“We have to work hard”: what the participants of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum will discuss

On Wednesday, June 15, the 25th St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF-2022) starts in Russia.

For four days, Russian and foreign politicians, scientists and entrepreneurs will discuss the most pressing issues of the modern economy.

As Russian President Vladimir Putin noted in his address to the guests and participants of SPIEF, over the past years the forum has become an authoritative and representative world-class event.

Meanwhile, the anniversary meeting is taking place at a difficult time for the entire international community, the head of state added.

“Many years of mistakes by Western countries in economic policy and illegitimate sanctions have led to a wave of global inflation, to the destruction of the usual logistics and production chains, to a sharp increase in poverty and food shortages.

But, as it happens, along with challenges, prospects open up.

That is why the slogan of the forum "New World - New Opportunities" seems so relevant," Putin stressed.

More than 130 events with the participation of 700 speakers are planned as part of the SPIEF business program.

We are talking, for example, about government officials from Russia, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Venezuela and Egypt.

In addition, speeches are planned for the heads of international organizations, entrepreneurs from Italy, Canada, the United States and France, as well as members of the scientific and cultural community of the Russian Federation, China, India and Cuba.

In total, representatives of 115 countries and territories confirmed their participation in the forum.

Among them are more than 2.7 thousand businessmen, including 1 thousand heads of companies.

• © Alexander Cherezov/Roscongress Foundation

First of all, SPIEF participants will try to identify options for solving the problems associated with sanctions and growing logistical difficulties.

This opinion was shared with RT by one of the traditional participants of the forum, the president of the All-Russian public organization of small and medium-sized businesses "Support of Russia" Alexander Kalinin.

According to him, business and government will look for new opportunities to implement the import substitution policy.

In addition, we will talk about supporting small and medium-sized enterprises, as well as strengthening economic and technological sovereignty.

“Despite the cooling of relations with Western partners, the forum is still international, and a large number of foreign guests will come to it, primarily from states friendly to us.

So the format of interaction between Russian and foreign businesses will be preserved.

Moreover, entrepreneurs will be able to find new partners and access to alternative markets,” Kalinin added.

Particular attention is planned to be paid to the possibilities of expanding Russia's cooperation with the countries of BRICS, the EAEU, the CIS, Latin America, the Middle East, Asia and Africa.

This was told to RT by the president of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Russia Sergey Katyrin, who participated in the forum.

According to him, in the current conditions, these areas are fundamentally important for Moscow.

“Even if in the future the ties with the West that were cut off today are resumed, the configuration of world economic cooperation will still be different.

Naturally, new contracts will also be signed at the forum.

We will soon find out the total amount of the agreements, but I believe that there will be surprises for unfriendly countries that are still hoping to isolate Russia.

In general, SPIEF participants will have to work hard,” said Katyrin.

business conversation

The central event of SPIEF will traditionally be the plenary session, where Vladimir Putin is expected to speak.

As Presidential Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov noted, the speech of the head of state at the forum "will be extremely important."

So, the Russian leader will talk about the development of the country and improving the living standards of citizens.

Along with this, the president will also touch upon the issue of the impact of sanctions on the global economy, Peskov added.

• AP

• © Mikhail Metzel

The current year was marked by a “perfect systemic storm”, and the economy has become a hostage to politics, Dmitry Peskov emphasized.

According to him, even during the period of the coronavirus, the authorities of many states made a number of mistakes, for which the world is now forced to pay.

At the same time, the economic war of the West against Moscow only exacerbated the situation, the Kremlin spokesman added.

“We are now seeing how all these restrictions, the sanctions that have been introduced (against Russia. -

), are hitting prices for energy, food, and so on.

We see the results of the mistakes of many countries, which are manifested in the beginning food crisis ... I am sure that the president will talk about this, ”TASS quotes Peskov.

The head of Kazakhstan, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, is also going to take part in the plenary session, and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi plans to speak via videoconference.

The discussion will be moderated by RT Editor-in-Chief Margarita Simonyan.

Recall that the first SPIEF was held back in 1997, and since 2006 it has been held under the patronage of Vladimir Putin.

Forum participants communicate in the format of panel sessions, round tables, televised debates, business dialogues and business breakfasts.

It should be noted that over 190 events took place at SPIEF 2021, and more than 13.5 thousand people from 141 countries of the world visited the forum site.

In total, more than 890 agreements were signed on the sidelines of the event for a total amount of about 4.3 trillion rubles.