The St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) has been held since 1997, and since 2005 the President of the Russian Federation has been taking part in its work. This undoubtedly testifies to the high level of this platform, the main purpose of which is to attract investment in the development of the Russian economy and the social sphere. The regular SPIEF, which took place on June 21-22, 2012, became a record one in terms of the number of participants and the amount of agreements concluded at 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 who were rightfully 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 production of unconventional oil, and with the Norwegian company Statoil on joint participation in the ongoing tenders for the development of the Barents Sea shelf. Rosneft also managed to agree with VTB Bank on obtaining a five-year loan in the amount of 100 billion rubles.
Rosneft signed an agreement with the Moscow Region, where it plans to build an oil refinery with a capacity of 12 million tons per year. The vice-president of the company Igor Sechin with journalists and minority shareholders discussed issues of its possible privatization.
This year, the SPIEF site has become ideal for the signing of many agreements. SIBUR has signed an agreement with Linde AG on the design of a pyrolysis plant, which will be the largest in our country. The Eurasian Development Bank signed a loan agreement for the construction of the St. Petersburg Western High-Speed Diameter, as well as several cooperation agreements with Russian companies and the RF Chamber of Commerce and Industry. 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, which is almost 10% more than the results of last year's forum. This year was successful for the city on the Neva - the decisions made at the forum allowed attracting about $ 3 billion to its economy.
But despite the wishes of the President, foreign investors to invest not only in the field of mineral resources and raw materials extraction, but also in other production sectors, these words have not yet been heard. It is hoped that the next such meetings will help to attract investment deposits for the development of infrastructure, transport, logistics, healthcare in Russia.
