Global Economic Relations of a Region in the Investigations of the Institute of Economics of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences

In current geo-economic conditions, we need to consider the foreign economic factor as an instrument for structural changes, for the diversification of regional economy, as well as for the realization of a policy of import substitution, including exportoriented one. The article generalizes and systemizes preconditions and sources of the research of regional foreign economic activity in the works of the scientific school of the Institute of Economics of Ural Branch of RAS since the middle of the 1980s. The Institute was one of the first among the regional centres of the academic science of the country, which has addressed the foreign economic relations of a region. The purpose of the article is to systematize both the evolution of scientific definitions and the development of the Ural school of regional foreign economic research during the 30-years period. We apply the interdisciplinary approach and a broad range of methods: a historical method, an economic and statistical method, a comparative analysis, etc. The paper has systemized and characterized the research directions carried out by the staff of the Institute and in cooperation with Russian and Ural colleagues from other institutions. There are geo-economic shifts; international comparative research; regions’ involvement into global economic relations; realization of Ural export potential in terms of neo-industrialization and import substitution; international economic cooperation in the framework of SCO, BRICS, Eurasian Economic Union, etc. The Academician A. I. Tatarkin played an invaluable role as the Head of the Institute from 1990 to 2016. He initiated, facilitated and led many research directions. Thanks to this, the Institute of the Ural Branch of RAS over the years has being a kind of regional research-communicational platform, where scientists can search the mechanisms and tools for the realization of the foreign economic potential of the region with an account of national priorities. It underlines a high practical importance of the research in this sphere