Minister of Industry and Trade, Mounir Fakhry Abdel Nour is to address St. Petersburg International Economic Forum or Russia's Davos.Thursday during a panel session. The panel will cover the new opportunities for investment cooperation between Russia and the countries of the Middle East. Abdel Nour has headed Wednesday to Russia starting a three-day visit to take part in St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, which will take place on June 18-20, 2015, in St. Petersburg, Russia. The St. Petersburg International Economic Forum is Russia's premier annual event for investment and interaction between business and government. Dubbed "Russia's Davos," the venue features thousands of representatives from dozens of countries. Last year's Forum resulted in over US$15 billion of deals among participants like Citibank, Siemens and Microsoft. Furthermore, the minister is to hold, during his visit, intensive talks with a number of senior Russian government officials, including Minister of Agriculture Alexander Takeshev, Dennis Masarurov, the Minister of Industry, and Viktor Khristenko, Chairman of Eurasian Economic Union. The meetings will focus on free trade agreements between Egypt and the countries of the Union, which includes the Russian Federation, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Armenia. Abdel Nour will also meet with Kirill Dimitriv, Executive Director of the Russian Fund for Direct Investment, to resume talks about the establishment of a joint investment fund between Cairo and Moscow and other Arab funds, aiming to finance Russian projects in Egypt. Abdel Nour is also to hold meetings with representatives of major Russian companies, including Gazprom, Kamaz, and others. The St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) gathers the world's leading decision makers to identify and deliberate the key challenges facing emerging markets and growth economies, Russia and the world, and engage communities to find common purpose and establish frameworks to forge solutions.
