ST. PETERSBURG, May 22. /ITAR-TASS/. The St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) that over the past 10 years has been the main venue for discussions on Russia’s economy has begun its work. The forum’s business program was opened with a plenary session of the Summit of the global business leaders on the topic “Challenges and Solutions: Addressing Obstacles to Business-Driven Growth”.

During the discussion representatives of the business community of the world’s leading economies will raise issues of international trade, infrastructure development, financial regulation, investment climate improvement, openness and quality of management, as well as social investment and promotion of employment. The session’s moderators are Dr. Hans-Paul Buerkner, Chairman of the Boston Consulting Group, and Alexander Shokhin, President of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs.

The keynote reports on the global agenda will be delivered by Russian presidential aide Andrei Belousov, head of the OJSC Russian Railways (RZD) Vladimir Yakunin, Severstal CEO Alexei Mordashov, head of Gazprom Neft Alexander Dyukov and others.

The program of the first day of the forum includes 37 sessions in various formats. They will focus on a wide range of challenges of both global and Russian economies.