Start day of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum promises participants an extensive business programme prepared by the Roscongress Foundation and its partners. Events scheduled for May 31 at the ExpoForum Convention and Exhibition Centre will revolve around the growth of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Russia and the prospects for international cooperation. The United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) will present its own programme, to include the Second Interregional Forum on ‘Strengthening International SME Alliances between the Russian Federation and Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) Countries’ and the Interregional Forum on ‘Women’s Entrepreneurship – Challenges and Solutions in Europe and the Arab Region’.
The goals of the Second Interregional Forum on ‘Strengthening International SME Alliances between the Russian Federation and LAC Countries’ are to contribute to strengthening the capacity of SMEs and developing partnerships between the SME sectors in LAC and Russia through identifying potential partners and bringing interested parties together to create a dialogue; and to propose mechanisms for creating interregional strategic alliances and improving interregional investment potential.
The event will be attended by representatives from 21 LAC countries, including ministers of economy and trade, the heads of national export promotion agencies, and business leaders and exporters.
It provides a unique opportunity to exchange the information required to establish and strengthen trade relations between the regions in fast-growing sectors such as biopharmaceuticals, automation and robotics, agriculture, and industrial parks, and to obtain first-hand information and establish direct trade relations between Russia and LAC.
The main topic of the Interregional Forum on ‘Women’s Entrepreneurship – Challenges and Solutions in Europe and the Arab Region’ will be expanding women’s economic rights and opportunities. The event is expected to include a discussion of government policy to encourage women’s entrepreneurship, as well as institutional and practical solutions in this area through the sharing of specific examples and experiences between Russia and Arab countries. It will also feature a presentation of UNIDO’s approach to women’s entrepreneurship from the point of view of developing new projects and general initiatives.
The UNIDO events are being held with support and funding from the Government of the Russian Federation.
Participants can learn more about investment projects and discuss the potential for SMEs in Russia at the Third Russian Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises Forum. Here, events will focus on institutional, infrastructural, and financial support for SMEs. The intended outcome of these discussions will be a set of measures which can be taken in future to strengthen the significance and role of small and medium-sized enterprises in furthering the growth of the Russian economy.
The key event will be the plenary session, which will be attended by Igor Shuvalov, First Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation. Discussions are expected to address tools for jumpstarting and developing a culture of entrepreneurship in Russia today, during the digital age, in a mobile economy. Government officials, representatives of international organizations, heads of development institutes, business leaders, and experts from a diverse array of fields have been invited to participate in all of the SPIEF 2017 zero day events.
The topic of forging international relations will continue at the Conference on Developing Cooperation from Lisbon to Vladivostok, where the central focus will be on injecting new energy into EU–EAEU relations.
Also scheduled for zero day is a panel discussion entitled Single-Industry Towns: New Opportunities for Business, which will identify solutions to current challenges connected with attracting Russian and foreign private investment to the economies of single-industry towns.
Finally, the Forum’s sports programme kicks off on May 31 with the ‘Under the Flag of Kindness!’ charity football match and a gala hockey match. All SPIEF 2017 guests are invited to take part in these sporting events.
The St. Petersburg International Economic Forum will be held on June 1–3. All events of this year’s Forum have the common theme of ‘Achieving a New Balance in the Global Economic Arena’.
For more information, please visit the official event website: www.forumspb.com.