As the global political and economic landscape changes, states that pursue neutral and sovereign policies aligned with their national interests are increasingly becoming attractive. The expansion of cooperative collaboration, the reorientation of export and import flows, the establishment of new transport and logistics corridors and production chains, the opening of new joint sectors and markets, the digital and technological transformation, and the implementation of joint initiatives, along with the exchange of best practices, create significant opportunities for new development vectors. In the present political landscape, alongside traditional diplomacy, it is crucial to develop new forms and instruments of international engagement to promote national interests. What new formats of international cooperation could serve as alternatives to established institutional arrangements and facilitate economic, financial, humanitarian, and cultural integration? What challenges do friendly states currently encounter, and how can export-import transactions aid in their economic development?
Alexey Bobrovsky was born on 15 August 1981. In 2002, he graduated from the Journalism Department of the Modern University for the Humanities in Moscow. He has worked as reporter and host on the TV-Centre Channel, Channel 1, Radio Station Business-FM. Since 2009, he has authored and presented the Kurs Dnya [Daily Rate of Exchange] on the Russia-24 TV Channel, Head of the Channel’s Service of Economic News. He is Editor-in-Chief of the Internet site Vestifinance.ru. Since 2016, he has been General Producer of Vestfinance Forum – a new interactive platform, featuring Andrey Klepach, Boris Titov, Alexander Novak, Ksenia Yudaeva and other authoritative economic experts.
Panellists Dmitry Volvach,
Deputy Minister of Economic Development of the Russian Federation Tatiana Gvilava,
Chairman, Russian-Arab Business Council; President, All Russia Organization for Women in Business Sergey Glazyev,
Member of the Board, Minister in Charge of Integration and Macroeconomics, Eurasian Economic Commission
Rajnish Goenka,
Founder, Chairman, MSME Development Forum Nonna Kagramanyan,
Vice-President, Head of the Executive Committee, All-Russia Public Organization Delovaya Rossiya (Business Russia) Sergey Lebedev,
Vice President of Government Relations, AliExpress Russia Zhou Liqun,
Chairman, Union of Chinese Entrepreneurs in Russia Polina Nemirovchenko,
Vice Rector, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration Veronika Nikishina,
General Director, Russian Export Center Yury Saprykin,
Vice President for Regional and International Development, Skolkovo Foundation Yakov Sergienko,
General Director, Yakov & Partners Andrey Slepnev,
Member of the Board, Minister in Charge of Trade, Eurasian Economic Commission Alexey Fursin,
Head of the Entrepreneurship and Innovation Development Department of Moscow Svetlana Chupsheva,
General Director, Agency for Strategic Initiatives to Promote New Projects Tadzio Schilling,
Chief Executive Officer, Association of European Businesses (АЕВ) Alexander Shokhin,
President, Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs Robert Agee,
President, Chief Executive Officer, American Chamber of Commerce in Russia
Dmitry Volvach
Deputy Minister of Economic Development of the Russian Federation
He has three university degrees, graduating in 1996 from Lomonosov Moscow State University with a degree in physics. Graduated from Lomonosov Moscow State University with a degree in physics in 1996 and Lomonosov Moscow State University with a degree in law in 1998. Graduated from the Lomonosov Moscow State University with a degree in law in 1996 and the All-Russian State Tax Academy with a degree in finance and credit in 2001.
PhD in Law.
From 1998 to 2000 worked in the Inter-District Inspectorate No. 40 of the Ministry of Taxes and Duties of the Russian Federation in Moscow.
From 2000 to 2002 he held various positions in the Ministry of Taxes and Duties of the Russian Federation.
From 2002 to 2005, he was head of the Credit Organizations Department of the Ministry of Taxes and Duties of the Russian Federation.
From 2005 to 2008, he was Head of the Department of the Federal Tax Service for the Arkhangelsk Region and Nenets Autonomous District.
From 2008 to 2009, he was head of the Administration of the Federal Tax Service of the Stavropol Territory.
From 2009 to 2010, he was deputy head of the IT Department of the Federal Tax Service.
From 2010 to 2011, he was deputy head of the Administration of the Federal Tax Service in the Pskov Region.
In July 2011, he was appointed Head of the Transfer Pricing and International Cooperation Department of the Federal Tax Service.
In June 2014, he was appointed Head of the Department of Standards and International Cooperation of the Federal Tax Service.
In April 2018, he was appointed Head of the International Cooperation and Currency Control Department of the Federal Tax Service.
He holds the class rank of State Counsellor of the Russian Federation, 1st Class.
On 29 October 2019, he was appointed Deputy Head of the Federal Tax Service by order of the Government of the Russian Federation.
Tatiana Gvilava
Chairman, Russian-Arab Business Council; President, All Russia Organization for Women in Business
Sergey Glazyev
Member of the Board, Minister in Charge of Integration and Macroeconomics, Eurasian Economic Commission
He was born on January 1, 1961.
