U.S., RUSSIAN BUSINESS COMMUNITIES OF PACIFIC REGION TO HOLD SESSION IN SEATTLE

WASHINGTON, D.C., June 14 (RIA Novosti's Alexander Bratersky) -The Russian-American Pacific Partnership (RAPP) is to hold a session in Seattle, Washington, shortly. The organizer is the Foundation for Russian-American Economic Cooperation (FRAEC)-a non-governmental organization set up in the United States in 1989 to foster business contacts with regions of Russia's Far East.

The RAPP forum has a regional orientation, and promotes the establishment of contacts between the U.S. West Coast and the Russian Far East. Its aim is to resolve barriers to business and commerce between the Russian and the U.S. business communities, Derik Norberg, American Co-Chair of the RAPP, said in a RIA interview.

RAPP gatherings of Russian and U.S. entrepreneurs determine priorities for the business development of the region in the year ahead, Mr Norberg said. Speaking of the most successful RAPP events in recent time, he singled out a banking workshop in San Francisco earlier this year, between representatives of the banking sectors of the U.S. West Coast and the Russian Far East, as well as a workshop in Portland for entrepreneurs involved with forestry.

The RAPP's activity is focused on ten industries, of which the energy industry is the main one. Its key priorities include natural gas supplies to Russia's Far East and oil & gas projects in Sakhalin and Siberia. Its previous, eighth session, held in Sakhalin, brought together over 250 representatives of the private and public sectors from Russian and the Unites States.