The impact of foreign economic activity on regional development: comparative analysis of Russian and foreign experience

Introduction and problem statement

The foreign economic activity (FEA) development are important in the Russian Federal strategic and program documents which is, accordingly, reflected in regional development strategies. The national project “International Cooperation and Export” (2018–2024) was accepted at the federal level, and in accordance with it, the Regional Export Standard (2017) according to which the reflection of the strategic prospects for the FEA development is being further worked out in a number of regions, including in the form of developing separate FEA strategies. Notably, different countries have accumulated experience in FEA supporting, including those in terms of volumes and exports structure, attracting foreign investment. This makes it relevant to compare different countries’ experience in developing a strategic vision for the FEA development at the regional level.

The purpose of the research is to substantiate the FEA influence on the regional development by identifying the reflection of its prospects in the development strategies of Russian regions and different countries’ regions. The object of the research is the regions’ FEA of the countries different by economic characteristics (Russia and EAEU countries, developed countries); the subject is the nature of its reflection in the regional development strategies. The tasks are:

– to analyze the economic and FEA development level of the selected countries and regions, in order to define the reflection determination of the FEA development prospects in the regional strategies;

– to analyze the reflection of strategic prospects for the FEA development in regional documents, in the case of Russia and its trading partners, in order to identify international differentiation for different countries’ regions.

The hypothesis is the assumption that the reflection of the directions and tools of FEA development has its own specifics in the countries with different FEA development levels.

The theoretical bases of FEA support at various levels are developed in both domestic and foreign scientific literature. In particular, the formation determinants of a system of forms and tools for FEA supporting are:

– external determinants of the need to stimulate exports: competition, turbulence and downward development of the world economy during which commercial banks were leaving export financing [1, pp. 34, 38]; international economic sanctions [2, p. 96];

– internal determinants of the need to stimulate FEA: increasing exports role for countries, including to support strategic industries, the need to replace imports through localization [1, pp. 34, 38];

– determinants of the specific content of the support system: export, investment and production indicators [3, pp. 247, 251–252]; comparative production costs [4, pp. 330–332]; external and internal barriers for exporters; sectoral and geographic export priorities, priorities of sectoral national projects [2, p. 98]; the enterprises’ needs in the country (region), determined by their specialization, strengths and weaknesses, and potential [5, p. 599], etc.

It is also possible to systematize the principles of building FEA support system highlighted in the literature, directly following from the determinants of the specific content of the support system:

– orientation relevance of FEA support to innovative-active enterprises [6, pp. 23–24; 7, p. 75], as for the countries, the sale of high-tech goods is relevant;

– necessity to stimulate investment for the exports development of highly processed goods [8, p. 5–6];

– companies’ need for export support: financial (preferential financing (including SEZ), insurance, guarantees (including leasing [9, p. 92]) because in financial terms, exports are more vulnerable than domestic sales [10, p. 2]); informational and analytical (informing about the international market situation, best practices, support opportunities); consulting (training in export techniques [11, p. 4]); organizational (exhibitions, business missions) [12, pp. 19, 21–24; 13, p. 2]; building relations with countries-partners [2, p. 104; 14, p. 2; 15, p. 27], characteristics of their business cultures [16, p. 125] to support projects at any stage [17, p. 65]. The reflection of FEA support directions in development strategies is analyzed [1, pp. 34–37], as a rule, only at the national level;

– relevance of stimulating the export of small and medium businesses [6, p. 23]. The success determinants are the presence of export competencies, the ability to assess their capabilities and market needs [12, p. 172; 14, p. 2; 16, pp. 124–125]. Namely, there are the following different types of approaches to support exporters: assistance to export processes and the environment for them, assistance to export entities [2, pp. 99, 101]; creating conditions to implement FEA by the companies [11, p. 3];

– relevance of combining and coordinating the efforts of various national export support institutions [16, pp. 131–133; 19, p. 64];

– importance of placing export support structures of the country (region) not only inside, but also abroad [4, pp. 332–333; 16, p. 130];

– formation relevance of a network system to support the country’s export, taking into account regional differences in export potential [19, p. 59]; account of the need to develop externally oriented growth poles [20, p. 98].

