Dmitry Medvedev’s recent visit to Vietnam and Thailand is important not only for the countries' bilateral relations but also as a way to join integration processes in the Asia-Pacific Region, which has been steadily asserting itself as a new global economic center.
At the APEC summit in Beijing in November 2014, plans were announced to establish a Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific (FTAAP). The participants discussed the initiative to form a Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) on the basis of ASEAN and its partners, and a US project envisaging the creation of a Trans-Pacific Partnership (TTP). So far it is unclear whether all these initiatives will develop in parallel or compete, but in any event they are likely to give a powerful impetus to trade and economic relations on the regional and global scale.
Russia, which is launching its strategic “pivot to the East,” certainly cannot stand on the sidelines of these processes. It is crucial that it joins talks on free trade areas and integration projects right now, when the rules of the game are being formulated. In this way it will secure its trade and economic interests in the best possible way and amass the necessary experience. Importantly, Russia is already a dialogue partner for ASEAN countries, which have managed to create a stable and ramified system of intra-regional ties and become one of the most dynamically developing sectors of the world economy.
Vietnam, Russia’s strategic partner, has maintained its traditionally close and trusting relationship with Russia since the Soviet period, by virtue of which it could become a “bridge” between Russia and ASEAN. This is why the Russian Prime Minister discussed plans with Hanoi for a free trade area (FTA) with Russia and other member-states of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU). A FTA with Vietnam, an ASEAN member state, is a “point of entry” for Russia and the EAEU in relation to the FTAAP and the RCEP.
Moscow and Hanoi have coordinated all matters of principle and main parameters of a Vietnam-EAEU free trade area and hope to sign a relevant agreement within the first six months of 2015. The sides have come to terms on giving a new impetus to bilateral trade and their longstanding cooperation priorities, including the oil and gas industry and power generation. Among these priorities is joint offshore oil and gas production in Vietnam and Russia. Russia will also modernize Vietnamese power plants and possibly build Vietnam’s first nuclear power station.
In Bangkok, Dmitry Medvedev also discussed the possibility of establishing a free trade area between Thailand and the EAEU during what was the first official Russian visit in ten years and the first visit by a Russian prime minister in 25 years. The sides discussed the lowering of trade barriers, mutual trade growth, transactions in national currencies, Russian arms and aircraft exports to Thailand, increased Thai agricultural exports to Russia and the establishment of joint capacities to process agricultural production.
As it makes its “pivot to the East,” Russia is starting its practical efforts to join the integration processes and increase its trade and economic presence in the APR. This is likely to be a “new genre” for the Russian leadership, which demands daily painstaking work involving a great deal of nuance and details. But it is only in this way that they can amass the necessary experience and properly defend their national economic and trade interests internationally.
It was not by chance that immediately upon his return from Hanoi and Bangkok Dmitry Medvedev amended the road map on Russian access to foreign markets, specifically ordering the expansion of the relevant infrastructure. This and other export facilitation measures are to be implemented before the end of 2015. The new version of the map includes steps that make it possible to maximally simplify and accelerate export-related procedures – fiscal, customs and administrative – and to extend the range of financial and non-financial services.
All of this is important not only to enable Russia to participate in Asian-Pacific economic integration but also to promote Eurasian integration within the EAEU. The Eurasian Economic Union is starting to strengthen cooperation between organizations in order to find and consolidate a competitive niche among the world economic giants: the EU, Southeast Asian countries, the US and China.
