The St. Petersburg International Economic Forum has been held since 1997. Judging by the financial results of the forum, every year the event becomes more and more important for the economy of Russia and other participating countries.
The Economic Forum is held annually in St. Petersburg. Initially, it was created with the support of the Government of Russia, as well as under the auspices of the Interparliamentary Assembly of the CIS Member States and the Federation Council of the Russian Federation. The event was held at the headquarters of the Assembly of the CIS Member States - in the Tauride Palace. During the four years of the forum's existence, interest in it has grown. In 2005, the President of Russia spoke at it for the first time, and since 2006 the responsibility for holding the event was assigned to the Ministry of Economic Development. For the next forum, the SPIEF Foundation was created to solve organizational problems.
Since 2006, changes have taken place in the organization of the forum. Cooperation with the International Economic Forum has begun. The events were moved from the Tauride Palace to the Lenexpo exhibition complex, where additional venues are being built during the forum (three days). In addition, the number of participants has expanded. At the moment, heads of Russian and foreign companies, leaders of states, representatives of federal and regional authorities come annually.
Every year the main topics of the forum are formulated and published. On the first day, the President of Russia speaks at the plenary session. Then, for three days, meetings are held on given topics. They can take place in a variety of formats - meetings, sessions, round tables, exhibitions, etc.
In addition to the work, the forum also has a cultural part. It is very diverse: the forum website publishes a schedule of events - several for each day, participants can choose which one to go to. For example, in 2012, exhibitions of Rodin's works, ancient oriental manuscripts, a sailing regatta were organized for SPIEF participants, guests were invited to go to the opera and ballet. In addition, the traditional closed receptions of the Governor of St. Petersburg and the SPIEF Organizing Committee took place.
However, not all events within the framework of the forum are closed to ordinary residents and guests of the city. With the support of the forum, concerts of world stars are held on Palace Square - for example, Scorpions, Roger Waters, Duran Duran, Faithless, Sting have already come to St. Petersburg.
After the end of the forum, its results are summed up - analysts calculate the number of transactions and their total amount. These indicators are increasing every year. For example, in 2011, 68 agreements were concluded for the amount of 338 billion rubles, in 2012 - 84 transactions for 360 billion rubles.
