and by $ 101 million in monetary terms), represented, among others, by the countries of the Asian region: the Republic of Tajikistan, the Republic of Turkmenistan, the Republic of Uzbekistan, the Kyrgyz Republic and the Republic of Kazakhstan.

According to the results of 2021/2022, there was a sharp decrease in the share of exports of the Far East region to the OECD countries (by 51.55% in percentage terms and by $ 5,615 million in monetary terms), represented mainly by European countries, and there was also a sharp decrease in the share of exports of the Far East region to the EU countries (by 51.55% in percentage terms and $ 624 million in monetary terms), represented by European countries. It should also be noted here that from 2017 to 2021, the share of exports of the Far East region to the EU countries as a whole also decreased (by 31.79% in percentage terms and by $ 622 million in monetary terms).

Analyzing the total import volume of foreign trade participants in the Far East region 2017/2021 (according to the organizations and associations represented), it should be noted an increase in the share of imports of the region by 42.87% relative to 2021 in percentage terms and by $ 3,041 million in monetary terms. However, according to the results of the foreign trade activity of the region in 2021/2022, we observe sharp fundamental structural changes in the import foreign trade turnover, so the share of the total import volume of foreign trade participants in the Far East region in relation to 2021 increased by 23.14% in percentage terms and by $ 2,346 million in monetary terms. There was a sharp increase in the share of imports of the Far East region from APEC countries (by 56.73% in percentage terms and by $ 3,341 million in monetary terms). There was also a sharp increase in the share of imports of the Far East region from other countries (by 95% in percentage terms and by $ 190 million in monetary terms). It should be noted that the share of imports of the Far East region from the EAEU countries increased by 50% in percentage terms and by $ 174 million in monetary terms, and there was also a significant increase in the share of imports of the Far East region from the CIS countries (by 26.81% in percentage terms and by $ 96 million in monetary terms).

According to the results of 2021/2022, there was a sharp decrease in the share of imports of the Far East region from OECD countries (by 44% in percentage terms and by $ 1,197 million in monetary terms) and there was also a sharp decrease in the share of imports from EU countries (by 44.60% in percentage terms and by $ 277 million in monetary terms expression).

The volumes of the shares of the largest counterparty countries in the foreign trade turnover of the Far East region from 2017 to 2022 as a percentage (taking into account their real cash turnover in millions of US dollars) are shown in Figure 1.

According to the results of 2022, in relation to 2017, there was a sharp decrease in the share of Japan's volumes in the foreign trade turnover of the Far East region among the largest counterparty countries ^[8]. Its share decreased by 72%, but in monetary terms its share decreased by only 54.62% (from $3921.4 million in 2017 to $ 2142 million in 2022). Japan has not withdrawn from major joint projects with Russia, in particular the Sakhalin-2 oil and gas project, where Japanese banks Mitsubishi UFJ and Sumitomo Mitsui own 12.5% and 10% of shares, respectively. Among other things, 60% of the liquefied natural gas produced is imported to Japan. The sanctions policy hit Japanese enterprises the hardest. According to the publication Asahi Shimbun, 15 thousand Japanese companies directly or indirectly doing business with the Russian Federation fell under the negative impact of sanctions ^[21].

In accordance with this principle, the share of the Republic of Korea in the region's foreign trade turnover among the largest counterparty countries decreased by 35.48%, but in monetary terms, its share on the contrary increased by 18.77% (from $5741.9 million in 2017 to $6820 million in 2022). In recent years, the Far Eastern region has developed strong humanitarian and economic cooperation with the Republic of Korea. Despite serious pressure from the United States, South Korea demands special conditions for maintaining trade and economic ties with Russia. A positive aspect is that in November 2022, an agreement was signed between the Russian and Korean sides on the start of a multimodal transport link between the agrohab near Moscow and the South Korean port of Donghae through the ports of Vladivostok. It is assumed that Korean cars and other industrial goods will be supplied to the Russian market, and agricultural goods, as well as products of deep processing of wood, will be supplied in the opposite direction. The Russian Federation continues to supply energy resources, where up to 70% of domestic exports to South Korea are energy carriers. In turn, it is important for the Far Eastern region to maintain the supply of fish products and seafood. In general, South Korea expects the development of relations with Russia after the end of the Ukrainian crisis.

Analyzing the volumes among the largest counterparty countries in the foreign trade turnover of the Far East from 2017 to 2021, it should be noted a significant increase in the share of China (by 72.41% in percentage terms and by $ 11,857 million in monetary terms) and India (by 333.3% in percentage terms and by $ 1,058 million in monetary terms), as well as the share of Kazakhstan (by 100% in percentage terms and by $ 987 million in monetary equivalent).

