A few weeks ago, the Economic Forum in St. Petersburg (St. Petersburg International Forum – SPIEF) was officially concluded. This event has been created in 1997 with the intention of bringing political leaders, governors, investors, representatives of the mass media and the most important managers of Russian and foreign companies together. Thousands of peopel participate each year in San Pietroburgo’s Forum, not only to preside over meetings and press conferences, but also to strike deals of no small interest: in 2013 273 billion dollars of agreements were signed between the participants. The Italian business is no less than others in shining and participating in the change of global economy.
“Europe is no longer the center of the world, nowadays big business develops in Russia and Asia – says Giampaolo Lo Conte, entrepreneur and international trader, in an interview issued in his studio in Rome. “It is not the first time I come to the Economic Forum in St. Petersburg; this year, however, there was a focus by Russia for economists of all countries.” Indeed, the landlord Vladimir Putin addressed to his guests (American, European and, most of all, Asian), remembering how Russia was “open to your business.” “It ‘s true – continues Giampaolo Lo Conte – Russia comes form a short period of economic crisis, during which it also received sanctions and important decisions have been established in terms of economic policy for the country.”
In recent years Italy, as a historical political and economic partner of Russia, has played a decisive role in the construction of new dynamics and relationships. Also the Russian ambassador in Italy Sergey Rasov remembers it: “Suffice it to recall that it was your country to advance the proposal to create the Russia-NATO Council. Rome has always made a significant contribution to the development of the dialogue between Russia and the EU “; and over the years, despite the many bilateral problems, the order of things has not changed. Not that much.