SOCHI, September 18 /ITAR-TASS/. The Sochi-2014 Investment Forum kicked off on Thursday assembling a record number of 9,000 participants from 30 countries compared to 7,000 delegates last year, Vice-Premier Dmitry Kozak said at an official reception in honor of the forum’s organizers.
This year’s forum is taking place in a totally renovated city with Olympic history.
“The interest in this event grows from year to year. The investment forum has earned a reputation of being a vital international event in the economic life of this country and the whole world,” Kozak who is heading the forum’s organizing committee, said.
This year’s economic forum, according to Kozak, has hit all records by attracting guests with new infrastructure and new urgent themes to be discussed in the context of changing external economic situation, Kozak said.
The Sochi-2014 Olympic media center will be the main venue for the Sochi-2014 Investment Forum. The media center is to become a major exhibition center in southern Russia. All Russian regions that are taking part in the Sochi-2014 forum have put their expositions on view at the media center, which will become the biggest exhibition floor in southern Russia in the years to come.
Russia’s southern Kuban region plans to strike a number of financial deals at the Sochi-2014 Investment Forum. An agreement to be signed with Rosbank will provide for allocation of at least 20 billion roubles (519 million U.S. dollars) to implement investment projects and a programme of issuing credits to small and medium businesses in the Krasnodar territory.
Another agreement to be signed between the Krasnodar territory and Bank of Moscow provides for cooperation in housing and utilities sector, transport and the construction of social facilities.