Since April 2022, the Russian Federation has not disclosed data on the foreign trade turnover of foreign trade participants, but the information that comes from the trading partners of the Far East region allows us to draw conclusions about a deep structural transformation in this area ^[4]. Analysis of data from trade partners of the Far East region confirms the Main Customs Administration of the People's Republic of China, which states that the total foreign trade turnover of the Russian Federation and the People's Republic of China in 2022 increased by 29.3% year-on-year, to $190.27 billion, and that significant trade turnover occurred in the Far Eastern region ^[11]. From the Far East, the Russian Federation supplies mainly mineral resources, wood, agricultural products, seafood (about 30% of the total supply to China), as well as energy resources: oil, pipeline gas, LNG, coal and fuel oil (over 70% of the total supply to China). The People's Republic of China exports consumer electronics, excavators, cars, microprocessor units, clothing, shoes and consumer goods through the Far Eastern region to the Russian Federation.

According to the data of the Federal Customs Service of Russia, the foreign trade turnover of the Russian Federation and India exceeded $ 30 billion in 2022 ($13.5 in 2021), increasing by 122.22% and a significant part of it fell on the Far Eastern region ^[3]. India has increased supplies of energy and coking coal, fertilizers and vegetable oil from the Russian Federation. India, by agreement with the Russian Federation, is moving away from the dollar and paying for supplies for rupees.

The development of integration processes in the Asian region is, on the one hand, an opportunity for Russia to strengthen the multi–vector nature of foreign economic relations, on the other hand, a challenge, since the Russian economy remains on the "periphery" of trade and economic interactions in the sub-global economy, which is explained by various restrictions for its rapprochement with Asian countries. At the same time, it is necessary to pay special attention to the Far Eastern region, which can act as an "operator" of expanding the interconnections of the national economy with the sub-global one.

Analysis of the development of the potential of interaction of the Far Eastern macroregion with Asian countriesAnalyzing the role of the Far Eastern macro-region of Russia in maintaining economic potential with the countries of the Asian region, we note that currently 2729 investment projects are being implemented in the region.

As part of the development of the territories of the Far East, the economy of the macroregion received over 2.7 trillion rubles of investments in 2022 alone, thanks to which 100 thousand jobs were created ^[9].

The growth points for expanding international cooperation and developing the potential of interaction between the Far Eastern macroregion and Asian countries are focused on the economic platforms of the territories of advanced development (TOP) of the Far Eastern region. From 2014 to 2022, 22 territories of advanced development with 55 thousand jobs were created on the territory of the Far Eastern Federal District, the largest: "Khabarovsk TOR" specialization industry and logistics; "Nadezhdinsky TOR" specialization timber processing; "Belogorsk TOR" – specialization agriculture. The number of residents of the territories of advanced development of the Far East is over 1000, and the volume of investments under resident agreements exceeds 4.58 trillion rubles ^[9]. Among the significant projects of the TOP with "friendly countries" should be attributed the creation of a factory together with the Indian company KGK Group for cutting Yakut diamonds, and among the significant projects with "unfriendly countries" is the creation of a joint venture for coal mining, where the investment potential of the Australian company Tigers Realm Coal is involved. In the current conditions, foreign residents in the territories of advanced development of the Far East (about 700 residents of the TOP and the Free Port of Vladivostok) are afraid of the impact of sanctions when implementing their projects related to the complexity of calculations; failure of equipment supplies in transport logistics; export restrictions, etc. ^[9].

TOP resident investors enjoy a special administrative regime that provides a wide range of benefits (duty-free import of equipment and export of products, a 20% quota rate for attracting foreign specialists) and preferences (reduced rates of insurance premiums for personnel for 10 years – from 30 to 7.6%, etc.). However, the influx of world-class investors to the territories of the advanced development of the Far East, compared with the influx of Russian investors, are estimated as 12% to 88% of all registered ^[9]. This is also due to such a factor as changes in local and regional legislation of the subjects of the Federation of the Far East. Some benefits, such as the creation of free customs zones in order to simplify export procedures, do not actually work (only four projects out of more than 1,000 resident projects have passed all stages of approval with customs services and coped with high costs when obtaining permits from regulators) ^[13]. The volume of foreign direct investment in the free economic regimes of the Far East should correspond to the level of development of infrastructure and productive forces in the region.

