The Partneriat-2014 was attended by more than 1800 businessmen, industrialists, members of Chambers of commerce and representatives of the executive and legislative authorities from 63 Russian regions and 15 foreign countries (Finland, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Germany, Italy, Sweden, Spain, Belgium, Poland, Slovakia, The Czech Republic, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Belarus).
The Partneriat-2014 was attended by more than 1800 businessmen, industrialists, members of Chambers of commerce and representatives of the executive and legislative authorities from 63 Russian regions and 15 foreign countries (Finland, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Germany, Italy, Sweden, Spain, Belgium, Poland, Slovakia, The Czech Republic, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Belarus).
At the Partneriat`s opening, the Governor of St.Petersburg Georgy Poltavchenko said: “The interest in doing business in St.Petersburg is growing steadily. The comfort level of our business environment is confirmed by the volume of foreign direct investment which grew by half for the last year. We are going to keep this standard at the same height”.
The relevance of the perspective set at the Partneriat and activity of its participants was emphasized by the Chairman of the Committee for External Relations of St.Petersburg Alexander Prokhorenko. He noted that “from the very beginning the Partneriat was conceived as a platform for building business dialogue at the interregional level, and this year it is a full-fledged international business forum". 94 industrial enterprises of Russia were awarded with commemorative diplomas on behalf of the Organizing committee of the Partneriat.
The Partneriat`s congress program included such events as a talk show “Infrastructure of big cities. Integration of new technologies into construction”, numerous seminars and round tables, dedicated to the issues of cooperation of education and science in industry, features of e-procurement, technologies of improving energy efficiency of housing and public utilities, as well as the growth prospects for scientific and industrial potential of St.Petersburg in development of Russian regions. More than 300 experts from St.Petersburg and other Russian regions participated in round tables.
On the first day of the Partneriat a special role was played by the round table “Business opportunities for Finnish entrepreneurs in St.Petersburg” attended by representatives of more than 50 Finnish industrial enterprises. The representatives of Finnish companies shared with Russian colleagues their experience in development of cluster policy and international integration in the sphere of small business. Timo Parmasuo, Deputy Chairman of SME Association, Chairman of the Board of Meconet Oy, emphasized the importance of cooperation with St.Petersburg for Finland. “The whole Finland, as a market, is equal to one St.Petersburg”, he said.
Influence of non-government organizations on economic policies in the country, as well as assessment of entrepreneurs` participation in law-making process were discussed by the participants of the meeting of Stolypin club “The role of business associations: the formula of interaction with the government” which was held at the Partneriat`s venue. The new SHOW and TELL format of discussion played a special role in the Partneriat`s business programme. The round table dedicated to the issues of improving energy efficiency was attended by Anatoly Tarasov, Head of Department for Prospective Development of the Committee for Energy and Engineering; Mikhail Kuritsyn, Deputy Director of SUE “Lensvet”, Andrey Shults, Director of OOO “Multiwood”; Olga Dvoretskaya, Director for Business Development of “ECOlist”; Pavel Lebedev, Director General of OOO “Obnaruzhenie protechek-Spb”, Chairman of the Innovation Committee of the St.Petersburg regional branch of “Delovaya Rossiya”.
More than 1250 business meetings with representatives of regions, centers of subcontracting, dedicated committees of St.Petersburg Government were held as part of the Business Contacts Exchange of the VIII St. Petersburg Partneriat. 28 organizations worked in the Consulting Business Centre, where 219 consultations were given, that have also attracted great interest among the Partneriat`s participants. The Exchange of subcontracts also worked in the framework of the Partneriat. Meetings with representatives of the executive bodies of St.Petersburg Government attracted interest of the Partneriat`s participants. More than 40 meetings with representatives of dedicated committees and agencies of the city were held 3 days prior the event.
Possibilities of Russian and foreign regions, presentations of 50 companies, regional programs and projects were shown in the Presentation area of the Partneriat.
In total, participants of VIII St.Petersburg Partneriat highly appreciated the results of collaborative work and expressed hope for continued cooperation. Positive feedback on the event was repeatedly expressed by the regions` representatives who participated in the Partneriat for the first time this year. For example, Deputy Minister of Economy of the Republic of Tyva - Badarchi Herel Buyan-oolovich emphasized that the region`s projects presented at this year`s Partneriat attracted the greatest interest among the visitors of the stand. According to him, a number of memorandums of understanding with colleagues from Russian regions were signed as the result of participation in the Partneriat by the republic`s enterprises. It is an obvious step forward in the process of enhancing the region`s investment attractiveness.