OREANDA-NEWS. St. Petersburg hosted today an opening ceremony of International Convention & Exhibition Center ExpoForum constructed by Gazprom. The event was attended by Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Company's Management Committee and Georgy Poltavchenko, Governor of St. Petersburg.

The new convention & exhibition center is located in the Pushkinsky district of St. Petersburg on the area covering more than 56 hectares. ExpoForum comprises a congress center including 25 halls with a total capacity of ten thousand people; three exhibition pavilions and three outdoor exhibition spaces covering a total of some 80 thousand square meters. The pavilions are built using pillar-free construction methods, which provides for the most efficient use of the exhibition space, and connected with each other and the congress center by an enclosed passageway.

Moreover, a business center, two hotels and a customs & logistics facility are located within the ExpoForum premises.

"The new convention & exhibition center has become the most advanced one in Russia; it fully complies with the requirements of the Global Association of the Exhibition Industry, being one of the largest in Europe. Even now it may host large-scale prestigious events, both business and cultural. We are certainly ready to hold the 28th World Gas Conference and World Gas Exhibition in 2021 on the highest level in this wonderful center.

ExpoForum is another proof that Russia is open for business communication, cooperation and sharing of the best practices. We are ready for a constructive dialogue and we provide all the necessary conditions for it," said Alexey Miller.

Alexey Miller and Georgy Poltavchenko took part in the opening of the 4th St. Petersburg International Gas Forum which was the first event of ExpoForum. A half thousand professionals from 15 countries are involved in the Forum.

The Forum kicked off with the Blue Corridor-2014 rally held by Gazprom, German E.ON and the Russian National Gas Vehicle Association. The rally is aimed at promoting natural gas as a vehicle fuel.

This year, eight NGVs produced by KAMAZ, Audi, Volkswagen and Fiat are taking part in the event. They will drive 3,000 kilometers across fifteen countries: Russia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Czech Republic, Germany, Austria, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Hungary, Slovakia and Belarus. As part of the rally, the cities of Tartu, Riga, Vilnius, Poznan, Pilsen, Nuremberg, Milan, Ljubljana, Belgrade, Budapest and Minsk will host roundtables engaging representatives of the gas and automotive industries, politicians, ecologists and car enthusiasts who will discuss various aspects of the NGV market development in Europe. The rally will end on October 30.