According to Deputy Prime Minister and RF Presidential Envoy to the Far Eastern Federal District Yuri Trutnev, the forum is expected to be attended by about 7,000 people, including media representatives from more than 50 foreign countries. According to him, the largest will be delegations from China, Myanmar, India, Mongolia and Laos. He noted that representatives of the unfriendly bloc of countries will also come.
The press office of the Primorsky Territory government reported that the PRC delegation to the EEF will be headed by Vice Premier of the State Council of the People's Republic of China Zhang Guoqing, with him representatives of two provinces of the country are expected, and the Ambassador of Belarus in Russia Dmitry Krutoy will lead the Belarusian delegation of the country, which includes representatives of the Mogilev region.
The VIII Eastern Economic Forum will be held on September 10 – 13 in Vladivostok on the campus of the Far Eastern Federal University (FEFU). Its main theme this year is Towards Cooperation, Peace and Prosperity.
Business Programme
Over 60 events will be held as part of the main EEF business programme. Its sessions are divided into six topical units: "International Cooperation in a Changing World", "Logistics of Changes", "The Far East in 10 Years. What Has Been Achieved and What Needs to Be Done?", "Technological Development as a Guarantee of Sovereignty", "The Far East of the Future", and "Education and Upbringing as a Basis for Independence".
Business events in the format of a business dialogue with foreign partners from India, China, Laos, Mongolia and ASEAN are also planned.
On the final day of the forum, the Youth EEF events will be held, during which the guests of the sessions will discuss the prospects of IT business development and youth cooperation with representatives of other countries, volunteer initiatives and issues of patriotic education of young people, as well as identify points of contact between young people of ASEAN, SCO and BRICS countries in the context of the World Youth Festival in Russia in March 2024. The key event of the forum programme will traditionally be the plenary session.
Plenary Session
The plenary session of the forum is scheduled for 15.00 local time (8.00 Moscow time) on September 12. Russian President Vladimir Putin will speak at it. Along with him, the plenary session will be attended by Vice President of Laos Pany Yathothu, she will be the main foreign guest of EEF-2023. Before the plenary session Putin will hold a bilateral meeting with her.
The head of state will also meet with Zhang Guoqing, Vice Premier of the State Council of China, who will be attending the forum. In addition, Putin will talk to the moderators of the EEF sessions. The Russian President also plans to talk to Oleg Kozhemyaka, Governor of Primorsky Territory.
During the forum, Putin will hold a meeting on the implementation of development programmes for Russian Far Eastern cities; the discussion will focus on the development of Vladivostok, Birobidzhan, Khabarovsk and Blagoveshchensk.
Sports Programme
The EEF business programme is accompanied by a sports programme. The annual Parade of Sails will be held with participation of large training sailing ships, Nadezhda and Pallada, sailing yachts of international and national classes, foreign teams and high-level guests. More than 1 thousand young yachtsmen and sailors will take part in the event.
The second Open International Cup of the Russian Far East - "GTO Games — 2023" - is taking place at the GTO Arena pavilion; they have begun on September 10. The competitions will be held in the format of the TRP multiathlon. Participants will include 212 athletes from all over Russia, including members of teams from the Russian Far East regions.
The "We Save" morning five-kilometre race, scheduled for September 11, will be dedicated to the Kamchatka gyrfalcon. Forum participants, sports stars, cultural figures and city residents will take to the start line. Each of them will receive a commemorative T-shirt and a medal with a gyrfalcon.
In addition, the sports programme will include the Russian Water Motor Cup in the aquabike class, "Grand Prix of Russia - 2023", an international match of stars in Go, which will be a confrontation between Russian and Chinese teams in the format of "two on two".
Also, for the second year in a row, the forum's sports games will include a rapid chess tournament, the Roscongress Chess Cup and a blind simultaneous game session, the latter to be conducted by international grandmaster Pavel Ponkratov, who won the 2022 EEF Chess Cup.
Cultural Programme
A rich cultural programme has been prepared for the guests and participants of EEF-2023. A classical music concert performed by Denis Matsuev and the Russian National Youth Symphony Orchestra will take place on September 11, with works by Shostakovich, Rachmaninov and Bernstein on the programme.
The Primorsky Art Gallery will present five exhibitions. This time the State Hermitage Museum will exhibit in Vladivostok a Baroque painting "St Catherine" by one of the great Italian painters - Florentine Carlo Dolci. The exposition is complemented by engravings of Carlo Dolci's paintings from the Hermitage collection, an original of Carlo Dolci's "St John the Evangelist" from the Khabarovsk Art Museum, and a copy of the famous Florentine's work from the Primorsky Picture Gallery collection.
Visitors to the exhibition of avant-garde Russian painting of the 20th century "The Energy of Colour. Archetypes of the Avant-Garde" from the collection of the State Tretyakov Gallery will be able to see paintings by Kazimir Malevich, Alexander Rodchenko, Vasily Kandinsky, Marc Chagall - a total of 56 works from the avant-garde era.
An exhibition of exhibits related to the history of Russian navigation from the collection of the Moscow Kremlin Museums, including an Easter egg by Carl Faberge, will open at the Museum of the History of the Russian Far East on September 13. Visitors to the exhibition will be presented a precious Easter egg with a model of the Pamyat Azova cruiser inside. Jeweller Carl Faberge created it in honour of the visit of the future Emperor Nicholas II to Vladivostok on the Pamyat Azova cruiser in 1891.
