ST PETERSBURG, Russia, June 1, 2011 /PRNewswire/ --

One of the key issues to be discussed at this year's St Petersburg International Economic Forum on 16-18 June is the financing of Russia's modernization. A number of sessions will be devoted to this subject, in particular the session 'Raising Capital for Russia's Growth' on June 18, in cooperation with UBS and televised by Bloomberg TV.

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As the President of the Russian Federation, Dmitry Medvedev, noted at a news conference held at Moscow's Skolkovo management school on May 18, 2011, "The investment climate is vital for our success...I will certainly return to this issue shortly, including at the Forum in St. Petersburg". The investment climate in Russia will be the topic of a number of briefings, and will feature in most of the sessions under 'Building Russia's Creative Capital' during the Forum.

This year's Forum is not solely focussed on the business opportunities in Russia however; another key topic is the growing role of major emerging markets in defining the post-crisis economic environment. There are number of relevant sessions in the programme, such as the CNBC co-produced and televised session, 'BRIC Bucks and Beyond: How Emerging Markets are Reshaping Global Finance'. The importance of emerging markets is further underscored by the confirmation that Hu Jintao, President of the People's Republic of China, will attend this year's Forum, and a large delegation of Chinese and Asian business leaders from a wide range of industrial sectors are expected to participate.

The Forum is placing particular emphasis this year on broadening representation from key emerging markets. In addition, a number of technological enhancements and new session formats will be introduced in order to improve interaction and networking opportunities, as well as to improve the overall participant experience.

In addition to general networking opportunities, the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum provides participants with an opportunity to meet key representatives from the Russian Government at both federal and regional levels, as well as to engage with top executives of major Russian and key emerging market companies, such as Gazprom, Sberbank, Rosneft, Federal Grid Company, Rusnano, Mail.ru, MMK, Severstal, Sistema, MTS, Polyus Gold, RusHydro, Lukoil, Rusal, and Svyazinvest and many others. To enhance networking opportunities, this year SPIEF is introducing a new service - the Personal Schedule/Business Networking Platform (BNP) - which will allow participants to make contact and manage schedules for business meetings within the framework of the Forum with greater ease.

Highlighting the importance of European-Russian ties, the closing plenary session at SPIEF 2011 - moderated by Robert Thomson, Managing Editor of The Wall Street Journal - will feature a discussion involving the President of the Russian Federation, Dmitry Medvedev, Prime Minister of Spain, José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, and the President of Finland, Tarja Halonen.

For more information on the Business Networking Platform:

http://forumspb.com/userfiles/files/BusinessNetworkingPlatform.pdf

More information:

http://forumspb.com/en/

SOURCE St Petersburg Economic Forum