May 28, 2018

THE RESULTS OF THE ST. PETERSBURG INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC FORUM – 2018.

From May 24 to May 26 St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF-2018) was held in St. Petersburg. The forum was held under the slogan "Creating an economy of trust".

Chairman of the Russian-Arab Business Council, Chairman of the Board of Directors of «AFK Sistema» Vladimir Evtushenkov and Director of the Russian-Arab Business Council, President of the All-Russian Public Organization «Women of Business» Tatyana Gvilava, during the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum-2018, held a number of bilateral meetings and negotiations with the Arab partners, which have been directed to strengthening of economic cooperation.

Heads of states and governments of foreign countries, heads of the largest Russian and international companies and banks, leading experts and politicians from all over the world are also invited to the forum. Honorary guests of the SPIEF - French President Emmanuel Macron and Prime Minister of Japan Shinzo Abe.

THE CENTRAL EVENT OF THE FORUM BECAME PLENARY SESSION WITH THE PARTICIPATION OF PRESIDENT OF RUSSIA VLADIMIR PUTIN.

The French President Emmanuel Macron, Prime Minister of Japan Shinzo Abe, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund Kristin Lagarde and Vice President of the People's Republic of China Wang Qishan are also participated in the plenary session.

       

The head of state said: "Today we do not need trade wars or even temporary trade truce, but a full-fledged trading world. The motto of the current St. Petersburg Forum is "Creating an economy of trust". I am convinced that life itself indicates that the role of trust as a factor in development will increase.

More than 150 business events took place on the forum platforms within the framework of the main program. The events were held in four thematic clusters: "Technologies for Leadership", "Russia: Using the Growth Potential", "Human Capital in the Digital Economy" and "Global Economy in the Era of Change".

As part of the SPIEF - 2018, a number of agreements were signed between Russian and Arab companies aimed at strengthening economic cooperation between the Russian Federation and the Arab countries, as well as on the fields of the SPIEF - 2018, representatives of business circles of Russia and Arab countries took part in a series of round tables. The extensive business program included thematic meetings and bilateral meetings and negotiations. Participating companies conducted presentations of their activities and told about existing cooperation projects.

SESSION "LIBYA'S REINTEGRATION IN THE INTERNATIONAL ECONOMY: OPPORTUNITIES FOR COOPERATION".

After four years of recession in 2017-2018, the Libyan economy showed double growth, primarily due to the active use of its potential in oil and gas production. Being still far from political stability, the country nevertheless attracts the attention of the largest international corporations. Against the backdrop of the ongoing reintegration of Libya into the international economy, the demand for projects in the energy, construction, medical, agricultural, and educational spheres is becoming increasingly noticeable.

Head of Russia’s contact group for a Libyan settlement Lev Dengov speaking at the session "Reintegration of Libya into the international economy: opportunities for cooperation" at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, explained that the Foreign Ministry of Russia and Libya had previously supported the restoration of economic relations between the countries.

"Today there are no obstacles for the development of bilateral relations in the economic sphere," Dengov said. According to him, the only thing that still bothers the Russian side is the issue of security of entrepreneurs in Libya.

Russian business is interested in the capacious Libyan market, whose attractiveness is discussed by the geographically advantageous location of this country: from Libya to the rest of Africa is supplied a huge amount of food, building materials and other goods, which opens new opportunities for Russian entrepreneurs, explained Dengov.

In addition, he said, that Libya has sufficient financial resources to finance projects in this country.

Work on the restoration of economic relations conducted in 2017, including through the mediation of the Russian - Libyan trading house. Since the end of 2017 negotiations through the Ministries of Agriculture on export to Libya of grain crops and vaccinal medicines are conducted, Dengov said. The trading house also organized a meeting of representatives of the oil company "Tatneft" with one of the largest Libyan oil service companies Waha Oil Company. According to Dengov, to return the trade and economic cooperation of the two countries to the previous, pre-war level (until 2011), a minimum of two to three years is needed.

In addition, Libyan Foreign Minister Tahir Siyala believes that Libya is firmly moving towards a political settlement and will become an important part of the world economy.

Where does Libya go? I think that Libya firmly goes to political settlement, to restoration of the country and to restoration of infrastructure which has been resolved. And we think that it will return to economic family of the region and will again become an important part of the world economy and the African economy, "said Tahir Siyala, adding that Libya can become a bridge that will connect the world with African countries.

                 

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia sent to the SPIEF-2018 the most representative delegation in the history of the event. It includes ministers of economic profile, as well as heads of the largest companies of the Kingdom, more than 150 delegates.