– importance of the dialogue between the state and business for solving the FEA problems [4, pp. 332–333; 12, p. 19].

Thus, the variety of determinants and the system of state FEA support principles is high. At the same time, it is still relevant to compare the general foreign economic parameters of the countries and their regions with building a strategic vision of the prospects and directions of FEA support at the regional level.

The scientific novelty and significance of the work is to identify the relationship between the degree of the countries’ economic and FEA development, and the vision reflection of promising directions and tools for the FEA development in the growth strategies of their regions.

Research methodological support

A comparative analysis is carried out on the example of several regions of Russia and countries, its leading trade and economic partners:

– far-abroad countries, developed economies and leading exporters, including in terms of non-resource (high-tech) exports (Germany and USA);

– near-abroad countries (EAEU partners that are Kazakhstan and Belarus) which, like Russia, are developing economies.

The authors consider the regions that are actively engaged in foreign economic activity. Namely, Russia’s regions were selected implementing the Regional Export Standard:

border and coastal western (Kaliningrad Oblast) and eastern (Primorski Krai) regions and Russia’s middle region (Sverdlovsk Oblast), acting as a connecting “bridge” between west – east and north – south. Also in the case of Germany, the USA, and Kazakhstan, the border regions were taken, first of all for which FEA is an organic part of economic activity.

The selected regions occupy leading or significant positions in the country in terms of export volumes: Texas is the 1st in the USA (along with Florida, one of the largest by population), North Rhine–Westphalia, the 2nd in Germany (along with Bavaria, the largest by GRP), the Atyrau Oblast, the 1st in Kazakhstan (also taken “middle” Karaganda, 4th by GRP), the Minsk Oblast, the 2nd in Belarus, the Sverdlovsk Oblast, the 7th in Russia (also taken the 4th by import, the Kaliningrad Oblast and the 1st in the far Eastern Federal district by export, Primorski Krai) (Tab. 2, 3) which once again confirms the scientific interest to these regions’ strategies in FEA terms.

In order to define the determination of the reflection of the FEA development prospects in the regional strategies, an analysis of the countries’ economic development level was carried out by comparing GDP and GDP per capita, and an analysis of their FEA development level by comparing the exports volume, including high-tech and foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows and their ratios to GDP; as well as an analysis of the economic development level, and FEA development of the selected regions of these countries with an additional emphasis on the exports and FDI inflows structure.

When analyzing the FEA sphere reflection in the regions’ strategies for the purpose of identifying international differentiation in the reflection, only development measures related to FEA were taken into account, i.e.: exports, attracting foreign investment and international cooperation, international tourism, international transport and transit potential, international competitiveness of production facilities in the region.

When choosing parameters for research, it is advisable to proceed from what parameters are relevant in terms of the long-term FEA development. The parameters relevant to the Russian economy are determined based on the relevant Federal documents. Thus, among the tasks of the state program of the Russian Federation “FEA development” is the formation of a state regulation system that takes into account the changed world economic conditions. The national project “International Cooperation and Export” covers such areas as industrial export, agricultural products export, international trade logistics, services export, and systematic measures for the international cooperation and export development. The project is aimed at orienting industrial and trade policies to achieve international competitiveness of domestic goods and services, ensuring their demand on the international market.

Thus, given the relevance of the nonresource exports development, exports diversification, and the development of services exports, indicated in the Russian Federal documents of strategic economic development, covering FEA, it is advisable to analyze the reflection of the FEA development in the regional documents of strategic development according to the following parameters:

– what FEA areas are paid attention to;

– high-tech and innovative exports development;

– services export development;

– incentives and opportunities to support FEA;

– classifying the FEA development as one of the main priorities of the region’s development;

– tools for export development (FEA);

– production and exports diversification.

