Anniversary St. Petersburg International Economic Forum began its work

The Forum's cross-cutting theme this year is Capitalizing on the New Economic Reality. Its program was developed by over 200 leading experts from 60 countries.

The key events of the XX St. Petersburg International Economic Forum will take place on 16-18 June at the new platform in EXPOFORUM Congress and Expo Facility.

Chairperson of the IPA CIS Council, Speaker of the Federation Council Valentina Matvienko is expected to attend the Forum.

The Forum will bring together some delegations from the CIS including the delegation of Azerbaijan led by Minister of Economic Development Shakhin Mustafeyev and the delegation of Belarus led by First Deputy Prime Minister Vasily Matyushevsky.

The SPIEF Investment Projects expo will feature the country stand of the Republic of Belarus – the first of its kind in the Forum's history.

The delegation of the Republic of Kazakhstan will be led by President Nursultan Nazarbayey. Igor Dodon, MP, Moldova, will be at the helm of the delegation of the Republic of Moldova.

In an interview for TASS news agency, Chairperson of the IPA CIS Council, Speaker of the Federation Council Valentina Matvienko said that at its start the SPIEF was hosted by the Federation Council and the IPA CIS. The initiators of the forum focused on much less far-reaching objectives – mainly on common discussions of issues and deployment of market economies in post-Soviet countries.

"In early 2000s it has become evident that SPIEF grew beyond its initial scope and that the context requires upgrading the Forum's status to a new level meeting its current role as one of the most significant exchange platforms on global economy and politics", added IPA CIS Chairperson.