*Tomsk Region delegation(from right to left): Oksana Kozlovskaya, Chair of the Legislative Duma; Natalia Kiseleva, Deputy Governor; Aleksandr Kupriyanets, Deputy Speaker; Aleksei Stukanov, Director of the Department for International and Regional Cooperation
*Sakha Republic delegation(from right to left): Kim Borisov, Deputy Prime Minister; Stephan Andreyev, Director of the Republic’s Representative Office in China
*Primorsky Krai delegation: Irina Merenkova, Director of the Dalian Office of Primorsky Krai
On Wednesday, June 11, NEAR Secretary-General Lim Byung-jin met with delegations from Tomsk Region, the Sakha Republic, and Primorsky Krai, Russia, who visited Liaoning Province to attend the 15th NEAR General Assembly, to discuss mutual interests.
Secretary-General Lim expressed his gratitude for their attendance at the General Assembly and requested that all Russian delegations actively engage with other member governments during the event to further strengthen local government cooperation in Northeast Asia.
He expressed appreciation to the Tomsk delegation for the region's recent active participation in various NEAR activities.
To the Sakha Republic delegation, he emphasized the Republic’s significant contribution to NEAR’s development, noting its role as the 13th NEAR Chair and its operation of the Sports Subcommittee, and asked for their continued active participation and support.
Regarding Primorsky Krai, he noted that it is the Russian member government with the closest ties to Korea and called for increased involvement in NEAR activities.
Chairwoman Oksana Kozlovskaya of the Tomsk Legislative Duma stated that developing international cooperation between parliaments within the NEAR platform is important and pledged that the Duma would actively support Tomsk Region’s participation in NEAR.
Deputy Prime Minister Kim Borisov of the Sakha Republic said that the Republic places great importance on cooperation with NEAR and will work to strengthen relations with Korean member governments through the platform.
Irina Merenkova, Director of the Dalian Office of Primorsky Krai, said that her work involves developing foreign economic relations among Primorsky Krai, Korea, and China, and that she will actively utilize the NEAR platform for this purpose.
Meanwhile, four Russian member governments, Buryatia Republic, Tomsk Region, Sakha Republic, and Primorsky Krai, attended the 15th General Assembly.