Results: analysis of the FEA development level as determinants of its reflection in the regional development strategies

Economic analysis of the Russia’s development degree and selected national economies, and development levels of their foreign trade shows that the Germany’s GDP volume is twice ahead of Russia, and Russia in turn, is ahead of Kazakhstan, and it times ahead of Belarus (Table 1) .

GDP per capita at PPP gap between the USA and Germany is small, the two countries almost doubled ahead of Russia which is comparable to Kazakhstan, and together they are ahead of Belarus.

If in terms of the total exports volume, the United States is also not much ahead of Germany, then the second country has a much stronger position in the export of finished goods and vehicles, and equipment, in particular. Germany also has higher export intensity than the USA, but Belarus has the highest (more than half of GDP). Also, in terms of the share of FDI to GDP, the Russian Federation, Belarus and Kazakhstan have a higher indicator than the USA and Germany which also indicates both the FDI importance and active measures taken in the countries to attract them. In terms of absolute FDI inflows, Russia is even comparable to Germany. Thus, in terms of GDP and exports, the USA and Germany can be characterized as the most developed, Russia – as the median, Kazakhstan and Belarus – as developing economies. The lead in a number of relative indicators can also be explained by the fact that Germany and the USA have already reached a high economic and FEA

Table 1. Economic and FEA development level of the countries, 2019

USA Germany Russia Kazakhstan Belarus GDP, dollars 21374 3846 1700 180 63 FDI inflows (net), bill. US dollars 254 36 32 9 1 Export, bill US dollars 1643 1489 420 57 33 Export of cars, equipment and vehicles, bill. US dollars 535 716 22 1 5 Export of finished goods, bill. US dollars 1 023 1 262 80 8 19 Export of highly qualified and technically intensive industries, bill. US dollars 496 430 30 3 7 Export of electronic and electrical products, bill. US doll. 190 135 6 0.2 0.7 GDP per capita, PPP, thsd. US dollars 65.1 56.1 29.2 27.4 19.9 Export / GDP 7.7% 38.7% 24.7% 31.8% 52.3% FDI inflows / GDP 1.2% 0.9% 1.9% 4.7% 2.0% Export of cars, equipment and vehicles / GDP 2.5% 18.6% 1.3% 0.6% 8.6% Export of finished goods / GDP 4.8% 32.8% 4.7% 4.2% 30.0% Export of highly qualified and technically intensive industries / GDP 2.3% 11.2% 1.7% 1.6% 11.5% Export of electronic and electrical products / GDP 0.9% 3.5% 0.3% 0.1% 1.1% Calculated on the basis of the data of the UNCTAD, World Bank. Available at: aspx; (Accessed: November 5, 2020). development level, and developing countries are demonstrating a stage of their active development. This is confirmed by the adoption of strategic documents on export development in Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan. Russia has adopted the national project “International Cooperation and Export” (for 2018–2024), the State Program “FEA Development”, the Strategy for the development of services export up to 2025, in Belarus is the National program for support and development of exports for 2016–20201, in Kazakhstan – “National Export Strategy” program for 2018–20222.

The Russian national project “International Cooperation and Export” covers such areas as industrial and agricultural export, international trade logistics, export of services and systemic measures for the international cooperation, and export development. The tasks set in the program of Kazakhstan relate to the spheres of institutional support for exporters, financial and non-financial measures to support exports, the services export development, etc. and services, promoting “export culture”, etc.

An analysis of the economic and foreign economic development level of these countries’ regions largely confirms this picture: in terms of GRP and exports, the regions of developing economies are incomparable with the regions of developed ones (Table 2) . This reflects the fact that in terms of exports, regions of developing countries are in the evolution stage. Although the export intensity of their GRP is hardly inferior to the regions of the USA and Germany, export per capita in most cases (except the Atyrau Oblast, where half of it is provided by the extraction of mineral resources) is significantly inferior. All of the considered regions are characterized by the representation of industry in the GRP and of non-primary exports.

