Eastern Progress: digital assets, neural networks and mammoths met at the WEF-2026
The Eastern Economic Forum turned from trillions to people this year. Investments have not disappeared, but next to them, housing, personnel and the search for new growth points are at the center of the agenda. Artificial intelligence, the main trend of recent years, has not been ignored. At the exhibition, neural networks counted the weight of the guests in the "golden dumplings", determined the profession from the past and assessed their health. Next to technology are mammoths, falcons, crafts and folklore. And in the business halls, they discussed a completely different agenda: the situation on the fuel market, expensive housing, housing and communal services problems, and support for small businesses. Guests from which countries are expected at the WEF and where the Far East will find new money — in the Izvestia article.
How the WEF-2026 impresses the participants
The first day of the Eastern Economic Forum greeted the participants with rain, but cloudy weather did not interfere with either the business program or the walks along the Ajax Bay embankment. There is a traditional exhibition "The Street of the Far East", where 11 regions presented their main projects in the economy, culture and tourism.
At the opening ceremony, the artists performed the choreographic suite "We are the Far East", and vocalists from all regions of the Far Eastern Federal District performed the song "Russian Soul".
The Izvestia correspondent toured all the pavilions. The business is not limited to stands with investment indicators alone: here you can "control the dawn" in Chukotka, see tropical plants from Yakutia and see the project of the first cross-border cable car between Russia and China.
One of the signs of this year is the active use of neural networks. For example, a health terminal is installed in Primorye: the camera scans the visitor's face and in a few seconds gives out the expected body parameters — up to stress and cholesterol levels. Technology, of course, will not replace a full-fledged examination, but it will tell you what you should pay attention to.
In the Khabarovsk Territory, for the first time, we got on a sapboard and virtually swam several tens of meters along the embankment of the capital of the region, and in the Magadan region we flew over Kolyma in a helicopter created using 3D printing. The Jewish Autonomous Region offered to go back in time to the time of the settlers. Based on the photo, the neural network determined that a journalist in that era could have worked as an electrician and literally brought light to people.
AI was used especially unusually in the exposition of the Magadan region, one of the country's leaders in gold mining. Guests are invited to stand on the scales and find out how much they would cost if their weight were completely gold, and at the same time translate it into more understandable values — fishing rods, shrimps, helmets and other precious metal items. The gold equivalent of a correspondent of Izvestia, for example, amounted to 163 dumplings — more than 570 million rubles.
In the same place, our columnist ventured to repeat the popular challenge and tried to pull a gold bar out of a glass box with one hand. The treasure weighing more than 12 kg did not give in.
There was a place for more conservative exhibits. In Yakutia, guests are greeted by a real skeleton of the Churapchinsky mammoth, the remains of which scientists discovered back in the early 1990s. The peculiarity of the find is the preserved animal's own tusks, which is rare.
According to tradition, technological developments are also shown at the exhibition — drones, mock-ups of import-substituted aircraft and modern prosthetics. This year, the human-centered agenda has become more noticeable: the stands tell not only about production and investments, but also about how to live and work in the Far East.
The "Street" could not do without its permanent inhabitants — falcons in hoods, special hats. These birds have very sharp eyesight, so close objects can cause discomfort, and the hood helps protect them from unnecessary stress.
What was discussed on the opening day of the forum
The central theme of the XI Eastern Economic Forum, which takes place in Vladivostok on September 1-4, was "The development of the Far East for the benefit of people." This year, the conversation is no longer just about investments: the focus is on housing, personnel, cities, infrastructure and the search for new money for the region.
Interest in cooperation with Russia remains, said Deputy Prime Minister and Presidential envoy to the Far Eastern Federal District Yuri Trutnev. Representatives of 80 countries came to the WEF-2026, compared to 75 a year earlier. The program includes business dialogues with China, India, the UAE, Mongolia, Vietnam and ASEAN.
For the first time, the forum holds a separate Day of International SME Cooperation. At the launch session, entrepreneurs discussed which Asian markets are the most promising for Russian companies, how to overcome export barriers and receive government support when going abroad.
