VLADIVOSTOK, March 5. /TASS/. North Korea will participate in the creation of advanced development zones in Russia’s Far East, and a model of such a zone can be applied to its own territory, says a protocol signed following Pyongyang’s delegation visit to Russia.
The document was inked by Minister for the Development of the Russian Far East Alexander Galushka and North Korean Minister of Foreign Trade Ri Ryong Nam, according to the Russian ministry.
"The Ministry for the Development of the Russian Far East has been the initiator for adopting a special legislation on the territories of advanced social and economic development," Galushka said.
A unique analytic base has been created and efficient economic models have been formed in order to provide business with comfortable conditions for investment, the minister said.
"Using this experience in the three-party format, with the participation of Russia, Democratic People's Republic of Korea and the Republic of Korea may become an efficient development of the idea of the advanced development zones," Galushka was quoted by the ministry as saying.
In particular, Russia is ready to consider extraterritorial models where the trilateral cooperation will be developing on the territory of North Korea. Pyongyang is interested in Russia attracting a third party, including South Korea, as an investor and performer as part of a project on electric power supplies to North Korea.
By now, 14 sites and 18 investment projects have been preliminarily selected for advanced development areas in the Far Eastern federal district. It is planned to attract some $1.6 billion in investments to these areas in the next few years.