- 9 months ago
As the world facing multipolar and geoeconomic becomes apparent, how shared values especially among developing nations play an important role? CEO Roscongress Foundation Alexander Stuglev take us through the realities being brought to SPIEF 2025.
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00:00We begin the press briefing for the foreign media, or the foreign briefing, held by Alexander
00:16Stuglov, the Chair of the Board of the Roscove Grass Foundation. We are very grateful to
00:20Alexander Anatolyevich that even today he found time to have a discussion with us through
00:28the standard pressure that you are under. You have to solve a lot of questions. We saw
00:35that Alexander Anatolyevich approached us, and then he ran away. He is the Deputy Director
00:43of the Roscove Grass Foundation, Director of St. Petersburg International. I hope you
00:47understand that he has to tackle the issues. So, ladies and gentlemen, in front of us there
00:54are people who are very well familiar with the activities of Roscove Grass, not because
00:59it is the second day of the forum, but because they are partners and even friends of the foundation.
01:09We have representatives of Al-Kahira, News TV, Egypt. We remember Al-Kahid, who is our friend.
01:24Amir Yahya is also joining us from Al-Ahram. Our friends from South Africa have joined us.
01:31We also have a friend of Al-Ahram. We have a friend of Al-Ahram. We have a friend of Al-Ahram.
01:46We have a friend of Al-Ahram here as well, and Mr. Simta has joined us today. He represents
01:50Al-Ahram. We would like to communicate with the main figure here. Well, I will say that
02:07I am the main figure. Well, you are the main figure from the standpoint of the organizational issues.
02:13Thank you for this comment, and if you don't mind, we would like to jump to the questions.
02:20The first question is from Akbar Khalid.
02:28We would like to ask about the theme of the state to 2025 shared values.
02:40The question of growth in a multi-power world. How will the forum contribute to the new models
02:47of international cooperation and long-term investments? Thank you.
02:57We would like the question to be repeated. So, the question was this. Will the firm contribute
03:14to new models of international cooperation and investment attraction? I am going to talk
03:18about the 2025 form. So, we checked the semifinals interpreting function. So, please take mine, if
03:27there is some issue.
03:33Thank you very much.
03:35I am going to talk about the first one.
03:36All right. I see, Petersburg International Economic Forum only confirms its status as one of the
03:40leading business platforms in the world.
03:57Durantly, with the organization committee, we developed the program of the International
04:01Syncres of Economic Forum. More than 25,000 experts work on the program. We work on the
04:09business zones and platforms represented here, the industries that are presented here.
04:18And in this very year, we launched a number of new industrial areas of work, the agricultural
04:26cluster, the zone of Russian brands are included to promote Russian services and products.
04:34We have organized the Russian Congress International Corner. It is a great continuation of the role
04:45of our partners. And we believe that the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum enables
04:51us to have the equal dialogue. And this platform is the great foundation for building new business
05:12projects, for formulating the new position for forging cooperation between countries. And this is the dialogue
05:26between countries who came to Russia's guests to participate in the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.
05:34This is our major goal. Thank you. Colleagues, other questions?
05:41What are the key sectors of the Russian economy showcase, S-E-I-F, and which of them
05:52are most attractive to foreign investors?
05:56The St. Petersburg International Economic Forum structure, in terms of the industries, and so that
06:11everything is presented here. All the industries that are present in Russia and in the world can
06:18be found at this forum. We represent the Roscogos, the organizational committee, and we have made some
06:28accentuation points. We have the Center of Innovations, where the most interesting and new promising
06:34technological and innovative projects are presented. We also have the new space called Agricultural Cluster,
06:44the leading representatives of Russian Agricultural Cluster. The leading representatives of Russian agricultural produce
06:49are present there. Apart from products, food security in Russia and globally, we discussed there. The quality of
06:57products and its influence on the longevity, we discussed there, and the investments in the agricultural sector.
07:03There is the platform for Russian brands, and a couple of platforms for the Ministry of Sport. And there we talk not only about
07:13sport as a phenomenon, but also about business and sport, and the mass scale of sport. So, if you visit any pavilion,
07:22you'll find oil and gas companies, there are banks, IT companies, transport companies as well. So, it would be very hard to name an industry that is not represented at St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.
07:41Thank you, Alexander Armatoly for your answer. Moving on. Colleagues, who else would like to ask a question?
07:51Could you help us to understand better in terms of, in what ways, you know,
07:58SPIF, you know, solving as the bridge for fostering the nuclear technological
08:04cooperation between the Russian enterprise and also the global and international innovation community?
08:14Well, I believe that one of the target platforms is the territory of innovations. There's a whole cluster of stands represented by the Ministry of Healthcare and the pharmaceutical industry. There are also some governmental structures that are also
08:41responsible for the well-being of the well-being of Russian citizens, with our technologies, and the oversight agency is also present there, but there are also business zones in the regions of Russia. And there, you'll find a lot of innovative and high-tech projects that are underway with the products made, and other projects that are potentially interesting for investors.
