FROM EIR DAILY ALERT
Tumen River Area Development Program in the Spotlight
May 11, 2018 (EIRNS)—Sputnik International points out that the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula will now put a spotlight on reviving the Tumen River Area Development Program (TRADP) as a point of “leverage to bring momentum to North Korea’s opening-up and economic development.”
Initiated in the early 1990s, the TRADP was a project in which multilateral cooperation was to develop the downstream area of the Tumen River among China, North Korea, and Russia, through which the river flows. In addition South Korea could also make a contribution. Sputnik writes, “Such cooperation can be viewed as the first step in restarting the TRADP to promote regional economic integration.”
Already Russia set up a working group last March to draw up plans for a new bridge across the Tumen River at its border with North Korea. TRADP also provides investors to leverage the economic power of South Korea, Japan, and Mongolia to offer aid to North Korea to revive it economy.
TRADP could also provide a way to avoid uncertainties of the fragile geopolitical landscape of Northeast Asia by providing a multilateral cooperation platform.
Multilateral economic cooperation is also likely to ensure the smooth process of North Korea’s reform and opening-up after the UN Security Council loosens economic sanctions, and it will eventually promote bilateral economic cooperation.
Sputnik also says that many want to see the Tumen River Delta develop into an international logistics hub, with the TRADP revitalizing regional integration and revitalizing Northeast Asia’s economy.
