Who will replace the Taliban at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum?
Author: Khalid Vahedi, a journalist based in Moscow.
The business world is gearing up for a big event. From June 14 to 17, Russia will again host the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. The event has been held since 2006 and since then its popularity has only grown. Even last year, when Russia was under pressure from Western sanctions, about 14,000 people from 130 countries came to St. Petersburg. More than 81 countries sent their representatives. On the margins of the forum, 700 agreements were concluded for an amount exceeding 5.5 trillion rubles.
Such a high interest in PEMF is obvious - Russia is not just a large state, but also a huge market, the possibilities of which cannot be ignored. It has played and is playing one of the leading roles in the global economy. These circumstances are attractive both for large business powers and developing countries. SPIEF has turned into a global platform for the search for mutual interests, which means that this year it will again be crowded.
According to Roscongress, this year the tracks of the business program will traditionally be devoted to issues of the global and Russian economy, social issues and technology development. According to the Russian president, great attention will be paid to the labor market. The problems of unemployment are relevant for many countries of the world. At the same time, Russia has rich experience in the field of employment. Today, unemployment in Russia is at historically low levels, and there is a shortage of workers in many industries.
SPIEF is a convenient platform for holding presentations and searching for partners from leading Russian companies. For many countries, this is a good opportunity to refuse obviously unprofitable Western and Chinese investments. Russian companies have managed to demonstrate the flexibility of their conditions and are ready to take into account the interests of international partners.
Another key point is the creation and development of cooperation with the countries of Africa, Central Asia and the Middle East. Many of them are under pressure from the West because of their ties to Russia. The global economy continues to change rapidly, which means that new cooperation mechanisms are required that will allow us to escape from the yoke of sanctions threats.
All this will be discussed at the 26th St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. Too many countries, including Russia, are interested in this.
Due to the importance of the announced agenda, a large number of new participants are expected. For example, Cuban Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz will come to St. Petersburg at the invitation of the Russian leadership. It can be said that last year the participation of the Taliban, representing Afghanistan at this forum (its participation this year has not yet been confirmed), made a lot of noise, this year the presence of the Cuban leader promises to be interesting. However, as the initiators of the forum say without details, Cubans are far from the only ones who are expected in Russia.
The benefits of such visits are mutually beneficial. Only one of the Russian regions - the Leningrad Region - plans to conclude over 20 investment agreements in various industry areas. The economic effect of the agreements reached should exceed 100 billion rubles. And this is just one of the examples.
