Change of Emphasis: What SPIEF 2022 Remembers

The anniversary, 25th St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, as in previous years, turned out to be saturated in terms of the number of guests, the number of sessions and the issues discussed.

The head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, Denis Manturov, spoke about this in an interview with RT correspondent Ilya Petrenko on the sidelines of the SPIEF.

Meanwhile, as the minister noted, this year the composition of the participants in the business platform has shifted more towards countries friendly to Russia.

“This is the Middle East, Asia, Africa - those countries that are ready, want and work with our country in a wide range (directions. -

).

The emphasis is shifting towards the other half of the globe, where we are met, respected, who works with us with pleasure, ”said Manturov.

• Denis Manturov on the results of SPIEF-2022

According to preliminary estimates, during the four days of SPIEF 2022, its participants signed more than 690 investment agreements worth about 5.64 trillion rubles.

Within the framework of the forum, 214 events were held with the participation of 1.5 thousand speakers, and a total of 14 thousand people from 130 countries visited the site.

At the same time, 79 states sent their official representatives.

“Practically, the SPIEF confirmed its status as a world demanded platform for discussing global issues of the world order ... It (forum. -

) demonstrated Russia’s self-sufficiency and economic sovereignty, protection from external pressure and all forms of blackmail,” said Anton Kobyakov.

During the SPIEF, the infrastructure of the forum was subjected to a series of powerful DDoS attacks from the addresses of the United States, Ukraine, Indonesia, Brazil, Thailand and a number of other states, Kobyakov noted.

Although the organizers of the forum coped with this challenge, Washington tried to sabotage the event in other ways.

In particular, the United States Department of State sent official dispatches to countries urging them not to come to SPIEF.

“Moreover (in the State Department. -

) they spoke very flatteringly about the SPIEF, called it the world's leading event in the field of economics.

Of course, this is flattering for us, thanks for such advertising, ”added Anton Kobyakov.

In business line

As Alexei Maslov, director of the Institute of Asian and African Countries at Moscow State University, said in an interview with RT on the sidelines of the SPIEF, the past forum has become more applied compared to the previous ones.

Thus, in the conditions of sanctions, the participants discussed specific problems and possible ways to solve them.

“In particular, a large number of sessions were devoted to projects that should ensure the transport connectivity of Russian regions, including Siberia and the Far East.

Along with this, projects for domestic investment by private investors were discussed, which is especially important for the development of the economy at the moment,” Maslov said.

According to him, the attention of the forum guests was attracted by the video message of Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Against the background of external pressure on Russia from the West, the head of China announced stable cooperation with Moscow and building mutual relations on equal partnership terms.

“Currently, cooperation between China and Russia in all areas is developing along an upward trajectory.

Trade turnover in the first five months of this year reached $65.8 billion. By the end of the year, one can count on new records.

This testifies to the high resilience and internal potential of Sino-Russian cooperation,” Xi Jinping said.

• RIA News

• © Evgeny Biyatov

One of the most discussed topics at SPIEF 2022 was also the issue of import substitution.

Anatoly Aksakov, Chairman of the State Duma Committee on the Financial Market, spoke about this at the RT forum site.

According to him, with the departure of foreign business from Russia, many niches have been vacated on the market.

Under these circumstances, Russian enterprises have more opportunities for development and expansion.

“Our regional companies are now coming to the fore, which were previously not so in demand, but are now experiencing a renaissance of development and receiving ever larger orders.

In general, business sentiment is optimistic.

Everyone understands that the difficulties are temporary, better times will come soon, and we will reach a new level of development as the problems are resolved,” Aksakov added.

Keeping an eye on trends

The past forum was also remembered for a number of statements by the Russian authorities.

For example, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov, during one of the discussions, called on the state to take on the risks of the Russian business for the sale of goods and ensure demand for domestic products.

At the same time, the head of the Ministry of Finance expressed the opinion that Russian officials could be transferred to Lada cars.

Meanwhile, the head of the Central Bank, Elvira Nabiullina, assured that Russia does not plan to confiscate foreign currency deposits of citizens, as well as a ban on the circulation of the dollar and the euro.

In addition, according to her, the Central Bank considers it necessary to continue to remove previously introduced restrictions on the financial market.

“Restrictions on the movement of capital affected a wide range of individuals, legal entities, residents and non-residents.

But as the financial system stabilizes, these restrictions are gradually being eased and, in my opinion, most of them should be lifted,” Nabiullina stressed.

In turn, the head of the Ministry of Economic Development Maxim Reshetnikov noted that at the moment the department assesses the prospects for the Russian economy more optimistic than a few months ago.

