Address by H.E.Mr.Gleb A.Ivashentsov,

Ambassador of the Russian Federation

at Kookmin University

(Seoul, May 29, 2008)

Today’s Russia and the Russian-Korean Relations

I am glad to be with you today here at Kookmin University. Your invitation testifies the interest in my country. This is encouraging. Russia and Korea are close neighbors. We should better know each other.

This year is a special year for Russia. In December 2007 the elections to the State Duma – the Russian Parliament – took place, followed by the elections of the President of Russia on March 2^nd. On May 7^th D.Medvedev, who got 70 percent of votes at the election, took the oath as the new President of Russia, and on May 8^th V.Putin headed the new Government.

The people of Russia once again reaffirmed its conviction to follow the course aimed at the modernization and strengthening of the country in political, administrative and economic spheres, as well as to social reforms serving the majority of the population, in other words, to all the values rightly connected in our people’s consciousness with Vladimir Putin’s presidency.

Indeed, a lot has been done in Russia within last few years.

Russia has returned to the world arena as a strong state, a state capable of defending itself and worth to be regarded.

Last year we reached the 8,1% GNP growth which is the largest figure in 7 years. According to the international experts' evaluations in 2007 Russia surpassed such G8 countries as Italy and France in GNP volume based on parity purchasing power thus entering the world's seven largest economies.

Within last eight years the accumulated volume of foreign investments has grown not by just a few percent, but 7-fold. I have to remind you that in the previous period the net capital outflow from Russia totaled to US$ 10-15-20 or even 25 billion a year. In 2007 Russia has experienced an all-time peak total capital inflow of US$ 82.3 billion.

Our trade volume with foreign countries grew more than 5 times. More than 6 million of our citizens travel abroad every year.

Large-scale projects in energy, transport infrastructure, machinery production and housing have been launched. The work on the long-term, up to 2020, national development program is under completion. Structural reforms in aircraft and shipbuilding industries are undertaken. Considerable investments are drawn into automobile and railway machinery production.

These industries which used to be traditionally well developed in Russia have acquired a kind of new breath. For instance a few days back we witnessed the launching of a new medium-haul passenger aircraft “Sukhoi Super jet”. It is a first pioneer model fully developed in the post-Soviet period which surpasses all modern standards in efficiency and safety.

State corporations with vast financial and management capabilities have been formed for the spheres considered to be most sensitive for the country. There are also some positive dynamics in agriculture.

Our children will not have to pay for our obligations as our national foreign debt has come down to 3% of GNP, which is considered one of the lowest in the world.

Significant financial reserves have been accumulated which protect the country from external crisis threats and guarantee our social obligations in the future. Russia's financial position is being strengthened as our gold and currency reserves storm the mark of half a trillion US$.

Macroeconomic stability and financial self-sufficiency of the country are generally ensured. As a result of that in last two years Russia has been witnessing a real investment and consumption boom.

Last year we also broke a 25-year record in birth rate growth – the largest number of children in 15 years were born.

***

With her internal consolidation Russia once again is turning into an influential and independent factor in the world politics and economics. Without Russia and despite Russia, not a single international problem of any significance can be solved. However the world has changed from what it used to be just a few years back. Today it is becoming not simpler, but harsher and more complicated. We are sometimes witnessing sovereignty of states and even whole regions being destroyed under the cover of battle-cries for freedom and opened society, and the growing protectionism in the most advanced countries to go hand in hand with loud declamations of free-trade and investment.

But there is no doubt that the one-polar world has failed to materialize. It was to much extent due to present regaining by Russia of her foreign policy independence as well as the appearance of new non-Western centers of global influence and growth like China, India and Brazil.

These four states have strengthening understanding of the coincidence of their interests as the fastest growing mighty economies which are increasing their contribution to securing stability of the world economy.

The BRIC countries representing half of the world population share the common approach to the fundamental issues of the world development, first of all supporting the formation of the multipolar world order the primacy of the international law with the central role of the UN.