Solemn opening of the stand of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

    

Particular attention was paid to the holding of the Russian-Saudi round table and the signing of a cooperation agreement between SAGIA and the "Roskognress" Fund in the framework of the SPIEF.

A number of intergovernmental Russian-Saudi agreements were signed at the forum.

Within the framework of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, the Minister of Energy, Industry and Natural Resources of Saudi Arabia Khaled Al-Faleh met with the Minister of Energy of the Russian Federation Alexander Novak.

The parties discussed topical issues of cooperation in a multilateral format, in particular, cooperation within the framework of OPEC +. "Last year allowed us to jointly achieve excellent results, and the market reacts positively to our efforts," Alexander Novak said.

                                                              

Also the Minister of Energy of Saudi Arabia Khaled Al-Faleh held a number of bilateral meetings with the head of «Rosatom» Alexei Likhachev and the head of «Lukoil» Vagit Alekperov, where they have discussed possible cooperation on technology projects within the framework of the «VISION 2030» program.

The minister, and concurrently, the chairman of the board of directors of the state Saudi Aramco, held talks with the leaders of Shell, Schlumberger and vice president of IBM.

In addition, Saudi Arabia hopes to diversify the economy with the help of companies from Russia.

"Saudi Arabia is counting on the participation of leading Russian companies in the Vision 2030 strategy for transforming the economy of the kingdom," said Khaled al - Faleh before his flight to St. Petersburg for participation in the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF - 2018).

The Saudi reform plan «VISION 2030» which author is the crown prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud, involves the privatization of a stake in the world's largest oil company Saudi Aramco, the diversification of the country's economy, which is highly dependent on oil production and exports, and investments in energy projects, infrastructure and technology around the world.

"Russia is among the countries aimed at attracting quality investments to the Saudi market, thereby contributing to the diversification of the production base of the economy of Saudi Arabia." The minister noted that Russian companies occupy "the leading positions in the world in such strategic areas as energy and space, the defense industry, science and culture." Al-Faleh has reminded that the kingdom carried out several economic reforms that "contributed to improving the business environment and the investment climate." He called the industrial and mining sectors, logistics, the program on the nationalization of the defense industry, the development of human resources, education, culture and the entertainment industry the most attractive for investors.

The head of the Ministry of Energy of Saudi Arabia took part in the SPIEF-2018 and spoke at a plenary session called "Energy Transformation". The delegation of the Kingdom also included the head of the Saudi sovereign fund «Public Investment Fund» Yasir ar-Rumayan and a number of representatives of government organizations of the country.

    

PJSC «Rosneft» Oil Company, Fleet Energy and Fleetliner Energy S.A. within the framework of the XXII St. Petersburg International Economic Forum signed a framework agreement on cooperation.

«Rosneft», «Fleet Energy» and «Fleetliner Energy S.A.» within the framework of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum signed the "Framework Agreement on Cooperation", which involves exploring the possibility of creating a joint venture for joint gas supplies to Egypt.

The document reinforces the intention of the parties to explore the possibility of establishing a joint venture with the aim of forming a supply chain for the subsequent gas supply to industrial consumers in Egypt.

The agreement in the presence of the Chief Executive Officer of PJSC «Rosneft» Igor Sechin was signed by the Vice-President for refining, petrochemicals, commerce and logistics of «Rosneft» Didier Casimiro and the president of Fleet Energy group of companies Essam Kafafi.

                                

In addition, on the fields of SPIEF-2018 between Moscow and Damascus, a memorandum for the work on the restoration of Syria will be signed.

As well as the ambassador of SAR in Russia Riyad Haddad has said earlier, our countries have been carrying out real work for a long time to restore the Arab Republic.

"Within the framework of this forum we will meet with representatives of Russian companies to sign a memorandum of cooperation for work within the framework of the restoration of Syria," Syrian Ambassador to Russia Riyad Haddad said.- Syria together with the Russian Federation is fighting against terrorism, and we are also doing real work to restore our country. "

In addition, the diplomat said that at the moment there is not even an approximate date for the meeting in Geneva on the Syrian constitutional commission. "Damascus has already announced a government delegation for the Constitutional Commission," - he said, - "But there is still no exact date for the meeting in Geneva, even an approximate one." They still have to make preliminary meetings to clarify the data.

Answering the question about the timing of Russia's military presence, Riyad Haddad expressed the opinion that it is too early to talk about this. "We are the allied countries in the fight against terrorism and we will continue this joint struggle until the final cleaning of our land of terrorists, and it is not the time to say how long Russia will remain in Syria," the diplomat said.

