ST. PETERSBURG (Sputnik) — The 21st annual St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) kicked off on June 1 and to last for three days. This year's event will be focused on bringing balance to the global economy.
More than 200 leading experts from Russia, Europe, Asia, the US, Canada and Latin America have put their heads together to draw up the program of the high-profile economic gathering.
The president underlined that geopolitical games should be put aside in order to solve these challenges.
"We are faced with systemic long-term challenges, whose consequences are still difficult to even calculate and predict. We should not, we have no right to waste time, spend our energy and time on bickering, strife, geopolitical games," Putin said in opening remarks.
Putin also noted that Russia is open to implementing business projects and cooperating on issues of global economic development.
"We are open to joint work, the implementation of mutually beneficial projects, to cooperation in resolving the most important strategic issues of global development," Putin said in opening remarks.
Sputnik is an official media partner of SPIEF.
