Resilience and Partnerships: Highlights from the St Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF)

The St Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) has become an important event for Russia, a platform for the country to demonstrate its resilience amidst the economic turbulence caused by Western sanctions. This year, the forum was attended by high-ranking officials from the UAE, Algeria, Armenia, Cuba and delegations from China, India and Brazil. The only international leader addressing the plenary session was Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune. The forum was dominated by discussions on the development of alternative economic and geopolitical partnerships to navigate the “challenging times”.

This included the development of the Northern Sea route, connecting Russia’s Murmansk with Shanghai, and the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC) linking Russia’s north with Iran and India via the Caspian Sea. Moscow is also pushing for investments in the infrastructure, ranging from railway, roads and ports to logistics centres and digital infrastructure. This includes the construction of more than 50 icebreakers and ice-class vessels, ports and terminals, emergency and rescue centres, as well as an orbital group of satellites, requiring an investment of 2 trillion roubles ($24 billion) over the next 13 years.

At the forum, 400 agreements were concluded worth nearly 3.8 trillion roubles ($45 billion). But whether these agreements will help Russia’s economy remains to be seen. For the economy to sustain growth and increase its range of exports beyond hydrocarbons, it needs to boost its domestic production across industries. The governor of Kurgan region in southern Russia noted the need for more “real projects and real solutions”, with cheap money, transportation of goods, energy, trained personnel, modern planning and common sense.