The 15th General Assembly of the Association of North East Asia Regional Governments (NEAR)
Chair Member: Liaoning Province, China
Date: Wednesday, June 11 – Friday, June 13, 2025
Venue: Liaoning Friendship Hotel, Shenyang City
Format: Offline meeting with simultaneous interpretation in five languages (Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Mongolian, Russian)
Participants: Approximately 120 representatives from 33 member governments across five countries, four related organizations, and the NEAR Secretariat
○ Participating Member Governments
- China (10 governments, 26 participants): Gansu Province, Heilongjiang Province, Liaoning Province, Henan Province, Hubei Province, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Qinghai Province, Shandong Province, Shanxi Province, Jilin Province
- Japan (3 governments, 11 participants): Toyama Prefecture, Shimane Prefecture, Okinawa Prefecture
- Korea (9 governments, 22 participants): Busan Metropolitan City, Daejeon Metropolitan City, Ulsan Metropolitan City, Gyeonggi Province, Gangwon Special Self-Governing Province, Jeonbuk Special Self-Governing Province, Jeollanam-do Province, Gyeongsangbuk-do Province, Pohang City
- Mongolia (5 governments, 12 participants): Bulgan Aimag, Dornod Aimag, Dundgovi Aimag, Sukhbaatar Aimag, Tuv Aimag
- Russia (4 governments, 22 participants): Republic of Buryatia, Tomsk Oblast, Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), Primorsky Krai
- Kazakhstan (1 government, 2 participants): Turkestan Region
- Kyrgyzstan (1 government, 2 participants): Chuy Region
Main Programs
∙ Courtesy meeting with NEAR member delegations
∙ The 2nd NEAR Governors Forum
∙ Opening Ceremony
- Welcoming remarks by Wang Xinwei, Governor of Liaoning Province
- Opening remarks by Lim Byung-jin, NEAR Secretary-General
- Congratulatory video message by Ban Ki-moon, 8th UN Secretary-General
- Congratulatory video message by Yukio Hatoyama, former Prime Minister of Japan
- Congratulatory remarks by Alexey Tsydenov, Head of the Republic of Buryatia, Russia
- Congratulatory remarks by Sambadnyam Munkhchuluun, Governor of Dundgovi Aimag, Mongolia
- Congratulatory remarks by Lee Cheol-woo, Governor of Gyeongsangbuk-do Province (delivered by Kang Seok-hee, Ambassador for International Relations)
- Congratulatory remarks by Nitta Hachiro, Governor of Toyama Prefecture (delivered by Hosokawa Kenichi, Director-General)
- Congratulatory remarks by Lee Hee-seop, Secretary-General of the Trilateral Cooperation Secretariat (TCS)
∙ General Assembly – Session I
- Report on the outcomes of the 14th NEAR High-Level Officers Meeting (Liaoning Province)
- Report on major activities of the NEAR Secretariat
- Deliberation and adoption of agenda items
① Election of the next Chair Member (Republic of Buryatia, Russia)
② Approval of new associate member (Turkestan Region, Kazakhstan)
③ Dissolution of subcommittees(Jilin Province Subcommittee on International Human Resource Exchange, Chungcheongbuk-do Subcommittee on Bio-Medical Industry)
- Reports on NEAR Subcommittee Activities
① Shanxi Province Subcommittee on Traditional Medicine (China)
② Toyama Prefecture Subcommittee on Environment (Japan)
③ Shimane Prefecture Subcommittee on Education and Cultural Exchange (Japan)
④ Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) Subcommittee on Sports (Russia)
∙ General Assembly – Session II
- Presentations and proposals from member governments
Qinghai Province (China)
Daejeon Metropolitan City (Korea)
Tuv Aimag (Mongolia)
Republic of Buryatia (Russia)
Tomsk Oblast (Russia)
Chuy Region (Kyrgyzstan)
Okinawa Prefecture (Japan)
∙ Closing of the 15th NEAR General Assembly, Adoption of the Liaoning Declaration