The global economic and financial system which was formed after the Second World War under the domination of the West has outlived itself. It does no more correspond to the needs of the time and does not take into account the substantial redistribution of the economic and financial might which has taken place recently.

In general, the present problems of global economy and finances reflect those qualitative changes which demand an adequate legal foundation to be provided to the multipolarity under formation.

An important new feature of the situation is that the West is losing its monopoly on the processes of globalization. Hence perhaps the attempts to present the events as a threat to the West, its values and life-style. Thus it is not accidental that in the West it is becoming more and more in vogue to challenge Russia and Russian foreign policy with overstated, one-sided demands.

Appeals “to contain Russia” are heard from podiums of different conferences as well as from Western media. What is the reason for that?

It could be understood were Russia recruiting smaller Western states to a pro-Russian military bloc, were she trying to build her military bases on the European Union's on US periphery or were she financing political parties in the NATO countries which try to undermine the position of the existing governments.

But Russia is not involved in such type of activities. Today's Russian foreign policy does perfectly comply with the modern perception of international life standards.

What are Russian activities in the world market that do not correspond to the concepts of a powerful country taking part in the international division of labor? Could it be asking to pay world market prices for our energy resources? But it is our duty in the context of Russia’s joining international economic organizations.

Or could it be deals we make to protect our national interests with other countries which also choose to develop according to their internal rules? But this is our duty to the present and future generations.

And it is but natural that we take active position in the CIS affairs. Those countries are our neighbors, close neighbors, and who are to be our friends if not them? So we are sure to pay more attention to processes taking place in the region, and by the way, we are equally influenced by those countries.

As for our not breaking off the relations with the so-called “problem”-states sometimes causing some negative emotions in the world community, we consider such policy to be our duty as well. For the most counterproductive way of doing things is to break the relations and switch to carpet bombings and I hope that everyone in the modern world realizes that.

I think that the reason for the anti-Russian wave lies in the fact that many in the West clearly counted on long-term and irreversible weakness of my country, and in this psychological conditions the strengthening of Russia became an unforeseen factor which has taken unaware those who have already mentally excluded her from the future world history. And such people are still uncertain about what to do.

The West’s attitude to recent elections in Russia, consolidation of her administration and improvement of its controllability is extremely indicative in this regard. The bets are still made on destabilization, defamation of the supreme power. And for that the necessary financing is being assigned, strategies are being developed, there are blocking-off laws and other measures implemented, all aimed at keeping Russia “in check”.

Under such circumstances it is important for us to stay firm and calm, not to let anyone to draw us into expensive confrontation, including some new arms race which could exhaust our economy and damage our internal development.

Our choice is clear – we are a reliable partner for all of the international community in solving global problems. And we are interested in mutually beneficial cooperation in all fields such as security, science, energy, climate change prevention.

We are interested in the most active participation in both global and regional integration, close trade, economic and investment cooperation, promotion of high technology and its introduction into everyday life. All this corresponds to our strategic goals. And for reaching our national objectives we need peaceful, positive international agenda. That is what we will be striving for.

***

Let us now turn to Russia’s course in the region where the interests of our two countries directly meet viz Northeast Asia. The economic consolidation of Russia allows us today to take up the long-pending task of the integrated development of the Eastern Siberia and the Russian Far East the area of which is seven million square km or 41 percent of the territory of Russia.

To work over the resources of that vast area we would welcome investments from interested countries of the region on a balanced basis.. But we consider that the set tasks should be accomplished first of all by our own efforts.

Inspite of all difficulties in uplifting of the Asian areas of our country we will neither part with the sovereignty over those resources nor share it with others. This is the main condition of our cooperation with foreign partners in developing of our resources on the basis of the Russian law.

