MOSCOW, July 18 (UPI) -- Russian oil producer Rosneft will be among the key participants in an international investment conference in the Far East, state media said Friday.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and special envoy to the Far East Yuri Trutnev said last month they expected the region would attract as much as $65 billion in new investments.
Russian interests have pivoted to the East, where Asian market improvements translates to greater demand from the energy products supporting the Russian economy.
The region's government said it's hosting an investment conference to strengthen ties to Asian economic powers like China. Delegates from Rosneft, the largest oil producer in Russia, are in attendance, state news agency RIA Novosti reported.
Island nations in the Asia-Pacific like Japan import nearly all of their oil and natural gas. Rosneft President Igor Sechin said last year the Far East is "one of the key regions" for new business operations.
Rosneft said could start exporting energy products to Asian markets by 2018.