"We remain strategic allies not only in military affairs, but also in economic, commercial and other spheres," Haddad added.

Damascus needs to participate in such economic events, because only here you can find many Russian companies that want to enter the Syrian market, the diplomat believes.

This is very important, especially now when Syria has almost completely eradicated terrorism and is ready to enter the construction phase, Haddad said.

INGUSHETIA TO START EXPORT THEIR OWN PRODUCTS IN BAHRAIN.

The head of Ingushetia Yunus-Bek Evkurov on the third day of the International Economic Forum in St. Petersburg at negotiations with the Sheikh of Bahrain, Salman Bin Khalifa Al Khalifa, reached a preliminary agreement on trade and economic cooperation between the republic and the kingdom in the export of products.

"We are actively developing export opportunities both on the regional and international markets. This is a strategically important measure for achieving success in reducing the subsidy component of the region. We agreed to establish a bilateral working group between the Republic and Bahrain for further consultations on the issues of our interaction," - Yevkurov noted.

As it's reported that within a week a plan of nearest cooperation events will be formed, which will be discussed during the meeting with the Ambassador of Bahrain in Russia.

In November, 2017 Ingushetia was visited by ambassadors and diplomatic attorneys from 13 countries of the Middle East and Africa, among which there were also representatives of Bahrain. During the stay of the guests in the republic, they were introduced to the investment potential of the region.


Director of the Russian-Arab Business Council, President of the All-Russian Public Organization "Women of Business" Tatyana Gvilava took part in the work of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum - 2018 in the framework of a round table entitled "Eurasian Community of Women Leaders: Interaction in the name of Transformations" and in an open discussion "Women entrepreneurs about trust in business."

Also, within the framework of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, Tatiana Gvilava held a number of meetings and signed several cooperation agreements.

ROUND TABLE "EURASIAN COMMUNITY OF WOMEN-LEADERS: INTERACTIONS IN THE NAME OF TRANSFORMATIONS"

Within the framework of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, a round table was held entitled "Eurasian community of women leaders: interaction in the name of transformations" at which the Director of the Russian-Arab Business Council and the President of the All-Russian Public Organization "Women of Business" Tatyana Gvilava participated.

Successful society and the successful companies have to consist equally of leaders — men and women.

"It should be balanced companies, where half of women and half of men work. Then this company is doomed to success, "- said Tatiana Gvilava.

               

OPENED DISCUSSION "WOMEN - ENTREPRENEURS ABOUT TRUST IN BUSINESS".

The discussion was opened by the President of the All-Russian Public Organization "Women of Business", Director of the Russian-Arab Business Council, Tatiana Gvilava with the question to the first Deputy Chairman of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation Kseniya Yudaeva, whether there will be an end of turbulence and stability in the near future time. Sherpa of Russia in the G20 Svetlana Lukash (the only woman among the Sherpans of the G20 countries) spoke about one of the first tasks of the G20 - increasing the participation of women in the world economy. Julia Urozhayeva, an adviser to the Minister of Economic Development, spoke about the strengths of women in business. She also mentioned that the Ministry of Economic Development is currently actively discussing possible tools to support women's entrepreneurship.

Tatiana Gvilava added: "Active self-realization of women in entrepreneurship, reduction of the gender gap according to the research, will increase world GDP by 7% by 2025. This factor of sustainable development is the key to successful prosperity of national economies for the long term." A woman who chose the path of entrepreneurship, need support and assistance from relatives, goodwill, comfortable conditions that presuppose the possibility of doing business not to the detriment of motherhood and family. "

At the end of the session, all participants came to the conclusion that it was necessary to develop proposals for creating a comfortable business climate in the country and possible tools for involving women in the business environment, and the newest support tools. Contribution to the coordinated work of public associations, associations and institutes of support.

        

In addition, within the framework of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, an agreement was signed between the All-Russian Public Organization "Women of Business" and the Ulyanovsk Region.

"We plan to continue to cooperate with this organization, which will allow us to develop women's entrepreneurship. We have been paying active attention to this direction for more than a year. "

In the Ulyanovsk region, more than 40% of entrepreneurs are women, enterprises are successfully developing under their leadership, but we have to involve women who are only planning to start their own business. Cooperation with the organization "Women of Business" will allow us to take our work to a new level and create a platform for the development of women's entrepreneurship." - Governor of the Ulyanovsk region, Sergey Morozov.