Russian Convention Bureau took Part in V Eastern Economic Forum

13th Sep, 2019
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Participation of the Russian Convention Bureau (RCB) in the Eastern Economic Forum (EEF) was supported by Roscongress Foundation, a socially-oriented non-financial development institution, which supports main initiatives and programs of the Russian Convention Bureau that are aimed at creating and developing the congress and exhibition market of the country. The topics presented by the RCB at the EEF included the “Event Passport of the Region” and “Development of Congress and Exhibition Infrastructure in Primorsky Krai”.

Commenting on the results of participation of the Russian Convention Bureau in the V Eastern Economic Forum, Advisor to the President of the Russian Federation Anton Kobyakov said: “Development of the Far East is one of the directions which are given special attention, and Vladivostok is one of top priority areas. Shaping a stable event industry requires using a comprehensive approach because it concerns not only infrastructure but the socio-economic sphere as well. This is why in this case the Russian Convention Bureau serves as one of the effective instruments for promoting regional development initiatives via improving its attractiveness as an event destination and serving as the driving factor behind territorial development”.

The venue of EEF-2019 saw the presentation of the Event Passport of the Region for Kamchatka Krai. The event passport of Kamchatka became the first document within the project aimed to present the event potential of Russian regions on the international event market, and one of the tools to promote the country as the venue for major business events. The start of the project was announced a year ago at EEF-2018.

The event was held at the Ministry of the Russian Federation for Development of the Far East and the Arctic as part of presentations of various investment projects of Kamchatka Krai. Alexey Kalachev, Director of the Russian Convention Bureau, told the Forum participants about the project and presented the first Event Passport to the Governor of Kamchatka Krai Vladimir Ilyukhin. The RCB has been working on Event Passports for several other regions, with which strategic agreements on development of the event industry have already been signed.

Caviar Time was another event held for participants of the V Eastern Economic Forum by the Russian Convention Bureau in cooperation with the Government of Kamchatka Krai, participation of Kamchatka Krai Agency for Investments and Entrepreneurship and ANPO Invest CEC, as part of the presentation of the first Event Passport of the Region. The event that took place in the Far East Street near the Kamchatka Pavilion sought to demonstrate traditions of indigenous nations of Kamchatka and gastronomic delicacies that form the unique image of the region. The Caviar Time event included the presentation of the Event Passport of Kamchatka, presentations of national performers, tasting of Kamchatka delicacies and a quiz with the questions on unique characteristics of Kamchatka.

Alexey Kalachev, Director of the Russian Convention Bureau, said: “Holding the presentation of the Event Passport with our Kamchatka partners, we wanted to integrate this project into the colorful format of the Far East Street project, and visualize such aspects of the Event Passport as Culture of Kamchatka and Gastronomic Map of the Region. I am confident that the unique features of Kamchatka Krai, as shown in the Event Passport, will be of interest to organizers of international business events.”

Advisor to the President of the Russian Federation Anton Kobyakov commented: “Russian regions are of considerable interest to organizers of business events. Our goal is to improve the position of the event industry on the world stage. To this end, the project of the Russian Convention Bureau to create Event Passports of Russian regions is an important initiative and a starting point for attracting international business events to Russian regions. Its activities facilitate meeting national goals and strategic objectives of the Russian Federation. The fact that the first Event Passport was developed in cooperation with the Government of the Kamchatka Krai indicates that the region is active in promoting in the foreign and Russian markets and pays attention to the development of the event industry”

The main event of the business program as presented by the RCB was the session entitled “Infrastructure of the Future: Creating New Focal Points in the Far East”, organized in cooperation with the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation and the Russian Union of Exhibitions and Fairs with support of Roscongress Foundation.

The topic of the session is especially significant today as the Government of the Russian Federation is considering the project to build a new congress and exhibition center in Primorsky Krai.

Before the session the Russian Convention Bureau held a survey of leading experts of the event industry on the topic of attractiveness of the Far East as an event destination. Most respondents were representatives of various associations within the industry and organizers of business events coming to Russia for various purposes, some of them as event participants. At present only 17% of those surveyed consider the Far East to be an attractive place for holding business events. Meanwhile, one of the main obstacles on the way of attracting international events to the Far East according to foreign specialists (33%) is lack of specialized congress and exhibition venues. Other top five criteria for selection of the event destination in another country, experts said, was the opportunity to hold events at a specialized venue (25%). The results of the study as well as the survey of the event market of the Pacific Asia Region were presented to the participants of the session.

Speaking at the session were: Aleksandr Stuglev, Director of the Roscongress Foundation; Alexey Kalachev, Director of the Russian Convention Bureau; Konstantin Bogdanenko, Acting Vice Governor of Primorsky Krai; Anatoly Bobrakov, Deputy General Director of the Development Foundation of the Far East and Baikal Region; Vera Ermilova, member of the Presidium, RUEF, General Director of Dalexpocenter company; David Hind, Professor, President, Asia-Pacific Institute of Event Management; Viktoria Panova, Vice Rector for International Relations, Far Eastern Federal University; and Mikhail Grudinin, President of Giprogorproject Town-Planning Institute for Spatial Modeling and Development. The session was moderated by Sergey Katyrin, President of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation.

Following the discussion, the participating experts formulated the followingconclusions:

  • significance of the business tourism industry worldwide is growing, meanwhile the congress and exhibition activity in Russia is only starting to develop;
  • congress and exhibition events favorably affect the economic and social situation in the region;
  • Primorsky Krai is a promising region for development of the event industry.

The main problems affecting development of the event industry in Primorsky Krai were complex logistics, lack of event infrastructure and lack of the sufficient number of qualified contractors.

At the session Alexander Stuglev, Director of Roscongress Foundation, said: “It is important for Vladivostok that a multifunctional platform should appear where a range of sport and cultural events could be conveniently held under one roof or at one location. We can use the experience of Russian and international congress centers.”

The EEF venue also saw the signing of a joint Plan of Events, held by the Russian Convention Bureau and the Chamber of Trade and Industry of the Russian Federation on development of the event industry in Russia. The document was signed by Sergey Katyrin on behalf of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and by Director Alexey Kalachev on behalf of the Russian Convention Bureau.

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