St. Petersburg International Economic Forum

Despite pandemic restrictions, a plenary meeting of the SPIEF was held in June 2021, at which trends and prospects for the Russian and global economy were discussed. This was an important event for the business and political community. Ways to overcome the consequences of the coronavirus pandemic and cooperation with foreign investors are the main topics of Moscow events within the framework of the last forum. Last week, the XXIV St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF-2021) ended in the northern capital, a number of events within the framework of which were organized with the assistance of the Moscow Department of External Economic and International Relations (FEIR). An important event for the Russian capital at SPIEF 2021 was the business session “Investing in Moscow. Opportunities for everyone." Opening the session, the Minister of the Moscow Government, the head of the DVMS Sergei Cheremin emphasized that the most pessimistic forecasts due to the closure of borders did not become a reality, but quite the opposite - Moscow was in 22nd place among the largest metropolises in the world in terms of financial attractiveness for investors, beating the American San Francisco and the Canadian Montreal. This is due to the fact that the city development strategy adopted 10 years ago made it possible to create a unique infrastructure that withstood the stressful pressure of the crisis, which the world's large metropolises with a population of more than 10 million people were unable to cope with. “For us, this was a unique opportunity not only to maintain economic and budgetary indicators at pre-crisis levels, but also to show that Moscow has such a favorable infrastructure for investment that even during the crisis year, not a single serious investor left,” the minister said. According to him, foreign business is in demand for models of concession and offset contracts, contracts with special investment conditions. Sergey Cheremin added that foreign investors not only continue to invest themselves, but also give recommendations to those who are not yet present on the Moscow market. During the business session, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Japan to Russia Toyohisa Kozuki, General Director of the special economic zone Technopolis Moscow Gennady Degtev, General Director of KORTROS Group Stanislav Kiselev, Deputy Chairman of the Board of the Moscow Credit Bank Alexander Kaznacheev, EY partner Olga Arkhangelskaya and General Director of JLL Anders Liljenstolpe also spoke.