VСIOM and the Roscongress Foundation presented the results of a survey of participants in the Eastern Economic Forum 2024

This year, VCIOM provided sociological support for the Forum by conducting a survey of participants. The purpose of the survey was to determine how participants assessed the Forum’s agenda. The results are available at roscongress.org/materials/opros-uchastnikov-vostochnogo-ekonomicheskogo-foruma-2024/.

Prospects for the development of the Far East

EEF 2024 was held in Vladivostok from 3 to 6 September and became one of the most significant events in the business world. More than 400 people took part in a survey dedicated to the Forum. Among them, 88% were attendees, 7% were journalists, and 5% were moderators.

The overwhelming majority of Forum participants (94%) believe that changes have taken place in the development of the Russian Far East over the past 10 years, with 78% believing them to be large-scale changes. Such characteristics as priority (38%), stable (32%) and advanced (15%) are associated with the development of the region among respondents.

One in seven people (14%) is ready to call the Far East a developed and prosperous region today, while the majority of respondents believe that it will become such in the short term, including 42% – in 5–10 years. Almost a third of respondents (30%) noted that it will take a little longer – 15–20 years.

Opinions were divided on the need and size of attracting investment to the region from other countries. Almost one in four (22%) responded that such investments in the Far East economy should not exceed 30%. 19% of respondents believe that investments of 50% or more are required, while 18% are of the opinion that they should not exceed 40%. 12% of respondents believe that foreign investment should be no more than 20%, and 7% believe they should be no more than a tenth. Only 4% of the survey participants believe that it is not necessary to attract investments from other countries.

According to respondents, the top 5 promising countries for investing in the Far East economy from the Asia-Pacific region were China (83%), India (33%) and Japan (29%), the Republic of Korea (27%) and the DPRK (22%). More than half of the respondents named tourism (55%), followed by fisheries and aquaculture (36%) and transport and logistics (29%) among the sectors of the economy that could provide the highest inflow of investment in the Far East.

Distribution of influence in Asia Pacific

The survey participants also expressed their opinion on the distribution of countries’ influence in Asia Pacific. Respondents believed that the most influential countries in this region are China and Russia (95% and 89% respectively). Canada, Mexico and Australia are not very influential (70%, 69% and 65% of respondents respectively).

The top three countries whose influence will increase are Russia (86%), China (84%) and India (60%).

About the Forum

About a third of respondents (29%) have managed to establish contacts with potential business partners, and more than half (59%) expect this to happen. Only 4% rated the likelihood of establishing business relations as low.

Methodology: online survey and face-to-face formalized interviews using a tablet (CAPI technology). Target sample of EEF 2024 participants, with 406 people interviewed in total.

Survey held on 3–6 September 2024.