MOSCOW, May 5. /TASS/. Participants of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) will discuss international business cooperation on the first day of the event, the Roscongress Foundation said in a statement on Friday. This discussion will take place in the form of the Russian SME Forum.

"In addition to traditional thematic sessions and discussions on SME sector development, the Forum business program will include fundamentally new, practice-oriented formats of interaction between business and government - workshops, pitch sessions, failure stories, and TED Talks," the statement says.

"Small and medium-sized businesses are an important component of the economy, and the country’s well-being largely depends on the timely and effective support measures that are in place today. Our future goal is to integrate accelerator programmes as much as possible and stimulate the development of small and medium-sized businesses," said Anton Kobyakov, Advisor to the President of the Russian Federation and Executive Secretary of the SPIEF Organizing Committee.

Four main blocks of Russian SME forum

The forum participants will also discuss foreign economic activity, finance, cooperation and networking. The theme of the plenary session will be ‘International Cooperation: From Challenges to Solutions.’

The first block related to foreign economic activity will include sessions on the export potential of Russian IT products and the role of business in the Greater Eurasia area, and a workshop on e-commerce.

The second block will concern financial sector and cover issues related to current lending conditions for business development, tax legislation, and available tools for SMEs to raise finance.

The third block will focus on international business cooperation. Profile sessions will cover such topics as becoming a supplier for large government-owned companies and take part in the ‘growth’ program, new approaches to developing and transforming manufacturing SMEs.

As part of the fourth block related to networking entrepreneurs from different regions of Russia and other countries will be able to exchange contacts with potential investors, major customers, find common ground for launching joint projects and expanding their businesses.

The 2023 St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF), which is the largest economic forum in Russia, will be held on June 14-17. The SPIEF plenary session is traditionally attended by Russian President Vladimir Putin. This year, as Putin indicated earlier, the labor market will be in the focus of the SPIEF.