PCNEC Chairman Chong Soo Park visited Moscow and Saint. Petersburg, Russia, from Dec. 12 to 17, to meet with officials from across federal and local governments and discuss the four years of progress in Korea’s New Northern Policy as well as measures to enhance bilateral cooperation.

Throughout the trip, Park and his counterparts from ministries and agencies*involved in the “9-BRIDGE” cooperation projects reviewed ongoing issues and talked about ways to overcome impediments to cooperation in detail, while sharing future plans.

* Ministry of Economic Development, Ministry of Industry and Trade, Ministry of Agriculture, Federal Customs Service, Federal Agency for Rail Transport, Russian Shipbuilding Agency

The Russian side welcomed the progress made and called for more active role and continued support from the PCNEC in dealing with some stumbling blocks. They also expressed hope for developing cooperation projects in promising areas such as hydrogen and Arctic affairs.

The trip served as an opportunity to reaffirm the commitment of the PCNEC, the control tower of the Korean New Northern policy, to its key counterparts in the Russian federal capital, where state-level policy decisions are made. The two sides were also able to strengthen high-level networks, which is expected to provide momentum for further cooperation. 

The trip to the capital came less than a couple months after the Chairman’s tour around Primorsky Krai and Sakhalin regions － in which he was able to secure closer cooperative ties with the Russian Far East government － and laid the ground for taking the bilateral economic partnership to the next level. 

<Meeting with Deputy Minister of Economic Development>

<Meeting with Deputy Minister of Agriculture>

<Meeting with Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade>

<Meeting with Mayor of St. Petersburg>

<Meeting with Deputy Head of the Federal Agency for Railway Transport>

<Visit to Hyundai Motor office>