09:10Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I hope we are satisfied by the answer. And, esteemed colleagues, I can see how hard it is to pronounce the whole abbreviation. We also say SPIF and just say PISB form. Yes. In Russia, we sometimes just say PISB form.
09:29Colleagues, who else would like to ask a question. Yes, I'll give you the floor.
09:36We're going to have a special occasion for attending such an outstanding international forum. And I'm going to actually represent a new newspaper which is one of the latest newspapers in the world, but for probably 15 years and it's one of the biggest newspapers and media organizations that have been in this as well as the region.
09:55as well as in Egypt.
09:56Actually, I have two questions.
09:58One, the first one is what is the rich step 2020 value from previous forums, especially
10:06in the context of the global shift towards a multi-polarity?
10:09And Michael, second question, and thanks for the privilege of the previous interview
10:15a few weeks for the Ahram newspaper, and we may add this to a great sort of view.
10:20How do you view the Egypt's participation in this year's forum, and what are the most
10:27outcomes regarding Egypt and Russia, especially that our bilateral relations between Russia
10:32and Egypt is very strategic relationship?
10:42Thank you for the question.
10:45Each forum is different from the previous one, and I'm talking about the St. Petersburg
10:53International Economic Forum, and I'm talking in terms of the number of disciplines and
10:58the number of countries.
10:59The numbers are growing each year.
11:01If we speak of the peculiarities of each forum, this year we have the new guest, the Kingdom
11:10of Rome, and we're talking about different industrial clusters, and each year we represent new areas.
11:23As for the shift that you mentioned, it all is reflected in the agenda of St. Petersburg International Economic Forum in its program.
11:32We look at it through the prism of the economic relations and economic difficulties, and the turbulence that we are observing, and the ways of overcoming them.
11:45As for the composition of participants of the forum, we never have rejected participants in their participation.
12:03As for the USA, the participants from the USA also willingly participate in our forum, and we can see more and more representatives from Southeast Asia, Latin America, Middle East, Central Asia.
12:20So we're working on it, and we're organizing events within St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, not only here and now.
12:31We've been working for the whole year.
12:33In Malaysia, Indonesia, we had some visiting sessions.
12:37We also visited Latin America, and my colleague will name some more countries, and this is all within the work of St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, and it all brings positive results.
12:49This is our main goal.
12:51As for relations of Russia and Egypt, in my opinion, our countries have always enjoyed friendly relations, and these relations will only develop further.
13:05So there are no risks or impediments for the Egyptian companies to participate in the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.
13:15Well, apart from the transportation and logistical issues that we're facing now, but I think these issues are minimal when it comes to Egypt, because there are direct flights from Cairo to St. Petersburg, but the pressure, the load has increased.
13:33Yes, it's true. You're correct in saying that. Thank you.
13:39Ahmar, we move on. Who else would like to ask a question?
13:47Mr. Sublev, we missed the opportunity to thank you the other day for the wonderful opportunity, the invitation. We hope this is not the first time, and we hope that this is not the last time that us partners will continue to work together.
14:03But my question is more about business from the European side. Are the European businesses still interested in this forum, SPIF, and do Western companies still see opportunities in Russia? Thank you.
14:24Mr. This is a very prominent issue on the agenda. I know, reading your Russian media, I know that many foreign, especially Western European companies, are reconsidering their decisions to leave the Russian market or to freeze their business activity in Russia.
14:52Indeed, there are debates about on what terms they may be allowed to come back to Russia and restart their business. On the one hand, sometimes it's easy to exit an economic partnership, but it's much harder to enter into it again.
15:16What we're seeing, what we expect to happen is that they will need to face tougher terms. There will be different types of requirements, different from those that were used back in the 1990s. Those were much more friendly, much more convenient. There was a lot of demand for their products. There was a lot of support from the Russian government when they first entered the Russian market.
15:44Apart from administrative decisions that will need to be made in terms of allowing these businesses to return to Russia, we need to understand that over this elapsed time period, companies from other countries including Chinese, Turkish and Southeast Asian companies have filled this niche that used to be occupied by European businesses.
16:10So there, going back does not mean that they will automatically get the market share that they enjoyed until 2022 or 2023 when they all took up and left under certain pressure or the current issues on the political agenda.
16:30So it's a question of further discussion and if they meet all the administrative requirements working in Russia with Russian consumers in a given price range.
16:45You know, some things just evolve. Let's take a look at the automotive industry. Even though Russian buyers always liked European and American car brands, they just gave up the market to Chinese car makers and they also lost their European market as well because their prices were not competitive.
