ST. PETERSBURG, May 25. /TASS/. A plenary meeting with the participation of Russian President Vladimir Putin, French President Emmanuel Macron, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chinese Vice President Wang Qishan and IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde will be on top of the agenda of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum on the second day.

"They will deliver their prepared speeches, and a discussion will follow," presidential aide Yuri Ushakov has said.

SPIEF-2018 runs in Russia’s second largest city on May 24-26. The forum’s events are held under the motto: "Creating the Economy of Trust." TASS news agency is acting as an information partner and the official photo hosting agency of SPIEF. TASS is also the operator of the zone of SPIEF’s presentations with the support of EY consulting company and the Advisory Council on Foreign Investments in Russia.

"The trust among nations, among business partners, the people’s trust in the state, in new technologies and in each other become factors that may help to overcome artificially created restrictions in the global economy and politics, and to give a powerful impetus to the global economic growth," the event’s organizers said in a statement.

International agenda

Apart from the plenary session, Putin and Macron will meet with Russian and French businessman and participants of the Russian-French civil society forum, the Trianon Dialogue.

Together with Abe, the Russian president will meet with representatives of Russian and Japanese business circles.

The Russian leader is also scheduled to have a brief conversation with Republika Srpska (part of Bosnia and Herzegovina) President Milorad Dodik.

Putin’s agenda also includes a traditional meeting with heads of major international companies and business associations. According to Ushakov, top managers of BP, Shell, Siemens, Huawei, Total, Toyota and others will be present.

In media spotlight

Putin is also expected to meet with heads of the world’s leading news agencies. It will be the fifth such event in the history of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.

Representatives of news agencies from nine countries - Russia, the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, China, Italy, Spain, Turkey and Japan - are to attend the meeting, organized by TASS.

"The roundtable discussion will be held primarily in the question-and-answer format, and, naturally, the president will be asked about domestic policies and international affairs," Ushakov said.

Growth, Oil, NEP

The business program of the second day will traditionally begin with a Sberbank Business Breakfast. This year, the event will be headlined "The New Economic Povestka (NEP): The What, The How, The Who?" The world "povestka" means "agenda" in Russian, and the abbreviation NEP is a reference to the term originally used in Soviet Russia in 1922-1928 for the New Economic Policy.

During the breakfast, CEO German Gref and his guests will dwell upon the question of who shapes the economic agenda today.

SPIEF exhibition halls will host a series of themed sessions: on housing construction (with participation of major construction companies), energy (Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin expected to make a report) and budgetary policy (with Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova attending).

The topics coincide with issues mentioned in President Vladimir Putin’s new May decree. Participants will also share their visions of the future: of technologies, urban environment, transport, healthcare and education.

Later in the day, a panel session, headlined "Transformations in the Energy Sector," will gather major players on the global energy market, including Saudi Minister of Energy, Industry and Mineral Resources Khalid Al-Falih, OPEC chief Mohammed Barkindo and Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak.

Regional Investment climate index

Since 2014, the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum has been the traditional platform for presenting the Russian Regional Investment Climate Index, prepared by the Agency for Strategic Initiatives.

Agency CEO Svetlana Chupsheva said the results will be a surprise for everyone as some previous outsiders have demonstrated great performance this year.

Human capital in economy

The social agenda of the forum will include debates on life expectancy, online copyright issues, human capital in the digital economy, palliative care and charity.