St. Petersburg Economic Summit:

Focus on emerging markets

The word 'Davos' automatically comes to mind when one thinks of an Economic Forum. But there is one alternative to the well known economic summit in Switzerland. It is an annual summit called 'the Russian Davos'. It was set up in 1997 in Russia's second largest city of Saint Petersburg by the Ministry of Economic Development. President Mahinda Rajapaksa attended this year's Summit and held talks with leaders of China, Russia, Spain and several other countries.

The forum comprises various sessions, round tables, investment project showcases, talks and cultural events. Each year, the forum deals with burning economic issues. Financing Russia's modernization is one of the key issues discussed at this year's St Petersburg International Economic Forum on 16-18 June. A number of sessions were devoted to this subject, in particular 'Raising Capital for Russia's Growth' on June 18.

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 participation of China's President Hu Jintao at this year's Forum, and the participation of a large delegation of Chinese and Asian business leaders from a wide range of industrial sectors are expected to participate.

This year the Forum strove 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 provided 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 - featured a discussion involving the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Medvedev, Prime Minister of Spain Jose Luis Rodrigues Zapater and President of Finland Tarja Halonen.

To enhance networking opportunities, this year SPIEF introduced 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.

The current, 15th forum, is a post-crisis one and deals with the further development of the global economy. The event was attended by Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev, China's leader Hu Jintao, Spain's PM Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero and Finland's President Tarja Halonen.

The forum also offers a cultural program - shows at Russia's famous Mariinsky and Alexandrinsky Theaters, museums of St. Petersburg and its suburbs, a regatta and a concert by British star Sting on June 16.

More than 4,000 delegates participated at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF), from Thursday.

Participants include heads of state and government, CEOs and CFOs of big and small businesses, and scholars and researchers from the world's renowned institutions.

Starting as an annual summit for Commonwealth of Independent States and held in June, the forum has developed into a full-fledged international event which has come to be known as the "Russian Davos." This year's event is presided over by Russian Minister for Economic Development Elvira Nabiullina.

Media representatives from Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Britain, China, Finland, France, Germany, India, Iran, Italy, Japan, Lithuania, Nigeria, Poland, Qatar, Romania, Russia, Slovenia, Spain, Turkey, Ukraine and the United States also attended.

The previous year witnessed a change of forum venue to the current LenExpo Exhibition Center to cater for a bigger and better plenary session and round-table facilities.

In 2009 the summit had on its agenda world financial institutions, banking sector and state role in its development. In 2010, the forum's motto was laying the foundation for the future and it dealt with recovering from the global financial crisis, Russia's prospects on the world arena and innovation in business and production. Back in 1997, the forum was attended by 1,500 people from 50 countries, while in 1998 there were already 2,600 including the CIS and international top officials from the Council of Europe, the UN and the UNESCO. In 2005, some 1,800 people took part in the St. Petersburg forum.

More than 3,000 people from 50 countries and regions were present at the 2004 forum and 2,500 people attended the previous year's forum, representing 48 countries and regions.

In 2002, 40 countries and regions sent some 2,000 people to attend the St. Petersburg forum while in 2001, the forum was officially recognized as the primary economic conference among the CIS states.

In 2000, 2,200 people from 57 countries and regions took part, while the 1999 forum was remembered for the presentation of the Russian inter-regional associations for economic interaction.

In 1998, 2,600 people attended the forum to sign a total of 52 agreements of cooperation and investment totalling 1 billion dollars.

Last year the forum attracted 4,500 participants and resulted in 47 investment agreements worth US$ 12 billion. The participants included 2,142 foreign delegates from 87 countries and regions.