OREANDA-NEWS. February 9, 2012. Development of international projects and the attraction of the convention and exhibition market of St. Petersburg to major international organisers is one of the priority directions in the activities of ExpoForum JSC. In January 2012, there have been several events that not only were the impetus for cooperation between companies and countries of Asia, but also in the future could play an important role in fostering cultural and business ties between states.

In January, the management of ExpoForum JSC received an invitation to take part in a meeting of the Japanese business club, which will be held in March 2012. The company will present a project for a new convention and exhibition centre and will tell about the only specialised exhibition complex in St. Petersburg, Lenexpo and other prospects, which will be opened to exhibitors participating in exhibitions in Russia.

The lines of exhibition activities being held in Lenexpo and ExpoForum are able to refill with new promising projects: the Russian-Arab Business counsel at ExpoForum JSC with a proposal to hold an exhibition of Arab companies in the summer of 2013, and at a meeting at the Consulate General of India in St. Petersburg there has been considerable discussion of holding two national exhibitions of Indian goods and handicrafts in 2012 at Lenexpo.

Active cooperation is continuing between ExpoForum and the Chinese people’s association for friendship with foreign countries. At a regular meeting in Moscow with the deputy head of the committee for economic cooperation of society, Jing Bo, an agreement was confirmed for the joint involvement of Chinese participants at the St. Petersburg International Gas Forum 2012.

In addition, on January 31, 2012, in Moscow was the first meeting of the working group for convention and exhibition activities in the business council of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO). The Vice-Chairman of the working group for the SCO business council was elected head of the Department of international promotion and sales of ExpoForum, Igor Pozdnyakov. The meeting was attended by the Executive Secretary of the SCO business council, Sergey Kanavski, representatives of the largest exhibition centres in Russia, and the SCO business club. Participants of the meeting were presented the projects of ExpoForum JSC: the St. Petersburg International Gas Forum 2012, which is expected to be actively involved as a key for the SCO countries like the People’s Republic of China, as well as the joint development with Chinese partners of the project 'The Educational Space of Modernisation'.