EEF 2026 to discuss the impact of transport links on the development of international relations in the Asia-Pacific Region

On 1 September, as part of the Eastern Economic Forum, the international research and practical conference “Crossroads of Civilizations: The Role of Transport Integration in the History of the Asia-Pacific” will take place. Its participants will discuss the impact of transport links on the development of international trade, the strengthening of interstate ties, and the creation of a common space for interaction among Asia-Pacific countries. Particular attention will be given to Russia’s historical experience of cooperation with East Asian countries, and to the role of ports and railway infrastructure in the development of the Far East.

Sergei Naryshkin, Chairman of the Russian Historical Society, is expected to speak at the conference. The discussion will bring together experts from Russia and abroad, including Ruslan Gagkuev, Chairman of the Board of the Russian Historical Society; Konstantin Pashkov, First Deputy Minister of Transport of the Russian Federation; Yury Kulchin, Vice-President of the Russian Academy of Sciences and Chairman of the Far Eastern Branch of the RAS; Alexey Maslov, Director of the Institute of Asian and African Studies at Lomonosov Moscow State University; Yury Nosov, member of the Russian Historical Society Council and Director General of the Boris Yeltsin Presidential Library; and Denis Tsypkin, member of the Russian Historical Society Council and Director General of the National Library of Russia.

Foreign participants include Arif Satria, Chairman of Indonesia’s National Research and Innovation Agency; Ma Bin, Director of the Centre for Russian and Central Asian Studies at Fudan University (China); Sun Tianshu (China), entrepreneur, founder, and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Russian-Chinese B2B digital trade platform QIFA; Le Thanh Bac, Vice-Rector of the University of Danang (Socialist Republic of Vietnam); as well as specialists from India, Malaysia, Mongolia, the Republic of Korea, Thailand, and Japan.

The conference is organized by the Russian Historical Society, the Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation, Far Eastern Federal University, the Institute of History, Archaeology, and Ethnography of the Peoples of the Far East of the Far Eastern Branch of the RAS, and the Institute of Oriental Studies of the RAS. The event is supported by the History of the Fatherland Foundation as part of the Youth and Children National Project.

The Eastern Economic Forum will be held from 1 to 4 September in Vladivostok on the campus of Far Eastern Federal University. The central theme of EEF 2026 is “The Far East: Development for the Benefit of People”. The EEF is organized by the Roscongress Foundation with the support of the Government of the Russian Federation.