If the American and German regions have a large share of final finished goods, including engineering products, then food, metallurgy, and mineral products, and only after them

Table 2. Indicators of the economic development and export level of the regions, 2019

Country, region		GRP		Export
		bill. US dollars	share of industry2, %	bill. US dollars	to GRP	per capita, thsd. US dollars	Basic groups (share)
5 ZD	Florida	963	99%	56.0	6%	2.6	manufacturing products (73%)
	Texas	1764	84%	330.5	19%	11.4	manufacturing products (57%)
го Е о	North Rhine-Westphalia	796	22%	216.9	27%	12.1	finished goods – 61%, intermediate goods – 21.3%, raw materials – 0.9%
	Bavaria	709	27%	212.6	30%	16.2	automobile (29.8%), electrical products (18.1%), machinery and equipment (17.6%), chemical products (9.8%)1
	Saxony	143	23%	45.1	31%	11.1	engineering products (11.9%), electrical products (12.4%), auto (30.8%)
ос	Kaliningrad Oblast	7.41	23%1	1.5	17.2%1	1.5	food products and agricultural raw materials (79%)
	Sverdlovsk Oblast	36.41	33%1	8.3	23.5%1	1.9	metals and products (55%), machinery and equipment (17%), chemical products (14%)
	Primorski Krai	13.31	9.5%1	4.1	25.6%1	2.1	food products and raw materials (39.4%), engineering products (24.1%), mineral commodity (18.2%), FEC (16.3%)
го	Atyrau Oblast	22.7	91%	23.9	105%3	37.7	mineral products (52.2%), engineering products (16.9%); plastics and rubber products (7.6%)
	Karaganda Oblast	13.7	53%	4.6	34%	3.3	metals and products (44.3%), precious (semiprecious) stones and precious metals (31.0%), plastics and rubber (18.6%), machinery and equipment (8.5%)
"го со	Minsk Oblast	9.9	43%1	7.4	75%	5.1	chemical products (46%); equipment and vehicles (22.5%); agribusiness(15.3%)

1 2018.

engineering products are dominated in Russian, Kazakh, and Belarusian regions (Tab. 2). Thus, the regions of developed countries in the per capita dimension are “saturated” with exports, and their exports are saturated with high – tech products. In terms of foreign investment inflows, the regions of developed countries, as well as in terms of absolute exports, are incomparably ahead of the regions of developing countries. In the per capita dimension, the Sverdlovsk Oblast stands out, demonstrating the stage of active attraction of foreign investment (Tab. 3).

Results: FEA reflection in regional strategies

Land development plans (programs) are being developed in Germany’s regions. As the initial analysis showed, FEA is not subject to detailed consideration in these programs, so it is advisable to consider the programs of several regions to get a more complete picture (Tab. 4) .

Table 3. Other indicators of FEA development level in the regions, 2019

Country, region		Export		Import			FDI inflows5
		share in the country	place in the country	bill. US dollars	share in the country	place in the country	bill. US dollars	per capita, thsd. US dollars
USA	Florida	20.1%	1	295	11.8%	2	10.53	0.53
	Texas	3.4%	8	82	3.3%	10	8.44	0.34
Germany	North Rhine Westphalia	14.6%	2	275	22.2%	1	6.83	0.43
	Bavaria	14.3%	3	213	17.2%	2	8.62	0.72
	Saxony	3%	8	30	2.4%	9	1.33	0.33
Russia	Kaliningrad Oblast	0.4%	34	8,0	3.3%	4	0.3	0.3
	Sverdlovsk Oblast	2.0%	7	5.0	2.1%	7	5.3	1.2
	Primorski Krai	1.0%	21	5.2	2.1%	6	0.4	0.2
Kazakhstan1	Atyrau Oblast	39%	1	3.2	9.6%	3	0.6	1.0
	Karaganda Oblast	7.5%	5	1.8	5.4%	5	0.5	0.4
Belarus	Minsk Oblast	23.3%	2	6.1	16.8%	2	0.6	0.4

1 2018; 2 2017; 3 2016; 4 2015.

