The 23rd St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF-2019) was held from June 6 to June 8. A record number of guests participated:19 thousand people from 145 countries of the world. The largest delegations were Chinese and American. A record number of transactions was also concluded – 650 agreements worth 3.1 trillion rubles.
Main Deals:
- Sberbank and Rambler Group signed an agreement on operational interaction.
- VEB, Sberbank and Gazprombank will finance the project of the Acron Group for about $ 1.7 billion.
- Gazprom Neft and Novatek signed an agreement to establish a joint venture for exploration and production of oil and gas in the Arctic.
- Lukoil acquired for $ 800 million from New Age 25% in a project on the shelf in the Republic of Congo.
- OMV will pay Gazprom € 905 million for its share in the Achimov deposits.
- Xiaomi and Mastercard signed a cooperation agreement, as a result of which the Mi Pay payment service will be available in Russia.
- Gazpromneft and Shell will set up a joint venture for the development of fields in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District on the basis of Meretoyakhaneftegaz.
- Yandex, Mail.ru, Rambler, Kinopoisk – the country’s leading media holdings, signed a memorandum of cooperation at the Roskomnadzor site to combat the proliferation of pirated content.
- Gazprom Neft has entered into an agreement with Sovkomflot on refueling vessels with liquefied natural gas.
- Gazprom Neft has signed an agreement of intent with Shell and Repsol to establish a joint venture for the development of undiscovered Leskinsky and Puhutsyayakhsky sites in Gydane.
- Gazprombank and Dom.RF have agreed to issue mortgage bonds worth up to 350 billion rubles. in 2020-2021.
- Gazprombank will provide more than 30 billion rubles. State transport leasing company for the implementation of the Lavna port project.
- NOVATEK and the Chinese CNOOC signed a contract for the sale of a 10% stake in the Arctic LNG-2 project, which is scheduled to launch in 2023. A similar contract for the same share was also signed with the Chinese CNPC.
- The Ministry of Industry and Trade has signed the SPIK with the Russian automaker Sollers. The project involves the development of a model range of UAZ vehicles. Investments will amount to 7.5 billion rubles. for 10 years.
- Gazprom Holding, a subsidiary of Gazprombank, and Ansaldo Energia of Italy will set up a joint venture for the production and service of gas turbines with a capacity of 70 to 340 MW.
- MTS has signed an agreement with the Moscow Government on the development of 5G worth more than 20 billion rubles.
- VTB became the owner of a controlling stake in the company “MiroGrupp Resources”, which is among the ten largest exporters of grain.
- Ford fully repaid the VEB.RF loan to the joint venture Ford Sollers in the amount of 39.5 billion rubles, and is selling the plant in Vsevolozhsk.
President Vladimir Putin said that Russia overcame difficulties in the economy due to sanctions and falling hydrocarbon prices. Oil prices of $ 60-65 per barrel suit the country. Mr Putin noted that ignoring modern threats “could lead to a global catastrophe.” The first step towards the “fundamental buildup of the entire framework of international relations,” he called the US withdrawal from the agreements on missile defense in 2002.
Speaking at the plenary meeting on the second day of the forum, Vladimir Putin called the attempts to monopolize the new technological wave as the main source of instability in the world. According to him, global trade has ceased to be the unconditional engine of the global economy, and the new engine, the state-of-the-art technologies, has not yet been fully operational. He also called for the withdrawal of major trade areas from the trade wars and a rethinking of the role of the dollar as a global reserve currency. Vladimir Putin acknowledged that archaic and redundant control and supervisory functions still hinder the development of business in Russia. Mr Putin also commented on the arrest of Michael Calvey for the first time: he hopes that in the case of the founder of Baring Vostok everything will be “transparent and understandable.” “Do not steal, behave yourself – and the matter is over,” the president summed up.
