St Petersburg hosts International Economic Forum
The Agenda is of high relevance for all participants: energy, transport and infrastructure, migration, etc. During one of the forum sessions the experts discussed cooperation between the Eurasian Economic Union and the European Union. They gave differing points of view. For instance, according to President of Alstom Russia Philippe Pegorier and the Association of European Businesses (AEB) Board Members, close cooperation is possible after all the EAEU Member States enter the World Trade Organisation. He said that Germany and France's political impulse is required to develop the cooperation. Pegorier does not rule out that the French President may affect the situation.
In the meantime, Antonio Fallico, President of Association "Conoscere Eurasia" and Chairman-Supervisory Board at Bank Intesa JSC, supposes that the European Union also has numerous problems, while the Brexit situation overshadows the EU integrity. He says that the EU projects are non-durable, and the European representatives need to understand they are to conduct the dialogue and work with the EAEU organization but not with individual countries.
Alexander Mashkevitch notes that the dialogue needs to be fostered even now and requires everyday efforts for future cooperation. "We need to aim at harmonizing the standards, creating better conditions for doing business primarily in native country. Let's show to the World that we are open. In Kazakhstan we vividly sense the EU and US barriers. We need to strengthen cooperation in all areas and with all. In my opinion, only a harmonious human being can become successful. The same can be said about a country, state as well", the speaker noted.
12,000 participants and over 2,000 journalists came to the event.