TASS-FACTBOX. The 29th St. Petersburg International Economic Forum will take place from June 3 to 6, 2026. The TASS-FACTBOX editorial team has prepared a summary on this event.
Key facts
The St. Petersburg International Economic Forum is Russia’s leading annual economic conference, held since 1997. Until 2007, it was known as the St. Petersburg Economic Forum. In 2020, SPIEF was called off due to the coronavirus pandemic.
At SPIEF, heads of state, finance ministers, and top executives of Russian and foreign companies, along with financiers and scientists, gather to discuss key economic challenges facing Russia, emerging markets, and the global economy as a whole.
Every year, the forum brings together more than 10,000 participants representing over 100 countries, with a record 24,200 participants from 144 countries and territories attending in 2025. The work of SPIEF is arranged in the form of plenary sessions, roundtable discussions, exhibitions, video conferences, and presentations. Since 2005, the President of Russia has taken part in the forum: from 2005 to 2007 and from 2012 to 2025 it was Vladimir Putin, and from 2008 to 2011 it was Dmitry Medvedev. Traditionally, the forum is accompanied by an extensive cultural program, featuring concerts and exhibitions (several dozen planned in 2026).
The event is distinguished by its practical focus. Since 2010, several hundred investment agreements and memorandums have been signed as part of SPIEF for a total amount of over $775 billion. In 2013, 102 agreements were concluded for a total of 9.6 trillion rubles (about $320 billion), which remains the largest figure in the history of the forum. The disclosed value of agreements stood at 6.49 trillion rubles in 2024, and 6.48 trillion rubles in 2025.
High-ranked guests
Since the forum was founded in 1997, it has been attended by top officials from 40 countries - a total of 51 people.
The first foreign head of state to attend the forum was Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko (in 1998, and he subsequently attended SPIEF in 2007 and 2008). Among G20 top officials who participated in SPIEF were French Presidents Nicolas Sarkozy (2010) and Emmanuel Macron (2018), Chinese Presidents Hu Jintao (2011) and Xi Jinping (2015, 2019), German Chancellor Angela Merkel (2013), Prime Ministers of Italy Matteo Renzi (2016), India Narendra Modi (2017), and Japan Shinzo Abe (2019), as well as Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto (2025).
The SPIEF was the most representative in recent years in 2019. The forum was attended by Chinese President Xi Jinping, Moldovan President Igor Dodon, Bulgarian President Rumen Radev, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne, Chairman of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina Milorad Dodik, and Slovakian Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres also participated.
Since 2016, one or more countries have been granted guest status at SPIEF. Italy was the first guest country of the forum. In 2026, Saudi Arabia will be the guest country at SPIEF.
Venue
In 2026, SPIEF will be held at Expoforum for the tenth time since 2016. From 2006 to 2015, it was held at Lenexpo, and in 1997-2005 at the Taurida Palace.
Organizers and partners
In 2006, SPIEF was organized by the Russian Economic Development and Trade Ministry. In 2007, a permanent SPIEF Foundation was created to hold the forum, which was renamed the Roscongress Foundation in 2015, with Alexander Stuglev appointed as director. The official budget of the event is not disclosed. Most of the forum’s income comes from funds from sponsors and registration fees of participants, with the cost of a standard participant package in 2026 starting at 1.45 mln rubles ($19,900) when purchased in advance. Funds for SPIEF are also allocated from the city budget of St. Petersburg.
More than 100 organizations and companies have been named forum partners in 2026. The title partners of SPIEF-2026 are VEB.RF and the state corporation Rosatom, and other main sponsors and partners include Sberbank, VTB Bank, Gazprom, Gazprombank, Gazprom Neft, Novatek, OTP Bank, and PSB Bank. The official airline is Aeroflot, the strategic partner is Rosseti, and the official car of the forum is Hongqi.
TASS is the general media partner of SPIEF this year.
Website
The forum’s website is forumspb.com