Russia-Americas Ties, Arctic to Be Discussed at St.Petersburg Forum Friday

ST. PETERSBURG (Sputnik) — The St. Petersburg forum, running on June 18-20, is held under the auspices of Russian President Vladimir Putin. The event gathers heads of states and governments, as well as heads of largest businesses from around the globe. The theme of the SPIEF-2015 is Time to Act: Shared Paths to Stability and Growth.

The business roundtable Russia – North America: New Challenges and Strategies for Business Cooperation moderated by President of the Russian–American Council for Business Cooperation David Iakobashvili and head of the American Chamber of Commerce in the Russian Federation Alexis Rodzianko will be devoted to discussing specific measures to improve cooperation between businesses in Russia, the United States and Canada amid the current political tensions.

The roundtable on Latin America: Globalization and New Regional Economic Hubs, devoted to issues of investment and technological cooperation between Russia and Latin America will be attended by a number of high-ranking officials including Argentina’s Economic Minister Axel Kicillof, Jamaica Energy Minister Phillip Paulwell and Russia’s First Deputy Minister of Economic Development Alexei Likhachev.

Both these discussions will take part in the morning session of the Forum starting at 09:30 a.m. local time (GMT 06:30).

The Arctic: Realizing a New Economic Sphere roundtable, to kick off at 11:45 local time (GMT 08:45), will see panelists from Russia and Finland discuss issues of economic development of the Arctic – and in particular the area of hydrocarbons extraction.

On the first day of its work, the SPIEF saw participants sign a total of 45 agreements.

According to the forum’s organizers, by 15:00 local time (GMT 12:00) Thursday the number of the event’s participants reached 6,000.

Among the major deals expected to be signed Friday is an agreement between Moscow and Athens on the construction of the extension of the Turkish Stream gas pipeline to Greece.