Issues of the CIS economic development discussed at the 21st St. Petersburg International Economic Forum

Panel Session CIS – A Space for Developing Economic and Business Collaboration was held within the 21st St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.

Andrey Spartak, Director of the Russian National Research and Development Market Institute, moderated the Session.

The participants discussed the development of trade and economic ties in the Commonwealth countries in the context of changing economic realities. The role of the CIS countries in the Silk Road project sparked a lively discussion. The Commonwealth is ready to search for new vectors and forms of cooperation, which are of interest primarily for business and financial circles of the CIS countries. Yet the Commonwealth countries need to continue their active joint efforts to remove barriers to trade, enhance integration, expand cooperation in the areas of electronic commerce, procurement, agriculture, transport, energy, food security, inter-regional and cross-border cooperation, the meeting noted.

The panel session was attended by Sergey Lebedev, Chairman of the Executive Committee – CIS Executive Secretary; Vasily Matyushevsky, First Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Belarus; Anatoly Aksakov, Chairman of the Committee of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation on Financial Markets; President, Association of Regional Banks of RussiaTatyana Valovaya, Member of the Board – Minister in charge of Integration Development and Macroeconomics; Alexey Gruzdev, Deputy Minister of Economic Development of the Russian Federation; Vladimir Dmitriev, Vice President, Chamber of Commerce of the Russian Federation; Anatoly Kazakov, Chairman of Coordination Board, CIS Center for Economic Development, Chairman of Coordination Board, CIS Finance and Banking Council; Dmitry Pankin, Chairman of the Board, Eurasian Development Bank; Ekaterina Solntseva, Vice President for Business Development, ABBYY; Alexey Sergeev, Secretary General of the IPA CIS Council; Viktor Kogut, Deputy Secretary General of the IPA CIS Council – Plenipotentiary Representative of the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus; Irina Sokolova, Deputy Secretary General of the IPA CIS Council – Plenipotentiary Representative of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation.