EEF-2026: Key Takeaways

The 2026 Eastern Economic Forum has concluded. Over four days, participants signed 318 agreements worth nearly 7 trillion rubles, not counting documents whose terms are classified as commercially confidential. The forum drew more than 9,300 participants from 78 countries, including representatives from 18 nations designated as unfriendly. 

The forum's main achievement wasn't just the boost in investment statistics. Center stage was occupied by a unified preferential regime for the Far East and the Arctic, development planning through 2036, transport projects, and issues of urban and social infrastructure, personnel, and technology.

A new regime instead of a patchwork of benefits

Starting January 1, 2027, a unified preferential regime is set to launch in the Far East and the Arctic zone. Currently, support is fragmented across several instruments—territories of advanced development, the free port of Vladivostok, and other special regimes. The new model is meant to consolidate them into a single system with tax and customs preferences, reduced insurance contributions, and access to state infrastructure support.

For businesses, this means a change not so much in the size of benefits as in the principle of how they're granted. Investors won't have to choose among numerous territories and support regimes: the plan is for a unified "menu" of instruments across the entire Far East and Arctic space.

However, the effectiveness of this new structure will depend on its practical implementation. Simply merging regimes doesn't guarantee accelerated investment if the procedures for obtaining benefits and infrastructure support remain cumbersome. The real test of the reform, therefore, won't be the number of available advantages, but the speed at which new projects get off the ground.

In parallel, the forum unveiled a development strategy for the Far East through 2036. According to Deputy Prime Minister and Presidential Envoy to the Far East Yuri Trutnev, the document has been prepared and is awaiting signature by Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin. The macro-region is getting a ten-year horizon: the 11 constituent entities of the Far Eastern Federal District are to develop as an integrated economic system, where investment projects rely on ports, railways, energy, digital infrastructure, and growing demand from Asia-Pacific countries. Its five pillars are removing infrastructure constraints, a new investment and technology cycle, science and technology, quality of life, and climate adaptation. 

Logistics becomes a standalone asset

One of the forum's themes was the region's transport connectivity. The discussion now centers on establishing routes that should link Russia's East with China and other Asian markets, as well as with the Arctic.

The forum's most ambitious infrastructure project was an agreement to create the Mohe–Naiba–Magadan corridor. It's intended to connect northeastern China with Yakutia and the Arctic through a new Dzhalinda–Mohe crossing on the Amur River, railway lines, the Lena River, and the deep-water port of Naiba. The total length of planned new railways exceeds 2,900 kilometers, the project is estimated at 1.13 trillion rubles, and maximum cargo flow is projected at 30 million tons per year. But for now this is an implementation agreement and project framework: the most concrete stage involves Naiba's port infrastructure and the economic justification for a bridge across the Amur.

In Yakutia, agreements were reached to build distribution centers for Wildberries and Ozon. The combined value of the announced facilities is estimated at roughly 2 billion rubles. For a region with high delivery costs, such projects matter not only for e-commerce: warehouses shorten the logistics chain and allow local producers to reach the federal market faster.

Another indicator of changing scale is the launch of facilities directly tied to freight infrastructure. These include a container terminal at Pervomaisky port, the Port Elga maritime coal terminal, and the start of boring for the second Severomuysky Tunnel. This last project is significant for the capacity of the Baikal-Amur Mainline.

The Gas Agenda Looks to China

The energy component of the Eastern Economic Forum was also closely tied to the Asian direction. "Power of Siberia-2" received a new political name at the EEF—"Power of Baikal." Energy Minister Sergey Tsivilev linked the rebranding to Vladimir Putin's proposal. Behind the rebrand lies a substantive signal: Moscow and Beijing have confirmed the feasibility of a pipeline with capacity up to 50 billion cubic meters per year and will continue preparing the contract. But this is not yet a final deal or confirmed construction start—the commercial terms of future deliveries have not yet been agreed upon.

