VLADIVOSTOK, Russia, Sept. 4 (Xinhua) -- As host of the upcoming Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, Russia is expected to take APEC meetings as an opportunity to boost its influence in the Asia-Pacific region and further its "Look East" strategy.
As the world's largest country spanning both the European and Asian continents, Russia has more than 70 percent of its lands located in Asia. Thus, the Asia-Pacific region is of great strategic significance to Russia, whether in views of economic development, geopolitics or national security.
Moreover, compared with the crisis-hit Europe, the economies in the region have been steadily developed, creating a broad market for Russia, who heavily rely on exports of raw materials, especially gas and oil.
Since Europe has begun to promote its alternative routes of oil and gas bypassing Russia, rows between the two sides were often reported. The vigorous Asia-Pacific market was expected to replace Europe, a traditional energy market of Russia, to spur the development of Russia's export-oriented economy.
However, due to the lack of policy continuity and fund, development of Russia's Siberian region and the Far East region has been lagging behind for years, which became an obstacle to Russia's ambitious plan of modernization.
In July, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Russia would continue to strengthen its position in the region, a rising new center of global development.
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