17:13As opposed to similar cars made in China that go shipped to Europe. So now returning to Russia with their cars that are often an order of magnitude more expensive but do not have the same level of service and more limited options.
17:35You know, that's a total order. And Russian consumers vary into a lot of troubles related to the maintenance of their cars. They face a lot of limitations.
17:43So they might be thinking it's better to buy a Russian-made car and Russian cars have improved in terms of quality. Or maybe it's better to buy a Chinese vehicle rather than necessarily buying a European-made car.
18:01That's just one of the most prominent examples. Thank you for this example. Next question please, colleagues. Who's next?
18:08Who's next?
18:15Okay.
18:17Okay.
18:18Okay.
18:19We will go up and shoot everything here.
18:22Okay, we do appreciate everything here. My question is, how does the AF agenda form to become a bigger year after year?
18:34Second question is, does the composition of international participation maybe influence on the topics?
18:42I think I've touched upon this issue already. When we put work on the agenda of the next forum, you know, it's a year long work.
18:57Once the SPIEF 2025 ends, we are going to immediately start working on the next forum.
19:05Even now, we'll be working on some themes for 2026. Some of the delegations that are here this year have certain ideas about next year.
19:17So, the foundation is laid by, first of all, the expert community, about 5,000 people who work year-round.
19:29Then we have our team and we have partners among Russian SMEs and large corporations who help us form our agenda.
19:40Because this forum serves all groups. Yesterday we had an SME day where we invited not only Russian companies but international companies as well.
19:49It was a very fruitful day that resulted in some suggestions for 2026 in terms of legislative initiatives and international initiatives.
20:00Initiatives to lower certain barriers including customs barriers or transportation limitations for SMEs.
20:07The final day, June 21st, will be called the day of the future and will be dedicated to the youth agenda.
20:16It will be dedicated to those who will build our economy of tomorrow.
20:21This is how we build up our agenda. We will look at the recommendations resulting from this year's forum.
20:31We will work with our experts community. We will work with experts during our international foreign sessions.
20:40We will see what our media partners suggest and we will incorporate all this feedback.
20:45As for the composition of our participants, it keeps fluctuating.
20:50We are not limiting participation in any way to representatives of any countries.
20:57But it just so happens that Southeast Asia is beginning to dominate.
21:02The Middle East is beginning to dominate.
21:04Latin America has... Latin American partners have a hard time traveling here and it's more difficult for them to do joint business projects.
21:13Turkey is always active in our business dialogue and they send business delegations and some political figures from Turkey travel here to take part in the SPIEF.
21:28The same applies to Indonesia. Again, talking about Southeast Asia.
21:34So, year after year, this is how our agenda takes shape and how the composition of participants takes shape.
21:41The organizing committee is very much involved. We also enjoy the support of the Russian Foreign Ministry and the Ministry of Economic Development and the Ministry of Industry.
21:53All the ministries, the presidential executive office, the government, all contribute.
21:59So, that's a huge effort that results in delivering a high-quality event that serves all target groups.
22:09Expert community, more for conflict organizations, social institutions also contribute.
22:16As you can see, sport features prominently on the agenda. Most Russian regions are represented here or have sent their delegations here.
22:27Now, talking about the cultural sports program around the forum. These are meant to help participants continue their conversations in an entirely different atmosphere and reach a new level of trust because if there's no trust, there's no business.
22:50Thank you so much.
22:51When our colleagues came here, we did a briefing for them and I allowed myself this comparison. I compared the SPIEF to the Hermitage Museum. You can't visit all the booths. You can't visit all the sessions. But I think our colleagues are breaking records here. They've been running around this whole exhibition.
23:17They've been running around this whole expo. They know the difference between the different halls and zones. They have a very full agenda. I don't think there are a few less guests here.
23:27The media center is open. The media center has been doing great work. We have the analytical system of the SPIEF. If you connect, you will see the highlights from each session.
23:39You can get the gist of what happened and you can use it for your publications. We have about 300 sessions during this forum. You can only visit the center maybe.
23:55Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry. We can't excuse you.
24:01Actually, I want to commend on the job done by the media center here in the media center. Before we got the news either in Arabic or in English, for sure I should.
24:10But there are really taking some in the briefing and some news from the next site, which is also very impactful for us.
24:17Because as we've seen that the event is very normal and very huge and we can't follow up all the materials.
24:23But thanks for them and thanks for the administration as well. Thanks for the SPIEF also because we have a very comprehensive schedule and very detailed schedule for visiting most of the buildings as well. Thank you.
24:37Thank you so much. Thank you so much. We have internal SPIEF TV. We have live streams with live streams on VK and Yandex, which are media partners.
24:53So we're trying to do anything that we can in order to share what's going on here with everyone.
24:58Thank you so much. Thank you so much. I am the...
25:03I think our viewers have witnessed today on the same stage of the president visiting and making statements of what is happening here.