The aims are great but their achievement will bring an even greater output. We believe that potentially the uplift of the Russian Asia’s vast territories and utilization of its natural and other resources could bring an outcome which may be comparable or even greater than those of the development of the American West a hundred years back. The process will inevitably exert major influence on all civilizational processes in the Asia-Pacific region and beyond.

In no other region are our internal and external interests so interconnected as in Northeast Asia. For it is necessary to guarantee external security for the economic development of Siberia and the Russian Far East. And by Russia’s view such guarantees could be best provided by developing positive relations with her neighbors.

In that we have already achieved a lot. Our strategic partnership with China has been considerably enhanced by the year of Russia in China held in 2006 and the year of China in Russia in 2007.

It has got a new impetus with the recent visit of Russia’s President Dmitri Medvedev to Beijing.

As the head of the Russian state noted during that visit, Russia interaction with China has become today a key to global stability. This cooperation serves the interests of our peoples and we will strengthen it in any way regardless of whether some like it or not.

Russia’s relations with Japan in recent years have been characterized by an intensive political dialogue at different levels. The April visit to Moscow by Prime Minister Fukuda has reconfirmed both countries’ willingness to bring closer their approaches to settlement of many international and regional issues.

To the DPRK Russia is linked with the Treaty of Friendship, Goodneighbourliness and Cooperation.

The partnership with the Republic of Korea which is an integral component of the general strategy of Russia at the Asia Pacific direction bears an independent value to my country. Within last three decades South Korea turned from a poor developing country into an industrial and trade power of a world scale which is striving to establish itself as a strong foreign policy actor of its own right.

Russia and the Republic of Korea have common interest in eliminating the war threat in Northeast Asia. The main source of that threat is the more than half-century old military confrontation on the Korean Peninsula presently aggravated by the nuclear issue.

That issue is of a direct concern for Russia as the DPRK conducted the nuclear test on October 9^th, 2006 at a site which is located in the close proximity of our borders at a distance of just 177 Kilometers, which is less than the distance to the DMZ between North and South Korea. We do not like such a situation. We need neither nuclear and missile tests at our border, nor a saber rattling by anyone. Therefore my country actively participates in the Six-Party talks on the nuclear issue of the Korean Peninsula.

The aggravation of the nuclear problem of the Korean Peninsula should not be viewed in isolation of the general world situation. In the conditions when the factor of force in the international relations is getting more and more manifested and the language of ultimatums and sanctions is widely used, certain countries feel themselves infringed and try to protect their security by all means including radical ones.

It does not mean however that the international community should not react to such behavior. Russia does not recognize the DPRK as a nuclear power as that would have given an utterly undesirable example to other countries.

We believe therefore that all work on settlement of the nuclear issue of the Korean Peninsula should be done in the context of providing security guarantees to all countries of the region viz. the DPRK, the Republic of Korea, Japan etc. It is very important to avoid any actions that could lead to new tensions around Korea and the situation coming out of control.

Russia is prepared to make her contribution to the inter-Korean normalization as well, for by our and not only our, understanding the settlement of the nuclear issue of the Korean Peninsula and the inter-Korean normalization are two wheels of the same cart which is the only vehicle that could deliver us to our common destination of the system of peace and security in Northeast Asia.

Therefore Russia has always been in favor of the moves by two Korean states aimed at peaceful unification through their own efforts.

By Russian view it is mutual trust and confidence which is the most needed for building bridges between Pyongyang and Seoul. And what, if not common work on long-term mutually beneficial joint economic projects, could be the best way to build that mutual trust and confidence?

We believe that settlement of the nuclear issue of Korea as well as the normalization of the DPRK's relations with the key regional powers will be greatly facilitated by the practical implementation of the large-scale tripartite partnership projects of Russia and North and South Korea, such as the international railway corridor "Europe-Korea" and the programs of creating in Northeast Asia an integrated electric power grid as well as a net of pipelines connected with the regions of the Eastern Siberia and the Russian Far East.

Linking the Transkorean and Transsiberian railways is of special significance. The Russian side has been continuously initiating progress in that direction.