In order to ensure the socio-economic development of the territories of the Far East in the current conditions, there is an urgent need to correct previously developed strategic planning documents: the State Program for Socio-Economic Development until 2030 and the National Program until 2035, developed specifically for the Far Eastern Federal District and approved before the start of the special operation in Ukraine and the introduction of the most severe sanctions against the Russian Federation from a number of "unfriendly countries". The Ministry of the Russian Federation for the Development of the Far East needs to make changes in the current conditions, using program-targeted methods, to the Strategy for the Development of the Arctic Zone of the Russian Federation until 2035 and the State Program for the Development of the Arctic Zone until 2030, as well as to the Concept of Development of the Border Territories of the subjects of the Federation of the Far East Bordering China and Mongolia. In each subject of the Federation of the Far East, it is necessary to adjust regional strategies and programs, at the moment more than 220 of them are being implemented.

The Corporation for the Development of the Far East (area of responsibility: organizational, managerial and economic issues of the development of the TOP) and the Fund for the Development of the Far East (area of responsibility: solving issues of financing large joint ventures and large projects of the TOP), as well as the Agency of the Far East for Attracting Investments and Supporting Exports, it is necessary to pay priority attention to the development of customs and transport infrastructure and the formation of a clearer coordination of the actions of customs terminals and transport logistics centers in the Far East, taking into account the global structural changes that have occurred related to the scale of the increase in cargo traffic from central Russia to Asia.

In the Far Eastern Federal District (especially in the border regions), the level of development of transport infrastructure is significantly lower than the average in the Russian Federation. This is due both to the poor quality of customs checkpoints: unsatisfactory width of roads, causing congestion and queues, and the lack of customs warehouses and parking lots for freight transport. Urgent modernization of access roads at border crossings and the entire customs infrastructure is needed. Delaying customs inspection procedures is a serious factor in destabilizing the development of the economy of the Far East in the process of work of foreign residents.

Modernization of customs infrastructure and expansion of access roads to border checkpoints on the Russian side will relieve congestion and queues at border crossings. Now carriers complain about the lack of customs warehouses and cargo transport parking near the road crossings, which creates queues at the border. To regulate the flow of cars, the State Traffic Inspectorate is obliged to exercise effective supervision over the capacity of customs transport terminals.

The VII Eastern Economic Forum was held in the region in December 2022. Numerous foreign delegations represented countries such as China and India, Myanmar, Mongolia and the Republic of Korea. Within the framework of the forum, experts, politicians and businessmen from different countries emphasized the shift of the center of economic development and forces towards the Asia-Pacific region and emphasized the relevance of the development of the macro-region of the Far East on the scale of the strategic tasks facing the Russian Federation. Within the framework of the forum, major transport and logistics projects were launched: the construction of a grain railway terminal in the Trans-Baikal Territory with access to Manchuria and the creation of a cargo-passenger automobile-railway ferry project in the Far East ^[10].

According to the results of the VII Eastern Economic Forum in 2023, the economy of the macro-region of the Far East will receive over 3 trillion 272 billion rubles of foreign investment for the development of national economy sectors. Infrastructure projects (80 agreements) and transport projects (33 agreements) will be implemented in the Far East, and large gold deposits in the Republic of Sakha-Yakutia will be developed. 35 agreements have been signed in the science and education sector ^[10].

The Russian Federation is an active participant in a number of international alliances and platforms localized to the Asian market. First of all, this is the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), focused on solving the tasks of suppressing terrorism in the participating countries, as well as the development of economic partnership, energy cooperation and so on. The Russian Federation is a member of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB). The Bank acts as an institution to stimulate financial cooperation in the Asia-Pacific region (APR), designed to finance infrastructure projects in Asia in the field of transport, communications, real estate, etc. The Russian Federation is a full-scale dialogue partner with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). The Russian Federation regularly participates in the summits of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation and the Asian Economic Forum.

In turn, we are seeing a similar initiative on the part of Asian partners taking an active part on the sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum. Russia's participation in the above-mentioned associations and forums will strengthen and expand state interests in various areas of cooperation with the countries of the Asian region, including with such strong economic strategic partners as India and China, and strengthen the potential for socio-economic development of the Far Eastern region.

Main results

The sanctions of the so-called "unfriendly states" against Russia and the voluntary termination or reduction of trade of Western companies with the Russian Federation (together with our country's contracts directed against "unfriendly states") led to a fundamental transformation of domestic foreign trade in 2022 and this process is clearly expressed by structural changes in the foreign trade turnover of the Far East. It was this problem that D.A. Izotov outlined. There is an intensive switching of foreign trade by the Russian Federation to "friendly countries", many of which are located in the countries of the Asian region.

