SPIEF 2016. Day two

The second day of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum has come to an end.

The central event was a plenary session with participation of Russian and Kazakh Presidents Vladimir Putin, Nursultan Nazarbayev, as well as Prime Minister of Italy Matteo Renzi.

In his speech, the head of the Russian Federation noted that during the years of existence SPIEF has a long history. "20 years have passed since since that time. It began more as a regional event, but today it has become an important platform where you can discuss problems and exchange views. I would like to thank those who responded to our invitation. SPIEF is a platform for discussion of strategic issues and challenges that are especially important now wh the world is in a state of transformation," Putin said.

According to President, now all countries are interested in joint cooperation in order to find creative and constructive ways out of the current difficult global economic situation.

Putin also noted that the recent meeting with representatives of the European businesses have shown that Europe is interested in the restoration of old relations with Russia. Russia is ready to meet, but it is not a game in one goalposts, President said.

Speaking about the development of the economy in Russia, President said that Russia will solve the most pressing problems in this area and expects increase in the near future: the outflow of capital from the beginning of the year fell five times, inflation has also slowed down in the medium term. Its achievable already its level is 4 -5%.

"We will continue to further liberalization and improvement of business climate I know that a lot of online sites it was discussed yesterday and today we will solve systemic problems,’’ he said.

The head of the Ministry of Energy Aleksander Novak said that Russia pays great attention to the spread of renewable energy sources and expressed the view that their time won’t come soon.

Resonant statement was made at the forum by the former minister of finance, and now Deputy Chairman of the Economic Council under President of the Russian Federation, Aleksey Kudrin. He commented on the sharp depreciation of the ruble, which took place in 2014. "To tell the truth: the collapse of the national currency is more than double. I think it is a shame on the economic authorities, as well as for the country,’’ he said.