5 In Germany – net; in Kazakhstan – DI in the fixed capital, in Belarus – FDI in the real sector; in Texas– «greenfield» FDI projects. According to the calculations based on the data of the National Statistics and countries’ authorities (sources to the Table 2, and: flchamber. com; gov.texas.gov; deutschlandinzahlen.de; standort-sachsen.de; it.nrw; stmwi.bayern.de [Accessed: November 3, 2020]).

Table 4. FEA reflection in the strategic development documents in Germany’s regions

Region (document, year)		FEA features and their illustration
North Rhine-Westphalia (land development plan from 2016)[1]		The relevance of the transport infrastructure development, integrated into the European traffic network and other cross-border transport links in the border areas was noted. The corresponding significant routes are marked. The region is also positioned as a European “Metropolregion” (regional agglomeration). It is noted that it has the prerequisites to be an internationally recognized location for activities in various fields (infrastructure, services, research and development, economy, science, tourism), and these prerequisites are promising to develop. The importance of cross-border joint work in the field of spatial development with neighboring Netherlands and Belgium is noted.
CD	(region’s development program from 2013 (edited in 2018)[2]	As the region is a border region, it is noted that when coordinating spatial development strategies, cooperation with EU countries and cross-border development strategies should be taken into account. Attention is paid to the positioning of Bavaria as a European “Metropolregion” (regional agglomeration). Attention is paid to the tourism sector development.
	(plan „Bayern Digital II“, from 2017)[3]	It is planned that the region will become a leading location for digital medicine and care for the elderly.
Saxony (land development plan from 2013)[4]		The goals include, among other things, strengthening the competitiveness of the region’s economy through guaranteeing and improving spatial conditions. There is the importance of: integration into TRANSEuropean transport corridors (meridian and latitudinal); international economic cooperation (including in the framework of Euroregions with neighboring Polish and Czech territories); performing the function of a “bridge” between the “new” and original EU members; supporting the development of border territories located in cross-border “tourist regions”.

Sources: [1] Landesentwicklungsplan Nordrhein-Westfalen (von 2016) // Landesregierung Nordrhein-Westfalen. Available at: https://www. ; [2] Landesentwicklungsprogramm Bayern vom 01.09.2013 (Stand 01.03.2018). Available at: Cover/Instrumente/LEP_Lesefassung_2018/; [3] Bericht aus der Kabinettssitzung vom 30. Mai 2017 // Bayrisches Landesportal. 30.05.2017. Available at: ; [4] Landesentwicklungsplan // Sachsisches Staatsministerium fur Regionalentwicklung. Available at: https://www.landesentwicklung. (accessed: February 5-19, 2020).

Germany has a well-developed system of export support [1, pp. 34–35; 2, pp. 102–104], but, as the research shows, the FEA development is covered only slightly in the reviewed regional development documents, at least to a lesser extent than in the Russian regions. In FEA terms, importance is given to cross-border and international transport infrastructure and tourism. The article demonstrates that this is largely due to the fact that most of the regions in Europe are border regions, as well as to the desire to develop economic connectivity within the European Union.

Against the background of competition between economic activity “locations” in the context of developing European integration and globalization, much attention is paid to the international competitiveness issue. So, this is given attention in the development plans of North Rhine-Westphalia and Saxony. In the case of North Rhine-Westphalia, the region’s agricultural development strategy also focuses on international competitiveness.

In the case of Bavaria (border region), it is noted that spatial development planning should take into account the “European Concept of Spatial Development”, macro-regional strategies, European strategies for the Danube area, Operational programs of European cooperation with Bavarian participation.

