SPIEF session: Turkey and Russia – Economic Integration Driving Regional Development

21 March 2013

More than 200 attendees from Russia and Turkey took part in a joint session of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum and the Turkish Industry and Business Association (TUSIAD), held in Istanbul on March 21, 2013. The event was entitled ‘Turkey and Russia – Economic Integration Driving Regional Development’. The session began with special addresses by Selahattin Çimen, Deputy Undersecretary of the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources of the Republic of Turkey, and Igor Koval, Director of the Department for Investment Policy and Public-Private Partnership Development at the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation. The participants in the discussion included Tayfun Bayazıt, Vice President of the Board of Directors of TUSIAD; Sean Glodek, Director and Board Member of the Russian Direct Investment Fund;Hakan Ateş, President and CEO of DenizBank; Kaan Arslan, Board Member of Ronesans Holding; Onur Çevikel, Finance and Investor Relations Director at Anadolu Efes; Rauf Kasumov, Deputy Director of Akkuyu nuclear power plant; and Ivan Pronin, Director of the Department of Investment Projects at Inter RAO UES. The meeting was chaired by Financial Times correspondent Daniel Dombey. The participants in the discussion paid tribute to the size and number of Russian–Turkish projects, claiming that cooperation at this level underscores the strategic importance both countries place on long term economic relations, and will also help increase mutual trade.