The country stand of the Republic of Belarus will be organized for the first time at the SPIEF Investment Projects exhibition, which is held within the main business event of Russia – St. Petersburg International Economic Forum on 16-18 June.
Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) is a place where leaders of new economic powers gather together to identify and discuss key economic issues which Russia, emerging markets and the world in general face nowadays. SPIEF brings together leading politicians and businesspeople from around the world. Last year about 10,000 people from 120 countries visited the Forum. More than 150 events took place at the SPIEF 2015, discussions and debates of which were attended by 668 speakers and moderators.
This year it will be the anniversary XX Forum, so that a significant expansion of the scope of the meeting is expected. The main events will be held on a new site, which is three times more than the previous one – Expoforum Congress and Exhibition Center. According to RBC, on 28 April about 3,500 people confirmed their participation in the event; which is 30% higher than last year's figure for the same period prior to the Forum. About 50% of the participants will be foreigners. The main motto of SPIEF'16 is “On the threshold of a new economic reality”.
The Petersburg International Economic Forum is held under the patronage of the President of the Russian Federation. It is planned that Vladimir Putin traditionally will perform at the opening of the event, and will participate in the plenary session. The organizing committee has officially invited Elon Musk as an “economic star”. Founder of Alibaba Jack Ma (was the headliner at last year's St. Petersburg Forum) and the creator of Uber Travis Kalanick were also considered for the same role. Only the arrival of Musk has been officially confirmed, as it was reported by Russian Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Prikhodko at a briefing dedicated to the organization of the Forum on 17 May. Uber representatives did not comment on the information about the invitation and the possible arrival of Kalanika in Russia.
Prime Minister of Italy Matteo Renzi will be the “political star” of the Forum this year. According to RBC, head of Siemens Joe Kaeser, head of Gunvor and long-time partner of businessman Gennady Timchenko Thorbjorn Tornqvist, CEO of Metro AG Olaf Koch, head of Total Patrick Puyang, head of Glencore Ivan Glasenberg, as well as the delegation of the Japanese business, including top officials of Mitsubishi and Mitsui corporations express their willingness to come to St. Petersburg
Belarus is a regular and active participant of the SPIEF. In the XX anniversary Forum, our country will be represented in an expanded format. The business platform of St. Petersburg is to be visited by the official delegation of Belarus headed by First Deputy Prime Minister Vasily Matyushevsky. The Belarusian stand will operate at the SPIEF Investment Projects exhibition that will host a series of events organized by NAIP. In particular, thematic presentations and open dialogue on issues of investing in a number of sectors of the Belarusian economy will be held, as well as the presentation of promising investment areas and projects. In addition, the first open presentation of the NAIP’s new project – Business in Belarus Recipe Book from leading foreign investors will take place in a special interactive format. Moreover, a session from Director of NAIP Natalia Nikandrova on investment opportunities in Belarus is scheduled on the business program of the exhibition.
Event program of Belarus country stand
Map of the Expoforum Exhibition and Convention Centre