Against this background, in the near future, the ministry intends to improve its macroeconomic forecast again.

• RIA News

• © Alexey Danichev

During the discussion, the authorities acknowledged that it would take time and building a new economic model for Russia to adapt to the changed conditions.

Nevertheless, there will be no return to the closed and non-competitive economy of the Soviet Union, Maxim Oreshkin, a presidential aide, said.

A separate topic of discussion among SPIEF participants was de-dollarization and the transition of a number of countries to settlements in national currencies.

For example, according to Anton Siluanov, taking into account the sanctions imposed by the United States on Russian banks, the dollar is becoming an increasingly toxic currency for foreign trade operations.

A similar point of view was voiced by Maxim Oreshkin.

“I would say that the dollar is not a weapon.

This is a drug that the whole world has been addicted to in terms of settlements, servicing the banking system, and so on.

Of course, quitting a drug is not an easy story.

But the realization that this is a drug, and not a blessing, is now growing in the world, ”Oreshkin emphasized.

In the spotlight

The central event of the forum has traditionally become a plenary session with the participation of Russian leader Vladimir Putin, the panel was moderated by RT editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan.

During his speech, the head of state again recalled the end of the "epoch of the unipolar world."

As the president noted, after the announcement of victory in the Cold War, the United States declared itself to be "the messengers of the Lord on earth", which have no obligations, but only interests.

At the same time, the interpretation of the norms of business turnover and international relations in the interests of only one power is erroneous, and a world based on such dogmas is definitely unstable, the Russian leader stressed.

“They (USA. -

) do not seem to notice that over the past decades, new powerful centers have formed on the planet and are declaring themselves louder and louder.

Each of them develops its own political systems and public institutions, implements its own models of economic growth and, of course, has the right to protect them, to ensure national sovereignty,” the president added.

According to him, revolutionary changes are taking place in the global economy, technology and international relations today.

Thus, the role of dynamic, promising states and regions, whose interests can no longer be ignored, is significantly increasing.

“These changes are fundamental, pivotal and inexorable.

And it is a mistake to believe that the time of turbulent changes can, as they say, sit out, wait out, that supposedly everything will return to normal, everything will be as before.

It won't," Putin added.

• RIA News

• © Pavel Bednyakov

At the plenary session, the head of state also announced a number of economic initiatives.

In particular, the president called for lowering the mortgage rate to 7% per annum and launching a comprehensive program for the development of housing and communal services.

Along with this, the Russian leader ordered the creation of an industrial mortgage program at 5% per annum, permanently abandon most inspections of enterprises and decriminalize a number of economic crimes.

The business support measures announced by the president should ease the work of companies and support the overall level of business activity in the country.

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

“The authorities will continue to remove administrative barriers and ease the forceful pressure on entrepreneurs.

Moreover, a part of financial programs from the state will now work for business.

All this should simulate the development of business initiatives in the country and support the economy in the face of unprecedented sanctions pressure, ”Kalinin emphasized.

• RIA News

• © Evgeny Biyatov

As part of his speech, Vladimir Putin also touched upon the topic of sanctions.

According to him, the Western countries intended "to crush the Russian economy with a swoop" and hit the industry, as well as the standard of living of citizens.

However, these initiatives failed, the president stated.

“We are normalizing the economic situation step by step.

First, we stabilized the financial markets, the banking system and the trading network.

Then they began to saturate the economy with liquidity and working capital to maintain the stability of enterprises and companies, employment and jobs.

The gloomy forecasts regarding the prospects for the Russian economy, which sounded at the beginning of spring, did not come true, ”Putin added.

At the same time, as the president noted, anti-Russian sanctions dealt a serious blow to the economies of the United States and Europe themselves.

So, today in the States and EU countries there is a rush increase in prices for fuel, electricity and food, and the quality of life of ordinary citizens has begun to decline.

Against the backdrop of the interdependence of global markets, the West failed to isolate Russia, and the negative trends observed today in the US and EU economies only confirm this fact.

Dmitry Volvach, Deputy Minister of Economic Development, shared this opinion in an interview with RT on the sidelines of the SPIEF.

“People who a few months ago proudly positioned themselves as the authors of sanctions and even competed among themselves who came up with more restrictions against Russia have now calmed down a bit.

The reason is very simple.

The damage and the harm that these people caused to the economy and the standard of living of their countries - at least it was not calculated to the end, and maybe not fully realized yet, ”Volvach emphasized.

• Dmitry Volvach on Western attempts to isolate Russia