Bridge to the APEC summit

Russia’s Far Eastern Russky Island has been finally connected to the mainland by a suspension bridge. The bridge has been built across the Eastern Bosphorus strait in the run up-to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit which is to take place in Vladivostok this autumn.

The bridge is expected to be opened on July 2, when Vladivostok marks its City Day.

The final span of the bridge was finished on late Wednesday. A spokesman for the bridge construction company Igor Filkov said that linking the spans at night was not their choice but a technological necessity as in daylight the panels get wider in the sun which makes the assembly process not that accurate.

The builders have been waiting for this moment for 4 years. Over 300 people worked at a 70-meter height. The span is fixed on steel cables above water. The cables are of the color of the Russian national flag. The span is a record length of about 1 km.

Russky Island will also host the APEC summit on its university campus facilities. The construction of the campus is almost over. The Far Eastern Federal University will open right after the summit.

The University and the summit are parts of Russia’s federal target programs, the Economic and Social Development of the Far East and the Baikal regions up to 2013 and the Development of Vladivostok as an international cooperation center in Asia and the Pacific.

The programs are essential for the Primorye region, believes Deputy Rector for International Affairs of the Far Eastern University, Valery Dikarev

"Vladivostok was a closed city up to 1992 so any international ties were out of the question. When access restrictions were removed economic troubles didn’t improve the situation. Things began to get better only when President Putin took the helm. Now we see real actions and smart economic solutions that attract Russian and foreign investors."

All projects implemented in the region are aimed at the future.
Vladivostok and the neighborhood will get brand-new transport, energy, housing facilities before the summit. During the forum, the city plans to propose a common development strategy to its APEC counterparts.