Financing Russia’s modernization is one of the key issues to be discussed at this year’s St Petersburg International Economic Forum on 16-18 June. A number of sessions will be devoted to this subject, in particular ‘Raising Capital for Russia’s Growth’ on June 18, co-produced by UBS and televised by Bloomberg TV.
As the Russian President Dmitry Medvedev noted at a news conference held at Moscow’s Skolkovo management school on May 18, 2011, “The investment climate is vital for our success...I will certainly be back to this issue shortly, including at the Forum in St. Petersburg.” The investment climate in Russia will be the topic of a number of briefings, as well as featuring in most of the sessions under the headline “Building Russia’s Creative Capital” throughout the three days of the Forum.
This year’s SPIEF is not solely focused on business opportunities in Russia. Another key theme is the growing role of major emerging markets in defining the post-crisis economic environment. There are a number of relevant sessions in the programme, such as the CNBC co-produced and televised session, “BRIC Bucks and Beyond: How Emerging Markets are Reshaping Global Finance”. The importance of emerging markets is further underscored by the confirmation of China’s President Hu Jintao to attend this year’s Forum, and a large delegation of Chinese and Asian business leaders from a wide range of industrial sectors are expected to participate.
This year the Forum strives to broaden its representation from key emerging markets as well as introduce a number of technological enhancements and new session formats to improve interaction and networking, as well as enhancing the overall participant’s experience.
In addition to general networking opportunities, the St Petersburg International Economic Forum provides participants an opportunity to meet key people from representatives of the Russian Government at the federal and regional level, as well as engage with top executives of major Russian and key emerging market companies, such as Gazprom, Sberbank, Rosneft, Federal Grid Company, Rosnano, Mail.ru, MMK, Severstal, Sistema, MTS, Plyus Zoloto, RusHydro, Lukoil, Rusal, and Svyazinvest and many others. Highlighting the importance of European-Russian ties, the Closing Plenary at the SPIEF 2011 – moderated by the Wall Street Journal Managing Editor Robert Thomson – will feature a discussion involving the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Medvedev, Prime Minister of Spain José Luis Rodrigues Zapater and President of Finland Tarja Halonen.
To enhance networking opportunities, this year SPIEF is introducing a new service – Personal Schedule/Business Networking Platform (BNP) - which allows participants to more easily make contact and manage schedules for business meetings within the scope of the Forum.

News source: RIA Novosti
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