28 November 2002 00:00
ON THE HOLDING OF THE SEVENTH PETERSBURG ECONOMIC FORUM
In accordance with decisions of the Federation Council of the Russian Federal Assembly and the CIS Inter-Parliamentary Assembly the Seventh Petersburg International Economic Forum will be held in the city on the Neva from June 17 to 21, 2003. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development will for the first time act as an official partner of the Russian Federation Council and the CIS IPA.
The question of the course of the preparations for PEF-7 has been included in the draft agenda of a CIS IPA Council meeting which will be held at the Tavrichesky Palace on December 6, 2002. Sergei Mironov, Chairman of the Federation Council of the Russian Federal Assembly and Chairman of the CIS IPA Council, will deliver a report on this theme.
Special attention at the upcoming forum is expected to be paid to the attraction of foreign investment into Russia and other CIS countries, economic and social reforms, the development of modern information technologies, the formation of a common economic space with the European Union, the entry of new countries into the World Trade Organization, humanitarian-strategic problems and the role of St. Petersburg in connection with its 300th anniversary.
The motto of the 2003 forum is "An Efficient Economy - A Worthy Life." Actively involved in the preparation of the forum is the CIS IPA, which is called upon to work out legal norms conducive to living standards improvement and the acceleration of the economic and social development of the Commonwealth's countries.
The practice of holding the presentation of one of the states which form the Commonwealth is planned to be continued at PEF-7. It is assumed that the Republic of Kazakhstan will present its potentialities this time. Also, the forum's organizers plan to hold the presentation of one of Russia's federal districts. At the Petersburg Economic Forum of 2003 it will most likely be the Far Eastern Federal District.
The leadership of the Secretariat of the CIS IPA Council has already received a whole array of letters confirming the participation of eminent foreign guests. An official answer has been received from the leadership of the International Monetary Fund, which in particular speaks of the coming to the forum of Ann Krueger, IMF first deputy managing director. Participation of more than 30 largest European companies is expected under the auspices of EBRD. A whole series of domestic firms have already expressed a wish to be sponsors of PEF-7.
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© Publication of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation.
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