Background Brief Greater Tumen Initiative (GTI) Go to the Russian version (N.Yacheistova's article) The Greater Tumen Initiative (GTI) (originally known as the Tumen River Area Development Programme -TRADP), is an intergovernmental cooperation mechanism in North-East Asia, supported by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), with a membership of five countries: People’s Republic of China, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Republic of Korea, Mongolia and Russian Federation. Since its creation, GTI has remained a unique intergovernmental platform for economic cooperation, fostering peace, stability and sustainable development in North-East Asia. Moreover, it is playing a significant role in expanding policy dialogues and strengthening business-friendly environments in the region and contributing therefore to the raising of living standards through development of interregional infrastructure and the promotion of trade and investments. Northeast Asia is the vast geographic ensemble that stretches from Mongolia in the West to the Pacific coasts of Russia and the Korean Peninsula in the East and encompasses North East China. The geographical coverage of the Greater Tumen Initiative itself involves the three Northeast provinces (Jilin, Heilongjiang, & Liaoning) and Inner Mongolia of China; the Rajin-Sonbong Economic and Trade Zone of the Democratic People’s of Korea; the Eastern Provinces of Mongolia; the Eastern port cities of Republic of Korea and the Primorskiy Territory in the Russian Federation. This region possesses enormous potential for investment and job opportunities with its skilled, educated and low-cost labor pool. The Tumen River ties this region together at the crossroads of vital trade, transport and energy routes. Rich in gas, oil and minerals, the Greater Tumen Region has easy access to affluent markets in the GTI five member countries and Japan, representing over 500 million consumers. The huge economic potential of the Tumen River region can only be fully harnessed through dynamic cooperation among its neighbours and sharing of resources. The core decision-making institution of GTI is the Consultative Commission composed of government representatives from all five GTI member countries. The role of the Consultative Commission is to foster support for the development of North-East Asia and the Tumen River Economic Development Area in particular. Moreover, it promotes mutual understanding as well as economic, environmental and technical cooperation among the peoples and countries of the Greater Tumen Region. At the 8th meeting of the GTI Consultative Commission held in Changchun, China, in September 2005, governments agreed to extend the 1995 agreements for a period of 10 years and adopted the Changchun Agreements in which member countries committed to take full ownership of the Greater Tumen Initiative through increased contribution of financial and human resources, with the continuous support of UNDP. The meeting also agreed on a Strategic Action Plan 2006 – 2015, focusing GTI activities on four priority sectors: transport, energy, tourism and investment with environment as a cross-cutting theme. The 9th meeting of the GTI Consultative Commission, North-East Asia Partnership Forum and 1st Investment Forum were successfully held in November 2007 in Vladivostok, Russia. The intergovernmental meeting proved to be a turning-point marked by a shift to a more pragmatic approach of cooperation focusing on development. A number of “GTI projects” were earmarked by the member countries to support economic development and ensure capacity building in the member countries. The GTI institutional structures - the Energy Board, the Tourism Board and the Environment Board were created to boost regional cooperation in key sectors of economy. The Business Advisory Council (BAC) was also established at the 9th CC meeting to serve as an effective private-public partnership mechanism for economic cooperation in the region. Following the decision taken in Vladivostok, the BAC held its 2nd meeting in Shanghai, China on 24th March 2008, confirming the high potential of Northeast Asia for investment opportunities and highlighting the significant role of the private sector for economic prosperity. The 10th meeting of the GTI Consultative Commission, 2nd Investment Forum and 3rd BAC meeting were successfully concluded on 24th -25th March 2009 in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. The 10th CC meeting demonstrated the progress in regional cooperation among GTI countries and the participant governments reaffirmed their commitment to further strengthen the GTI. The participant governments agreed to undertake concrete steps for continuing promotion and branding of the “GTI projects”. A new GTI institutional structure – the Transport Board was established in order to develop a proper transport infrastructure and logistical network to support economic cooperation among GTI countries. The participants also agreed on the establishment of the Trade Facilitation Committee with the purposes of technical and procedural facilitation of regional trade among the GTI countries, and agreed to promote “fast-track projects” to facilitate regional economic cooperation. Moreover, the participant governments and UNDP shared the view that it would be of great use to discuss regional cooperation in Northeast Asia at a higher political level. The Joint session with the Business Advisory Council (BAC), organized for the first time in the framework of the 10th CC meeting, laid a solid foundation for strengthening public - private dialogue in Northeast Asia. At this session governmental and business representatives actively exchanged their views on the investment policy and investment climate in the region and agreed to further cooperate to make the region more attractive for investment. The 2nd GTI Investment Forum was held on 25th March, gathering about 200 participants from different countries, who discussed the economic situation, investment climate and cooperation in Northeast Asia. The 11th meeting of the GTI Consultative Commission, the 3rd Investment Forum and the 1st Local Development Forum will be held in China in 2010.