St Petersburg International Forum opens with few delegates

RUSSIA / FSU POLITICS - In Brief 16 Jun 2022 by Alex Teddy
The forum began on June 15. There are almost no Westerners there. The President of Belarus attended as did the Taliban despite the Taliban still being designated a terrorist organization in Russia. The presidents of Kazakhstan and Armenia are there. The Chinese President will join by videolink. There are delegates from the Russian controlled regions of Ukraine. The forum has been running since 1997. It was known as Russia's Davos. There are delegates from other former USSR countries, the Middle East and the Far East. India and the UAE have sent smaller than usual delegations. People are avoiding speaking about the Ukraine War. The heads of Exxon Mobil and Goldman Sachs used to attend but no longer. 2019 was the last forum under normal circumstances and 19 000 attended. The number of attendees this year is secret. The days of extravagant parties at the forum are over. The Kremlin explained how low attendance by saying it is hard for foreign delegates to come to Russia because of the ban on flights between Russia and 48 sanctioning countries. The US has not sent any government officials. Over 1 000 foreign companies have ended operations in Russia in 2022.  The President of the American Chamber of Commerce in Russia is speaking at the forum. Companies such as Bashkir Soda and Prombot (a robotics company) showcased their producers. Some non-Russian companies are allowed to keep their attendance secret lest they be sanctioned by the West. The head of the Donestsk People's Republic opened the forum along with the Governor of St Petersburg. Putin shall address the forum on June 17. He normally meets investors there but it is expected that he will not do so this year. Instead...

Now read on...

Register to sample a report

Register
Sign-in
Forgot your password?
Copyright 2024 GlobalSource Partners. All rights reserved. This is prepared for GlobalSource Partners’ clients and may not be redistributed, reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, retransmitted or disclosed, in whole or in part, or in any form or manner, without the express written consent of GlobalSource Partners. This is distributed simultaneously to our website and other portals used by GlobalSource Partners. The information herein was obtained from various sources and is believed to be reliable but GlobalSource Partners does not warrant its completeness or accuracy. Neither GlobalSource Partners nor any Country Analyst, officer or employee accepts any liability whatsoever for any direct, indirect or consequential damages or losses rising from any use of this or its contents.