Thus, the German regions pay great attention to the following aspects:

– international competitiveness, and region’ s development as one of the most significant and attractive places of economic activity in the European Union and in the world;

– transport infrastructure development, including cross-border, including taking into account European transport routes;

– economic cooperation and harmonization of spatial development with neighboring territories of the countries, space economic connectivity, including taking into account European conceptual provisions and spatial development plans which is obviously due to integration;

– high-tech economy development (for example, in the case of Bavaria – in the land digitalization strategy).

As for the US regions, although the literature notes the development of export promotion programs by the USA [4], the general development strategies presented in the free publication were taken as the examples. In the case of Florida, the plan includes support for export promotion, but special emphasis is placed on the investment attractiveness and competitive advantages of the region.

These examples of the development strategies of the US regions (Tab. 5) show that much attention is paid to favorable conditions for the entrepreneurship development. Thus, in the US regions, special emphasis is placed on such aspects as:

– export promotion and its diversification through assistance of products to foreign markets (exhibitions), marketing support;

– development of the region’s competitiveness and attractiveness for investors, including foreign ones and entrepreneurs who may have an export-oriented business. The institutional business environment is characterized, and incentives for its innovative development are noted.

In the Russian, Kazakhstan and Belarusian regions, the FEA development is considered in the strategies in more detail (Tab. 6 ) than in the developed partner countries, and we should note that Russian entities have specialized FEA strategies. Their strategies reflect the following aspects to varying degree:

– FEA development is considered as the ways to achieve the goals (Russia, Kazakhstan), tasks and directions within the priorities (Belarus);

Table 5. FEA reflection in the strategic development documents in USA regions

Region (document, year) FEA features and their illustration Florida (strategic plan of economic development for 2018 – 2023)[1] One of the directions of development is to stimulate export growth and market diversification, in particular, through the international trade exhibitions of the “Enterprise Florida” organization. The regional program for promoting agricultural products is supposed to support producers in participating in exhibitions, product presentations, and marketing support in different regions of the world. It is noted that the state occupies the second position in the annual rating “Best state for business” of the Chief Executive Magazine. There are incentives for doing business, including benefits, infrastructure, trade advantages, and the availability of competent business planners. It is planned to continue upgrading regulatory systems to match the global, innovation-oriented economy. It is planned to improve the work on issuing business permits, develop a convenient service for business, and a predictable institutional environment. North Central Texas (complex economic development strategy from 2016)[2] The relevance of supporting the formation and growth of export-oriented business which is one of the subgoals in the framework of the purpose of developing the region’s economic competitiveness is noted. For one of the clusters in the region, the possibility of attracting foreign direct investment is noted as an opportunity. Also, great attention is paid to increasing the region’s attractiveness for business by supporting the acquisition of business competencies and access of enterprises to the necessary resources (including through small business development centers, accelerators, incubators). Sources: [1] Department of Economic Opportunity. Available at: business-development/florida-strategic-plan-for-economic-development; [2] North Central Texas Council of governments. Available at: (accessed: February 5-19, 2020).

Table 6. FEA reflection in the strategic development documents in the selected regions of EAEU countries

