OREANDA-NEWS. Russia 2013 Forum is a traditional platform for the leading experts in economics, representatives of business communities and government agencies of various countries.

The participants were addressed by German Gref, Sberbank President and Chairman of the Board. Having expressed his appreciation of the invitation to the Forum, he offered the floor to Sergey Ivanov, Head of the Administration of the RF President. Mr. Ivanov read to the participants of the plenary session the message of Vladimir Putin, President of Russia, in which Head of the Russian Federation noted relevance and credibility of the event. “We must consider both positive and criticizing feedback”, states the message. In his address V.V. Putin stressed that the decisions passed by the government would be based on the opinions of experts, businessmen, as well as foreign and domestic investors.

Among the participants in the session were: Tony Blair, Prime Minister of the UK in 1997–2007; Vaclav Klaus, ex-President of Czechia; Colin Powell, the US Secretary of State in 2001–2005; Li Zhaoxing, former Minister of Foreign Affairs of China; Charles Wyplosz, Professor of International Economics, Director of the International Money and Banking Research Center; Richard Pipes, PhD History, Professor of the Harvard University; Alexey Kudrin, Dean of the Arts and Science Department of the St. Petersburg State University. Moderator of the discussion was German Gref. Vladimir Salamatov, Director General of OJSC World Trade Center (MICEX: WTCM, ЦMT), also participated in the session.

Vladimir Salamatov: “I am extremely pleased as Sberbank selected us as the floor for the Russia 2013 Forum. For the previous three years we had been working with the organizers and selection of the WTCM in 2013 means recognition of quality and high level of our services”.