25:15So I wanted to reply from you. Is the World Congress International more of a brand initiative or is it a practical strategy too? Can you help your audience?
25:29I'm sorry. I just want to clarify. You mean Ros Congress International this part?
25:34Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. I got it.
25:39Talking about Ros Congress International as a brand, as a sub-brand of the Ros Congress Foundation. It's our structured product for our foreign partners.
25:51We try to create more services to offer more services. We hold foreign sessions in different countries. We are working, for example, with our partners, and you come in Africa Energy Week under the brand of Ros Congress International.
26:12Thank you so much. Thank you so much.
26:15Any other questions?
26:16Calls online.
26:17Calls online.
26:18It's my own plan for me.
26:19We will say that it is a process of continuity and evolution.
26:24We will do a certain things as well.
26:26And then we will take in what are the new priorities and that is being put into the agenda.
26:31Based on what are your expectations from SPIA 2025?
26:36And if I want to participate in what I expect to be my takeaway from SPIA.
26:41Well, I think we will know what the takeaways are in a couple of days. I believe we will know the takeaways in a couple of days of this form.
26:59First and foremost, we want the businesses that take part at the SPIA, both Russian and foreign businesses, we want them to get
27:10as many benefits as possible in terms of information, in terms of agreements signed, in terms of projects, in terms of understanding the processes that are going on in Russia.
27:25Just today we visited the opening of the agricultural cluster and a businessman from Germany who moved to Russia, who has been investing in Russia, who created a dairy plant number one in Russia and in Europe.
27:47And that gentleman said it is much easier for him now to work in Russia than in Germany.
27:54And his colleagues are echoing that idea. Russia is becoming an attractive jurisdiction. It is becoming an attractive venue for agricultural projects.
28:05Because there is a certain legislative framework that helps maintain and improve the quality of products.
28:15There is a certain level of culture that works well maybe for people of the older generations from Europe and the West about how the world should be.
28:31So maybe the main takeaways from the Forum this year will depend on this general theme of the Forum, which is shared values.
28:44Because without the foundation of shared values, of traditional values, we cannot build trust.
28:50And without trust we cannot do business. We cannot execute policies. I wouldn't want to, you know, get all political in our dialogue, talking more about the Forum and the composition of the Forum.
29:13We just want to make it convenient and comfortable for businesses and for you and for experts. But we all live in this world. It is a small world after all.
29:26And I think being here, being immersed in the narratives that have been around for the last couple of years, we realize that this world is really small after all.
29:43And for us, it is the only world. We have no planet B. We can't move to Mars or Venus. We can't just take up and leave. We can't just say we're done. We're going somewhere else.
30:00So we need to carefully preserve what we have, both in terms of natural resources and in terms of political dialogue. Even if we might disagree, we might have different political views, we might have old grudges.
30:15And yet we should go back to dialogue and stop hostilities that claim people's lives and destroy businesses, rupture logistics chains. Even if some people believe that it's the king's ultimate answer, as they used to say.
30:44You know, it's the only way forward. We should still be thinking about how to go back. Exiting hostile conflict is hard because there are tensions that are difficult to forget and put past you, even though there are some positive examples here.
31:03Let's take what happened 80 years ago. This year we're celebrating the 80th anniversary of the victory in the Great Patriotic War. It's a major celebration for Russia, for formerly the Soviet Union. It unites us all.
31:21We're united by this understanding that France and Germany and Great Britain and the Soviet Union and the United States and the United States and Japan. All of these powers still managed to find some common ground after World War II and managed to exit that military conflict with a certain economic agenda.
31:42And then they achieved growth and shared wealth. So it would be great if some of the takeaways of this forum this year, and you know, we'll all listen to our president's keynote and we'll listen to what our plenary panelists have to say.
32:04And again, I don't want to get all too political. I'm more of an economy guy. But the erosion of trust leads to the erosion of economic processes and we see that reflected in the prices of oil and many other processes economies suffer.
32:23Thank you, Alexander Adelovitch, for this detailed reply. Well, I would listen from you forever. Colleagues, any other questions for Alexander Stuglov to allocate these 40 minutes to communicate with us despite his very busy schedule and to talk about St. Petersburg International Economic Forum 2025?
32:49We wish you, Alexander Stuglov, to conclude this forum the way that you would like to and ensure that the numbers of the forum will meet your expectations. What are the current numbers?
33:08Well, 140 countries, 25,000 participants at least. I'd like to congratulate you all. Thank you for organizing the provision of information at St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. Thank you to participants for your interest and participation in St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. I wish you peace and all the best.
33:30And all the best. And Ruskongress International is the platform where we organize this briefing. You remember that Bahrain is the special guest of this forum. So colleagues from Bahrain have prepared the gift. This will be a declared memo. I don't know what this gift is all about, but I'm sure.
33:52Thank you very much.
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