In parallel, Russia and China are discussing expanded deliveries via already operational and under-construction routes. Deliveries through "Power of Siberia" are planned to increase from 38 billion to 44 billion cubic meters per year, while the Far Eastern route would grow from 10 billion to 12 billion cubic meters. 

For the Far East, the gas issue has dual significance. On one hand, the region is part of export infrastructure oriented toward China. On the other, expansion of the gas network creates conditions for industrial development within the region itself. Therefore, further implementation of such projects will depend not only on export contracts, but also on what economic activity they generate around the new capacity.

From Raw Materials to Processing

Another notable outcome of the forum was the expanded list of projects designed to create added value directly in the Far East. On September 4, several enterprises and infrastructure facilities were simultaneously launched.

The launched projects include a cathode copper plant at the Udokan mining and metallurgical complex, the Nakhodka mineral fertilizer plant, the pharmaceutical enterprise "Farmasintez," the 500 kV "Varyag" power substation and corresponding transmission line. In Yakutia and Primorye, projects in unmanned technologies and component manufacturing are developing simultaneously.

This structure shows that the investment agenda is gradually moving beyond extraction. Alongside raw material enterprises, chemical, pharmaceutical, energy, transport and technology production facilities are emerging. This is fundamental for the region: resource exports provide infrastructure utilization, but it's processing and industrial cooperation that allow most of the added value to be captured within the macro-region.

Digital projects became a separate direction. The Far East and Arctic Development Corporation, the Yakutia government and Rostelecom agreed to create a data processing center in the republic. Another project envisions printed circuit board production in Khabarovsk and drone components in Primorye.

Technologies to Be Tested Faster

The Far East should become a testing ground for new technologies. Vladimir Putin announced the creation of a special legal regime for testing drones, industrial robots, telemedicine and other technological solutions.

This approach is especially important for remote territories, where new technologies can solve quite practical tasks—from cargo delivery to medical care provision. But here too, the outcome will depend on the ability to quickly transition successful experiments from pilot mode to mass application.

The WEF's technology agenda also focused on supporting young companies. At the "Territory of Innovation" pitch session, projects were presented in magnetic accessories, construction technologies, and artificial intelligence. Among the winners was an AI system for detecting exceptionally large diamonds, developed by the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory of Yakutia.

Infrastructure Must Retain the Population

Investment projects in the Far East are accompanied by urban infrastructure development. Master plans—comprehensive development programs that link the construction of housing, roads, schools, hospitals, and other facilities with economic projects—have been developed for the largest cities. The forum reported that currently more than 400 facilities are being designed or built under these plans, with around 300 already completed. These include airports in Magadan, Blagoveshchensk, and Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, 15 clinics and hospitals, as well as over 90 schools and kindergartens.

For the macroregion, this is not an auxiliary part of investment policy. Labor shortages and population outflow directly limit the capabilities of new enterprises. Therefore, the construction of housing, schools, hospitals, and transport infrastructure must solve the same economic task as investor incentives: creating conditions under which specialists find it advantageous to remain in the region.

Following this same logic, authorities proposed extending until 2030 the increased mortgage repayment benefit for the birth of a third child in Far Eastern regions. The measure links demographic policy with housing affordability and is designed to work not on attracting investment, but on retaining the population.

What Remains After Four Days

Over 11 years, according to data announced at the forum, the Far East has managed to attract approximately 25 trillion rubles in investment. Meanwhile, since 2015, private investment in the macroregion's economy has totaled more than 6.8 trillion rubles. The investment structure shows a significant role for the state in launching projects and creating infrastructure.

The next cycle should be built around a unified support regime, major transport corridors, industrial processing, technology projects, and urban infrastructure. At the same time, the nearly 7 trillion rubles in agreements is merely the top layer of this system. The real measure of its effectiveness will be how many of the announced projects reach construction, how many enterprises achieve design capacity, and how many new jobs appear in the cities of the Far East and Arctic.