A forum, entitled Russia—South Korea Dialogue, was held in St. Petersburg on Wednesday. President Dmitry Medvedev held talks with his South Korean counterpart Lee Myung-bak within the framework of the forum. During the meeting the South Korean leader promised investments in the Russian Far East, Siberia and the Northern Caucasus, while the Russian President promised to start gas deliveries to South Korea by 2017.
Seoul promised to invest one billion dollars in the Northern Caucasus, the Kommersant writes. This is recorded in an agreement, signed by Korea Western Power and CHT Korea with the Health Resorts of the Northern Caucasus Company of Russia. Koreans are going to make investments in the building of five power plants for the North Caucasian tourist cluster.
South Korea is not going to focus its attention on the Northern Caucasus alone, the newspaper writes. Lee Myung-bak said on Wednesday that his country was interested in the development of Siberia and the Russian Far East, and is going to take an active part in it. “We shall have to resolve many problems not only in the sphere of politics and economy, but also in the sphere of the development of cooperation between Eastern Siberia and the Russian Far East, on one hand, and the Korean regions, on the other. I think our economic structures complement each other. The development of Siberia and the Far East is very important for Russia, and Korea could take an active part in that process,” Lee Myung-bak said.
After the talks held by Dmitry Medvedev and Lee Myung-bak the date was named for the beginning of gas deliveries to South Korea, The Rossiiskaya Gazeta writes. Gazprom CEF Alexei Miller, who also took part in the talks, told journalists that Russian gas deliveries to South Korea might begin in 2017. Miller chose the word “might’ on purpose: the date of the beginning of gas deliveries depends not only on Russia and South Korea, but also on DPRK, on whose territory the gas pipeline will be laid.