Region (document)	FEA reflection
RUSSIA
Sverdlovsk Oblast (Strategy of International and Foreign Economic Relations up to 2035 (from 2019))[1]	There is a detailed analysis of the region’s FEA and market conditions, promising types of goods with a focus on the high-tech export development, existing infrastructure to support attracting foreign investment (SEZ, technoparks, industrial parks) and achievements, transport infrastructure, infrastructure for developing the region’s image abroad (“Innoprom” exhibition, etc., the region’s brand), analysis of the region’s competitive advantages, consulting infrastructure. The purpose is to create an environment in which companies would have optimal conditions for export; increase GRP due to this and by attracting foreign investment. Tasks are set in such areas as the international cooperation development in the region and increasing the presence of companies in the foreign market; diversification of the industry structure of exports, including increasing the high-tech exports share, developing exports of services; assistance in attracting foreign capital to high-tech sectors; necessary import of advanced industrial equipment; development of export support infrastructure; transport infrastructure development; development of the region’s image abroad. The mechanisms for implementing the strategy in achieving the purposes are presented.
Kaliningrad Oblast (Strategy for ensuring favorable conditions for the export activity development up to 2025[2])	The analysis of the development, barriers and prospects for the development of exports in the region (especially non-raw materials), including industry and geographical ones, is presented. The purpose is to ensure the implementation of an effective pattern of the region’s export specialization which allows the region to develop harmoniously, taking into account its specifics and advantages. Special attention is paid to the technological growth of export industries, including through the use of advanced technologies and new materials, the agricultural industry development, the service sector (tourism, transport), and mechanical engineering (including through the localization of foreign production). The tasks are to provide opportunities for exporters to overcome external and internal barriers, to consolidate the efforts of the state and business in the field of export diversification, to invite businesses (including small and medium businesses) to export, and to ensure an effective export support system. The following export support mechanisms are presented: financial, information and consulting, market entry, increasing export readiness, and regional system of assistance institutions.
Primorski Krai (section on FEA in the socioeconomic development strategy up to 2030[3])	The analysis of the region’s FEA development trends is presented, and the turnover forecast is estimated. Special attention is paid to the service sector (transport and transit, tourism, medical, etc.), agriculture and the forest industry. The advantages (including the availability of PSEDA and FPV), difficulties in developing exports and attracting FDI, ways to solve them, and promising areas for export development and localization are presented. The importance of increasing the degree of raw materials processing is emphasized. The purpose of FEA development is to increase the region’s non-resource exports, develop international transport services, and attract FDI.

End of Table 6

Region (document) FEA reflection KAZAKHSTAN Atyrau Oblast (program of the territory’s development of the region for 2016–2020)[4] Among the ways to achieve the purpose of developing innovations and stimulating capital inflows are the active implementation of non-resource exports (it was noted that roadmaps have been developed to support export-oriented enterprises; the export-oriented industry development is also a part of the purpose of the region’s agro-industrial complex developing) and attracting direct investment in high-tech production; organization of investment forums and exhibitions (there’re mentioned the annual investment forum “Atyrau invest”, North Caspian regional exhibitions and construction exhibition “Atyrau Build”), presentations, business meetings, publication of brochures (including for foreign audiences) to increase the investment attractiveness of the region; organization of seminars on the requirements of international markets and the regulatory framework of Kazakhstan’s foreign trade; support in the implementation of new technology investment projects; creation of trade and logistics centers; support for cooperation with foreign technology parks. Karaganda Oblast (development program for 2016–2020)[5] The planned increase in the share of non-resource exports and growth in exports of number of sectors (ferrous, nonferrous metallurgy, non-metallic mineral products, manufactured products). Among the ways to achieve these target indicators are the implementation of investment projects in priority industrial sectors, the introduction of technologies in manufacturing. In the field of investment, it is planned to select projects for the regional Technopark and SEZ (“Saryarka”), organize events to attract investors, and implement high-tech projects with innovations. In agriculture, it is planned to combine the activities of small business entities, including for entering the foreign market. Belarus Minsk Oblast (sustainable development strategy for 2016–2025)[6] Among the development priorities: a competitive tourism sector development, transit potential, the agroindustrial complex competitiveness, development of the industrial complex on an innovative basis. The tasks are in attracting foreign investment, international marketing (promotion of tourism services, strategizing the entry of private agribusiness in the world market of environmentally friendly and new products, diversification of exports [AIC] including accurate accounting of requests), achieving compliance with international quality standards (AIC), deepening the specialization, the formation of the list of promising plants with the latest technological structures. Source: [1] (accessed: October 10, 2019); [2] ; [3] ae4647e72c/ (accessed: November 2, 2020); [4] html?lang=ru; [5] ; [6] (accessed: February 5-19, 2020).

