Siberia and the Far East provide the nearest transportation corridor between Asia-Pacific countries and Europe, and the northern seaway is also a favorable transportation route in Russia. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Far East ports became Russia's most important ports. The significance of border cities and coastal cities in the Far East has been further increased since Russia adopted an eastern development strategy aimed at integrating into the Asia-Pacific region. The Far East has also become Russia's leading base in strengthening trade and economic and technological cooperation with other Asia-Pacific countries. Border cities and coastal cities have thus gained new development advantages.

The future economic and urban development in eastern Russia should allow the market to play a fundamental role, with policies serving as an incentive.

Favorable policies are an important tool in narrowing the regional development gap. The less developed eastern region of Russia needs favorable policy support focusing on infrastructure construction and investment environment creation at the early stage. At the same time, the policies must help to foster new regional market forces and tap the market potential. Though both belong to the eastern region, differences between the Far East Federal District and the Siberian Federal District are sharp—the latter's urban development level is far above the former's. Therefore, in the process of developing the eastern region, policy support to the two districts should be different.

Some restricting factors threaten to limit the urban and economic development of Russia's eastern region.

Since the Soviet Union's disintegration in 1991, population decline and labor shortages have become major problems for the development of the region. From 1990 to 2012, the population of the Far East Federal District and the Siberian Federal District fell by 8.7 percent and 22.1 percent respectively, causing a sharp decline in the labor force. The majority of the staff lost consisted of capable adult workers and professional elites. The continued loss of personnel will also weaken innovation, which could be problematic for the long-term development of the region.

Moreover, the excessive reliance on resources for economic growth could ultimately represent a kind of curse. The country's abundant natural resources have inadvertently weakened the incentive role of institutional improvement and delayed the course of economic reform. The slow rate of reform and weak institutional improvement have hindered the efficient use of natural resources. This vicious cycle is particularly evident in Russia's eastern region. The abundance of natural resources has yet to form an endogenous power source for the sustainable and comprehensive economic development of the region.

Furthermore, the investment environment in the region is poor, primarily due to the lack of corresponding legal guarantees and necessary preferential policies. Despite the work of many scientific research institutes, the marketization of technologies in the region is not mature. Scientific research achievements are not yet being translated into productivity.

Promising cooperation

The eastern region of Russia and China's northeastern provinces enjoy healthy economic and trade cooperation. The positive interaction of Russia's eastern region development and the revival of northeast China will promote mutually beneficial cooperation in the two countries' border areas.

The labor and funding shortages that the eastern region of Russia faces cannot be easily solved in the short term—this is particularly likely to be the case without additional assistance from China. Participating in the development of Russia's eastern region is also in accordance with the interests of China. It could help China meet its demand for energy and resources, contributing to the revival of the old industrial bases in northeast China and improving China's resource security as a whole.

The infrastructure construction in Russia's eastern region also requires a huge labor force, which could allow more job opportunities for Chinese workers. In addition, China has an advantage in infrastructure construction, and Russia's eastern region development strategy may employ related Chinese enterprises.

Khabarovsk, the biggest city in Russia's Far East District, is just across the border from China's Fuyuan County. With China and Russia planning to jointly develop Heixiazi Island, known as Bolshoy Ussuriysky Island in Russia, economic ties between the two countries' border cities will be further intensified.

The author is a researcher with the Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research at the Chinese Academy of Sciences

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