On 14-16 December, St. Petersburg hosted the III International Congress "St. Petersburg and the Slavic world". The event's objective is the development of multilateral and bilateral cooperation between St. Petersburg and the countries of Eastern Europe and the Balkan Peninsula.
The event was attended by the heads of the cities and the partner regions of St. Petersburg, representatives of Chambers of Commerce and Industry, the business community and cultural organizations from Bulgaria, the Republic of Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Poland, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia and Croatia.
Congress program was divided into two areas: "Cultural Heritage" and "Trade and economic cooperation".
In the framework of the first area, "Cultural Heritage", delegates took part in several discussion events: Conference "Cultural and spiritual unity of the Slavic nations" and the "round table": "Popularization of Cultural Heritage Objects and Involvement of Local Communities". Both events were held under the auspices of the IV St. Petersburg International Cultural Forum. Members of the Congress also visited St. Petersburg cultural heritage sites (Anichkov Palace, Savior on Spilled Blood, St. Isaac's Cathedral, Boris Eifman Dance Academy, Y.K. Dobert and I.B. Steikman wooden residence), where they got acquainted with the St. Petersburg experience in restoration and exchanged their views with the experts.
In the framework of the second area of the Congress, there was Forum on trade and economic cooperation: "St. Petersburg and Countries of the Slavic World – New Horizons of Trade and Economic Cooperation". The aim of the event was to discuss the issues and problems of development of trade and economic cooperation in modern conditions. In addition, the participants of the Congress visited Saint Petersburg Center for Import Substitution and Localization as well as BioVitrum company.
The Congress results were announced during a meeting with the Governor of St. Petersburg Georgy Poltavchenko in Smolny on 16 December. At the end of discussions, the participants agreed to hold 1-2 events under the auspices of the Congress in Saint-Petersburg and abroad during the year.
In addition, during the meeting in Smolny, the Charter on the donation of equipment for drying capillary moisture by Croatian company "KAZ" from Zagreb was handed over to the State Hermitage Museum, which symbolically united the two Congress topics highlighting the role and responsibility of business on the heritage conservation.
The I International Congress "St. Petersburg and the Slavic world"