– the analysis of the region’s economy is carried out in terms of FEA potential, its achievements and factors (problems and development prospects);

– a number of FEA directions is reflected: development of the competitive industrial sector, agro-industrial complex, transport and transit potential, tourism sector, and attracting foreign investment;

– high-tech industry development plays a special role that is competitive on the international market;

– FEA is to diversify production and exports which will help reduce dependence on the conjuncture of world commodity markets, as well as on sanctions restrictions in a number of developed countries;

– there provides tools for infrastructural support of export-oriented production (SEZ, technology parks), product promotion in foreign markets (exhibitions), attracting foreign investment (presentations, forums).

Thus, the Russian, Kazakhstan, and Belarusian regions focus on developing nonoil exports through the efforts in both the sphere of technological production and marketing, and on attracting foreign investment as an important tool for the export-oriented production development. It is obvious that such a detailed FEA development in strategic development documents reflects the special importance for developing countries of stimulating non-resource exports in the context of global technological and trade competition and other challenges in the development of world economic relations. An important determinant is the relatively lower (as regards to developed countries) level of economic development and FEA and, at the same time, being at the stage of active development.

Conclusion

The research showed that non-resource exports and attraction of foreign investment and technologies play a significant role in the regions’ development strategies of both developed and developing countries. It is common for countries to take into account the industry specifics of the region in the reflection of their foreign economic prospects. At the same time, the regional FEA development patterns in different countries are built variously. In particular, the degree of detail of the reflection of strategic FEA development directions differs which is related to the economic development and FEA level which confirms the hypothesis.

The United States and Germany are the world’s leading exporters, including high-tech goods, have reached a high economic and FEA development level; their regions’ economies in per capita terms are more “saturated” with exports and foreign investment, and their exports are more “saturated” with high-tech products. Some of the issues of FEA development that are put on the agenda in the strategies of developing countries’ regions, in particular, the development of non-resource non-energy exports and export diversification, are not so relevant in the case of developed countries. In this regard, in the general development strategies of these regions, the FEA coverage is characterized by a lower degree of detail. The non-resource production base is already developed, and the current issue on the agenda is how to maintain or strengthen global competitiveness by improving the business environment. When FEA supporting, attention is mainly paid to the business environment in terms of developing an environment for innovation and entrepreneurship, including small and medium enterprises, to attracting foreign investment, as well as developing transport connectivity and interregional cooperation within the EU.

In Russia, Kazakhstan, and Belarus, the coverage of strategic FEA development directions in regional development strategies is detailed which reflects the great role and FEA development contribution to the implementation of national and regional development priorities, especially in the development of non-resource non-energy exports which is expressed in the adoption of appropriate strategic (program) documents for its development. This is due to the lower level of the economy and FEA development, and at the same time, demonstrates the stage of their active development. These countries’ and regions’ economies are striving to increase the per capita “saturation” of exports and the saturation of exports with high-tech goods. In some Russian regions, there are separate strategies of development of foreign economic relations, Kazakhstan and Belarusian regions, FEA development pays attention in development strategies for their territories that may explain the spatial specificity and level of differentiation of Russian regions, which requires appropriate strategies for the development of foreign economic activity for the regions in which it plays a special role.

Thus, the contribution of the work performed in theoretical terms is to identify the relationship between the degree of export development of the national economies and the reflection of promising areas and tools for the development of foreign economic activity in the development strategies of their regions. As a part of the contribution to the applied science development, the analysis allows taking into account the experience of both developed countries, leading exporters, and the EAEU members when developing individual strategies and the regions’ program documents in FEA, as well as adapt them to the interests and priorities of cooperation between partner countries in trade and integration interaction.