During the recent visit to Moscow by the DPRK railway minister an agreement on cooperation was signed between the DPRK Ministry of Railway and the Russian Railways on the pilot project of reconstruction of the Transkorean Railway on a 52 km long stretch from Hasan station on the Russia-DPRK border to the port of Rajin and on building a container terminal at that port which will be opened to the ships of third countries including the Republic of Korea.

It is estimated that on the initial stage of the realization of Rajin-Hasan project from 55 to 80 thousand twenty-feet containers could be drawn to the Transsiberian railway which is equal to 10-15 percent of the existing container traffic between South Korea and Europe.

***

Our country believes that the Six-Party talks offer at present the best format for working out a peace and security system in Northeast Asia. Such a system may be tentatively based on the following guiding principles.

The Six Parties will abide in their relations by the purposes and principles of the UN Charter and generally accepted norms of international law, will respect the existing diversity of political, economic, social and cultural systems of the nations of the region, which is based upon their unique historical experience and national features.

The Six Parties will ensure the settlement of conflicts and crises through political and diplomatic means, with consideration of legitimate interests of all parties concerned. The Six Parties will refrain from the threat or use of force against each other.

The Six Parties will strive to promote better mutual understanding and mutual trust by expanding and intensifying dialogue and consultations on security matters (including joint analysis of existing and potential threats), will apply confidence-building measures and enhance military transparency. The Six Parties will focus on common interests, respect different points of view, strengthen coordination, avoid confrontation, will seek consensus through consultations.

The Six Parties will intensify cooperative actions to combat terrorism, organized crime, drug trafficking, piracy, illegal migration, the spread of dangerous infectious diseases and environmental pollution, will cooperate in alleviating the consequences of natural disasters.

The Six Parties will take efforts for greater openness and engagement among themselves in all fields of life, including development of economic cooperation, deeper understanding of each other’s cultures and traditions through dialogue, humanitarian and people-to-people exchanges.

The Six Parties will reiterate that they are open for interaction with all interested nations with the aim of strengthening peace and security in Northeast Asia.

***

The developments on the Korean Peninsula will to much extent determine the future of not only the Northeast Asia but the whole of the Asia Pacific Area and the world processes. I would like to single out two major moments.

On one hand the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula could create a precedent for settling similar problems in other regions of the world and could become thereby an important contribution to the strengthening of the nuclear weapons non-proliferation regime.

On the other hand the Six-Party talks represent a case of a multilateral decision making on a hottest international issue which is utterly important in the present world conditions. It is on such basis only and not by one-sided forceful reactions that we could today stabilize the disbalanced system of international relations and help its deideologization and demilitarization.

The settlement on the Korean Peninsula could become a major step to establishment of a comprehensive system of collective security in the Asian Pacific Area where a number of multilateral structures of authority have been already formed such as the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), "Asia Cooperation Dialogue (ACD), The Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia" etc. Russia actively participates in all these forums.

I would like to single out the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). The SCO which came into existence some years back as a regional antiterrorist and economic cooperation structure comprising Russia, China and four Central Asian States, is becoming today an important international organization of the broadest political capacity. The SCO's activities draw a tremendous interest form other countries and regions including Pakistan, India, Iran, Afghanistan and Mongolia which regularly send their top level observers to the SCO summits.

***

The Russian-Korean relationship provides today a good example of active partnership in different spheres. There is practically no such field of human activities in which our two countries do not interact. In addition to cooperation on land and sea cooperation in space has now started. In April the first Korean cosmonaut Yi Soe-young trained in the Russia Star City has made a successful space flight by a Russian spaceship and in coming December at the Korea National Space Center at the Oaenaru island in the South Cholla province, which is being built with Russia's assistance, the Russian-Korean boost rocket KSLV-1, capable of taking up to 100 kg cargo to the orbit will be launched.

