What decisions were made at SPIEF?

The St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) has been held since 1997, and since 2005, the President of the Russian Federation has been participating in it. This, of course, testifies to the high level of this site, the main purpose of which is to attract investment in the development of the Russian economy and social sphere. The next SPIEF held on June 21-22, 2012 was a record one in the number of participants and in the amount of agreements concluded on it.

The main decisions that were made at SPIEF relate to the oil and gas industry. Here, the leader was Rosneft, whose top managers signed a number of agreements with partners, which were rightly considered the main guests of the forum. The company managed to reach a final agreement with the Italian company Eni on joint exploration for the extraction of unconventional oil, and with the Norwegian Statoil on joint participation in ongoing tenders for the development of the Barents Sea shelf. Rosneft also managed to agree with VTB Bank on a five-year loan in the amount of 100 billion rubles.

Rosneft signed an agreement with the Moscow Region, on the territory of which it plans to build a refinery with a capacity of 12 million tons per year. The vice president of the company Igor Sechin with reporters and minority shareholders discussed issues of its possible privatization.

This year, the SPIEF platform has become ideal for signing many agreements. SIBUR has signed an agreement with Linde AG on the design of the pyrolysis production, which will be the largest in our country. The Eurasian Development Bank signed a loan agreement on the construction of St. Petersburg's Western High-Speed ​​Diameter, as well as several cooperation agreements with Russian companies and the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation. In total, financial organizations signed at the forum more than 20 agreements on financing various projects.

The organizers of the SPIEF reported that this year the total amount of signed agreements amounted to more than 10 billion dollars, which is almost 10% higher than the results of last year's forum. This year was successful for the city on the Neva - the decisions adopted at the forum allowed to attract about $ 3 billion into its economy.

But despite the President’s wish, foreign investors to invest not only in the sphere of mineral resources and raw material extraction, but also in other manufacturing sectors, these words have not yet been heard. It is hoped that the next such meetings will help attract investment deposits for the development of infrastructure, transport, logistics, and healthcare in Russia.