They also offer to look for new sources of money within the country. In 2025, three Far Eastern regions issued "people's" bonds worth 1.2 billion rubles, and in 2026, four regions plan to raise over 600 million more. The market for digital financial assets is also growing: the volume of CFA issues has reached 1.3 trillion rubles, and the number of registered users has exceeded 1 million, said Alexey Guznov, State Secretary and Deputy Chairman of the Central Bank. At the same time, the incomes of the Far Eastern Federal District regions are increasing on average twice as fast as in the country, said Larisa Eroshkina, director of the Department of Inter-Budgetary Relations at the Ministry of Finance.
New estimates of the Central Bank were also made at the WEF. The situation on the fuel market should become clearer and more predictable by October, said Kirill Tremasov, adviser to the chairman of the regulator. According to him, more clarity will appear by the October meeting on the key rate.
Sber presented its new tool directly at the WEF — international settlements in cryptocurrency for business. According to Alexander Vedyakhin, First Deputy chairman of the bank's board, the mechanism will allow exporters and importers to work with markets and partners that were unavailable due to restrictions.
The first agreements were concluded on the opening day. The authorities of Transbaikalia, the Corporation for the Development of the Far East and the Arctic (KRDV) and Chitaenergosbyt have agreed to invest almost 8 billion rubles in municipal infrastructure. The KRDV and the Institute for the Development of Professional Education will jointly train personnel for the creative industries of the Far East and the Arctic, and the Russian Innovation Research and Technology Center has signed nine more agreements with technology companies.
But the influx of money by itself does not remove the accumulated problems. Presidential Adviser Anton Kobyakov called the creation of a unified energy system in the Far East a strategic task. And Yuri Trutnev criticized the cost of a domestic regional aircraft in excess of 1 billion rubles: he called this price an absolute madness that the economy of the Far Eastern Federal District could not withstand.
The personnel issue is even more acute. The head of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, Alexander Shokhin, said that business is both faced with a shortage of workers and expensive money: hundreds of responses come to accountant vacancies, and only a few mechanics. Avtogruzex President Vadim Filatov warned that by 2030, the shortage of personnel in Russia could reach 3.1 million people.
They expect to keep specialists in the Far East, including housing. According to Dom.The Russian Federation", under the preferential rental program, more than 5,000 apartments have already been occupied for doctors, teachers and other in-demand workers. Thanks to subsidies, they pay about a quarter of the market rate.
The official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, during a briefing at the Eastern Economic Forum - 2026
The official representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Maria Zakharova, outlined the political guidelines. She called Vladimir Putin's upcoming speech the central political event of the WEF and noted that it would touch on "the most pressing agenda." The President will be at the plenary session on September 3. At the briefing, Zakharova also touched on the Ukrainian topic: Vladimir Zelensky's call to increase the number of drone strikes against Russia to a thousand per day, according to her, shows how Kiev's statements about the desire for peace correspond to reality.
What does the WEF give to the country's economy
Over the years, the WEF has become one of the main tools for attracting capital to the Far East and strengthening Russia's ties with the Asia-Pacific countries, said Natalia Milchakova, a leading analyst at Freedom Global. According to her, this is how the forum differs, for example, from the SPIEF: the focus is on Far Eastern projects and Asian investors. In 2025, 358 agreements, contracts and other documents worth 6.6 trillion rubles were signed at the site. In 2026, the volume may grow by another 5-8%, the expert believes.
At the same time, the nature of investments is also changing. The theme of the current WEF suggests a greater focus on projects that directly affect the quality of life, Natalia Milchakova emphasized. Along with the metallurgy, energy, food industry and logistics traditional for the Far Eastern Federal District, the expert expects new initiatives in robotics and AI.
The forum itself has already ceased to be just a "showcase of the Far East," says Yaroslav Kabakov, Director of Strategy at Finam IC. According to him, now Russia is simultaneously trying to attract private capital here, rebuild foreign trade to Asia and find new sources of growth. At the same time, the main indicator of success is not the number of signed documents, but how many projects will eventually reach construction and production.
This is particularly important against the background of the reorientation of Russia's foreign economic relations, added Yulia Kovalenko, Deputy Head of the Higher School of Economics of Moscow Plekhanov Russian University of Economics. According to her, under the conditions of sanctions, the role of European partners has decreased, while the countries of Asia and the Pacific region are more actively involved in Russian investment projects. Therefore, an important task of the WEF is not only to attract foreign capital, but also to help domestic producers enter international markets.
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