The Russian-Korean trade volume has been increasing steadily. In 2007 it approached the mark of USD 15 billion thus growing 1,5 times in a single year. This is surely much less than Korean trade with some other countries, but it is the growth tendency not the nominal figures themselves that counts.

We believe that realization of joint investment projects particularly in energy, as well as in petrochemical and automobile industries will lead to a much bigger growth in bilateral trade.

There are examples of large scale investments by Korean companies in Russia in recent two-three years.

In the heart of Moscow one can see a brand new Lotte department store. One and a half year ago LG Electronics opened a factory in the Ruza district of the Moscow oblast. Not only has LG electronics already started production, but Samsung Electronics started building a factory in the Kaluga Oblast last September.

And the Lotte confectionary will soon be starting building a factory in Kaluga. The Shin-chang construction company is actively building apartment houses in the Kaluga Oblast.

Hyundai Motors has decided to start building a car plant of theirs in St.-Peterburg. About 15 Korean auto-parts companies plan to build their plants not far from the Hyundai Motors site.

All the above projects are located however in the European Russia. It is in the interests of both Russia and the Republic of Korea that more such projects are started in the regions of Siberia and the Russian Far East.

There are good opportunities for Korean companies in the Russian Far East
like the Primorski Krai, the Khabarovski Krai, the Amurskaya Oblast, Kamchatka
and Magadan. I would like especially single out the potential of the Sakha-Yakutia Republic which is rich in coal, oil, natural gas, diamonds, ferrous and uranium ores etc.

A special attention in the Russian-Korean economic ties is given to joint work in the energy sector South Korean companies have received contracts worth billions dollars for production of equipment needed for energy projects in Russia and modern oil and liquefied gas tankers.

"Sakhalin Energy" company developing the natural gas deposits on Sakhalin and the "Kogas" concluded an agreement on supply to the ROK of 1,5 million tons of liquefied natural gas from Sakhalin for the period of 20 years starting from 2008.

In accordance with the Inter-Governmental Agreement on cooperation in gas industry a feasibility report is under preparation on laying a gas pipeline from the Russian Far East to the Republic of Korea

A Russian-Korean consortium with the participation of the leading Russian company, "Rosneft", has started its work for gas and oil exploration on the Kamchatka continental shelf.

It is however unreasonable to view Russia only as a supplier of raw materials to the Korean market. Russia does export to Korea a good list of high-tech goods as well. For example about forty percent of civilian helicopters now being used in the Republic of Korea were made in Russia. Russian companies provide an important share of the ROK's needs in fuel for nuclear power houses.

There is a weighty number of commercial agreements already concluded or under negotiation on joint science-research and experimental projects, including those for space exploration or aimed at production of high-tech goods in the Republic of Korea under Russian licenses.

The former lack of information on culture and arts of two countries caused by their long separation from each other is today actively replenished by Russian and Korean sides. Quite a number of books on the Republic of Korea have been published in Russia. There is a good demand for South Korean films. On other hand the South Korean public enjoys regular performances of the best Russian musical and ballet groups.

The Russian Nights festival of the Russian culture presented in September 2006 in Seoul became a major event of the Russian-Korean cultural exchanges. A similar festival of the Korean culture was held in Moscow last August. It is a matter of joy that the Russian and Korean Youth show a good interest for such festivals. The young generation of both countries should better know each other to escape the prejudices and to overcome the negative clichés of the past.

Dear friends,

I hope that my address will help you better understand Russia and feel closer to her. The goals of the Russian foreign policy are clear and simple. These are to create favorable external conditions for safe and comfortable life of the people of Russia. The absolute majority of other states wish exactly the same for their peoples.

I would like to stress that we have no intention to use force to take anything from anyone. We do not put our eyes on other’s properties. We are a self-sufficient country. But we are not going to isolate ourselves from the outside world either.

Russia is following an independent, pragmatic and responsible policy. She is a reliable and faithful partner in international affairs.