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SPIEF Discussed new Points of Growth in Multipolar World
07 June 2024
On 5-8 June, the 27th St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) is taking place at the Expoforum Convention and Exhibition Centre. The main theme of this year’s event is “The Formation of New Areas of Growth as the Cornerstone of a Multipolar World”.
On 7 June, President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin addressed a plenary session. On the first day of the Forum, the head of state met with the heads of news agencies from Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Russia, Uzbekistan and other countries.
Speaking at the plenary session, the President of the Russian Federation noted that the World Bank had ranked Russia fourth in the world in terms of economic volume. Friendly countries accounted for 3/4 of Russia’s trade turnover, Vladimir Putin noted. The country would increase settlements in national currencies with other states.
Among the tasks for lawmakers – to adopt a law on annual indexation of pensions for working pensioners, to create a legal framework for creative industries, to accelerate the preparation of draft laws on public-private partnership in space.
The Forum was attended by the Chairperson of the IPA CIS Council, Speaker of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation Valentina Matvienko.
The Speaker of the Upper House launched the educational programme “Woman Leader. Northern Territories. Far East”, which will be part of the global project of the Council of the Eurasian Women’s Forum “Woman Leader”.
As Valentina Matvienko noted, more than 1000 participants from 78 regions of Russia and 31 countries had already taken part in the project and had developed 170 socially significant projects in tourism, entrepreneurship, health care, education and many others. The 27th St. Petersburg International Economic Forum was attended by MPs of the Russian Parliament, as well as Secretary General of the IPA CIS Council Dmitriy Kobitskiy.
This year’s SPIEF business programme was divided into four thematic tracks: “The Transition to a Multipolar World Economy”, “ Goals and Objectives of Russia’s New Economic Cycle ”, “Technologies for Leadership” and “A Healthy Society, Traditional Values and Social Development: The Priority of the State”.
In addition to the main theme, the Forum addressed issues of international cooperation in various sectors of the CIS economies.
On 6 June, the Russia-Azerbaijan business dialogue was held on the margins of the Forum. The participants discussed issues of expanding trade and investment relations, including cooperation in agriculture, pharmaceuticals, energy, logistics and banking.
Minister of Energy of the Republic of Belarus Viktor Karankevich said that Belarus and Russia had made significant progress in implementing the Union’s programmes to create unified energy markets. at the panel session “The Union State: 25 Years of Integration – Results and New Challenges ”.
During the business dialogue “Kazakhstan –Russia” it was noted that the countries have 135 industrial projects worth $26.2 billion. According to Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan Serik Zhumangarin, another 27 projects worth almost $2 billion are being actively implemented. More than 3,000 joint ventures and 19,000 companies with Russian capital are operating in the Republic.
Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Alexei Overchuk said that “Russian companies are ready to offer their experience, technologies and software solutions in all areas of the economy to our Kazakh friends“.
The forum also included a “Kyrgyzstan -Russia” business dialogue. First Deputy Chair of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Kyrgyz Republic Adylbek Kasymaliyev noted that annual trade turnover between the two countries had reached $3 billion. There was also a positive dynamic in Russian direct investment in the Kyrgyz economy.
Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Uzbekistan signed an agreement between the exchanges of the EAEU Member States on the sidelines of the Forum. According to the document, a system of commodity market indicators will be created. It will create conditions for barrier-free trade, reduce logistical time, allow for the transfer of prices and effective redistribution of resources.
Russia is developing cooperation with Uzbekistan in the field of artificial intelligence, said First Deputy Chair of the Board of Directors of Sberbank Alexander Vedyakhin. In the future, they plan to create expert working groups on AI problems, conduct joint research, exchange academic experience, and establish regulation of artificial intelligence and its ethical norms.
A number of agreements were signed at the Forum – in particular, long-term contracts for the provision of services for the transportation of Russian gas through the territory of Kazakhstan to Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, as well as for the supply of natural gas to Kyrgyzstan between companies of the Commonwealth countries.