Export and import flows of the Russian Federation have turned towards the countries of the Asia-Pacific region. Minakir P.A., Stepanov N.S., Isaev A.G., Demyanenko A.N., Prokapalo O.M. in their works stated the need for spatial development of the Russian economy through the development of the border regions of the Far Eastern Federal District, and N. Song noted that the Russian Federation has further accelerated the foreign policy of "turning to Asia" and the results the conducted research fully confirms this conclusion.

This fact creates both new challenges associated with the development of transport highways and the Northern Sea Route, and new opportunities associated, in turn, with the intensive integration of joint work of "friendly countries" of the Asia-Pacific region.  Vardomsky L.B., Baklanov P. Ya., Heifets B.A., and H. Blakkisrud and S. Park referred to the strategic importance of the macroregion for the Russian Federation within the framework of transnational cooperation with the countries of the Asian region in their writings on the problems of the development of transport links of the Far East.

The point of growth for expanding international cooperation with Asian countries is the urgent modernization of access roads at border crossings and the entire customs infrastructure in order to eliminate the destabilization of the development of the economy of the Far East.

In the near future, relations with Korea, Taiwan (China) and Japan (measures have been introduced against individuals and legal entities of the country to ban new investments in Russia) will not be promising ^[18], but when building relations with these countries, a differentiated approach should be followed, since there are prerequisites for their normalization from the point of view of the point of view of the absence of external threats. This is exactly what Lee Han-Sol stated in his work.

The development of cooperation between Russia and ASEAN has a special role in the Asian market. The problem is the geographical remoteness of Russia and the ASEAN countries, the insufficient capacity of Russian ports and railways, the lack of direct flights between major cities of Russia (except Moscow) and Southeast Asia. Consequently, in order to expand international cooperation with Asian countries, it is necessary to create a multi-species transport infrastructure in the Far East (N. Horie., noted that the development of agribusiness in the region can solve the problem of food security in Asian countries).

Extensive cooperation programs of the macroregion of the Far East are being implemented with Mongolia. The prospects for the development of cooperation between Russia, India and China deserve special attention. Russian-Chinese trade and economic cooperation is quite multifaceted, successfully developing in many areas and is not affected by the momentary conjuncture. Russia is also developing multicomponent cooperation with India. Russia needs to expand state interests in various areas of cooperation with the countries of the Asian region, thereby strengthening the potential of socio-economic development of the Far Eastern region.

The Asia-Pacific region is becoming the center of global economic activity. The countries of the Asia-Pacific region are becoming "new centers of economic and technological growth, points of attraction for personnel, capital, and production." In the Far East, it is necessary to organize industrial production with deep processing of various types of raw materials. To expand international cooperation with Asian countries, it is necessary to develop the capacities of the high-tech sector of the national economy of the Far Eastern region (90% of exports to China are wood raw materials, while in the structure of China's forest exports, almost 90% are paper, cardboard products, furniture and other products of deep processing of Russian raw materials). The same situation exists in other potential products of processing of Far Eastern raw materials.

In order to expand international cooperation with Asian countries, it is necessary to create innovation development centers, and at the same time stimulate the optimization of demographic processes aimed at increasing the number and increasing the level of professional competencies of the population. Given the sharp increase in aspects of cooperation with the countries of the Asian region (export-import exchange has become much larger), a significant increase in labor potential in the territories of the Far East will be required in the near future. In our opinion, it is necessary to coordinate strategic planning for the rational use of the potential of external and internal migration, demographic processes, the dynamics of the labor market and the standard of living of the population in the socio-economic development of the territories of the Far East at all levels of government, taking into account the current situation.

Topilin A.V., Rostanets V.G., Kabalinsky A.I. in their works noted that the economic potential of the macro-region of the Far East in the current conditions is becoming a critically important reserve for the further development of Russia and the results of the study fully confirm this conclusion. The geographical remoteness of the Far Eastern region in the current conditions has ceased to act as a deterrent to the development of economic integration of the West of Russia and Asian countries. The Far East acts in new conditions and as a zone of effective self-development both in its own interests and in the interests of the Russian state, preserving and multiplying the economic potential with the countries of the Asian region as a whole.

In order to expand international cooperation with Asian countries, the Government of the Russian Federation needs to take systematic measures to support residents of the Far Eastern Federal District under sanctions, which are expressed in creating special conditions for key investment projects in order to stimulate their further activities. This is the way to solve the problems of socio-economic development of the Far Eastern region. Perhaps in the current conditions (taking into account the reorientation of the Russian economy to the east), the entire Far Eastern region should be declared a single territory of advanced development.

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