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Russia may move company head offices east in Asia pivot | Reuters

Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev on Wednesday ordered officials to draft plans to move the head offices of some state-owned companies to far eastern Russia as part of an effort to develop the region, a senior official said.

Russia wants to increase its clout in Asia, where it has eager clients for its oil and gas including China and Japan, and is looking for ways to develop the sparsely populated stretches of country from Siberia to the eastern coastline.

President Vladimir Putin hosted an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in the coastal city of Vladivostok in 2012 and has made what Russia calls its Far East a priority in the Kremlin term he started that year.

"We must create a business climate and infrastructure that will enable us to compete successfully for investment and labor resources ... with our closest neighbors in the Far East," Medvedev told a government meeting, according to his website.