In 1983, he graduated from Moscow State University named after M.V. Lomonosov, majoring in Economic Cybernetics. He began his career in 1983. From 1983 to 1991, he was a postgraduate student, worked as a junior researcher, researcher, senior researcher, head of laboratory of the Central Economics and Mathematics Institute of the USSR Academy of Sciences. From 1991 to 1992 - First Deputy Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Economic Relations of the Russian Federation. In 1993, he was a leading researcher, acting head of laboratory of the Central Economics and Mathematics Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, served as First Deputy Minister, Minister of Foreign Economic Relations of the Russian Federation. From 1993 to 1996 - Deputy in the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Economic Policy. In 1996, he served as head of the Economic Security Directorate of the Office of the Security Council of the Russian Federation. From 1996 to 1999 - head of the Information and Analytical Department of the Office of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation. From 1999 to 2003, he was a deputy in the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, chairman and member of the State Duma Committee on Economic Policy and Entrepreneurship, member of the State Duma Committee on Credit Organizations and Financial Markets. From 2003 to 2007 - Deputy in the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, member of the State Duma Committee on Health Protection, member of the State Duma Committee on Budget and Taxes. From 2008 to 2012, he served as Deputy Secretary General of the EurAsEC. From 2009 to 2012 - Executive Secretary of the Customs Union Commission. From 2012 to 2019 - Advisor to the President of the Russian Federation. From 2015 to the present - Head of the Department of Theory and Methodology of State and Municipal Administration, Faculty of Public Administration, Moscow State University named after M.V. Lomonosov. Since October 2019, he has been appointed a Member of the Board – Minister in charge of Integration and Macroeconomics of the Eurasian Economic Commission.
He is a Doctor of Economics, Professor, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
Rajnish Goenka
Founder, Chairman, MSME Development Forum
Nonna Kagramanyan
Vice-President, Head of the Executive Committee, All-Russia Public Organization Delovaya Rossiya (Business Russia)
Professional specialization: Management in the sphere of social and economic policy, strategic planning, crisis management, public administration. PR-communication. GR-communication. International affairs Public and expert activities: Member of the Expert Council of ANO "Agency for strategic initiatives". Expert of the Civic Chamber of the Russian Federation. Expert of the Civic Chamber of Moscow. Business coordinator at the Eurasian Economic Commission. Member of the working group «On implementation of the “Single Window” mechanism within the System of Foreign Economic Activity Regulation» Board member of the International Business and Enterprise Academy. The member of the Project committee for the main direction of strategic development of the Russian Federation "International cooperation and export" at Public Business Council. Member of the working group, responsible for the preparation of the passports of the priority projects International Cooperation and Export in Industry Member of the working group "On measures to be taken to increase investment appeal in the constituent entities of the Russian Federation” at the State Council of the Russian Federation. Member of the working group "Support of access to foreign markets and export support" of the National entrepreneurial initiative. Member of the interdepartmental working group on export promotion through the development of electronic commerce. Member of the working group on elimination of excessive administrative barriers at the BRICS Business Council
Sergey Lebedev
Vice President of Government Relations, AliExpress Russia
Zhou Liqun
Chairman, Union of Chinese Entrepreneurs in Russia
Date of birth: 25 October 1963 Place of birth: People’s Republic of China, province of Heilongjiang Academic degree: PhD Marital status: married, two children 09.1982 – 07.1998 Bachelor’s degree in electric engineering, Department of Electric Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology (China) 09.1986 – 06.1989 Master’s degree in electric engineering, Department of Electric Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology (China) 09.1989 – 12.1992 Internship in electric engineering as part of a state programme, Department of Electric Engineering, Moscow Power Engineering Institute (Russia), PhD 12.1992 – 10.1998 General Director of Moscow branch, SINOCHEM; 10.1998 – 2010 President, Apex (HK) Petrochemical; Deputy General Director, Hong Kong Winsway Group (specializing in international trade of petroleum products and petrochemicals); 08.2010 – 04.2017 Deputy General Director, China Chengtong International Investment, responsible for international trade; 04.2017 – present General Director, Centre for Development of Trade and Management of Investment to Europe; General Director, Greenwood. 08.2017 – present President, Union of Chinese Entrepreneurs in Russia. Public work: member of the acting 12th National Political Committee, member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Vice President of Society for Chinese-Russian friendship, Deputy Chairman of the CIS branch of the Society of Chinese Graduates of European and US universities, President of the Association of entrepreneurs-graduates of CIS universities, permanent Deputy Chairman of the Association of entrepreneurs-graduates of European and US universities.
Polina Nemirovchenko
Vice Rector, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration
Veronika Nikishina
General Director, Russian Export Center
Panel member (Minister) of commerce in Eurasian Economic Commission since February 2016. Born 29 April 1968. PhD in Economics, presented a thesis on Managing the access of Russian goods to foreign markets in modern conditions. Prior to appointment as member of Commission had held a position of assistant to the First Deputy of the Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation. Veronika Nikishina held management positions in the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation, including Deputy Director of the Department for Trade Negotiations, Head of the Department of American Countries and the Department for Coordination, Development and Regulation of Foreign Economic Activities. After 17 years of working for the Ministry of Economic Development, Veronika Nikishina has extensive experience in identifying and eliminating various trade barriers, applying trade protection and veterinary, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, as well as experience in international negotiations. Currently Veronika Nikishina supervises a number of key areas for the Eurasian Economic Union, such as customs tariff and non-tariff regulation, the establishment of preferential trade regimes with third countries (free trade area), and the application of protective measures by the Eurasian Economic Union. From February 2020 - General Director, Russian Export Center.
Yury Saprykin
Vice President for Regional and International Development, Skolkovo Foundation
Yuriy Saprykin graduated from Department of Applied Mathematics at Kuban State University in Systems Programming. He was a Deputy to the Krasnodar Territory Legislative Council, where he was a member of the Science and Education Committee. In this position, he focused on legislation on science and innovation, communications between institutes and research facilities and innovation infrastructure. 2013: Deputy Head of the Federal Agency for Youth Affairs under the Ministry of Education and Science, where he oversaw innovation and information projects, as well as volunteering in sports etc. 2014: joined Skolkovo Technopark as Deputy CEO. He was appointed Vice-President Development of Russian Far East in 2016 and Vice-President for Regional and International Development in 2016.
Yakov Sergienko
General Director, Yakov & Partners
Andrey Slepnev
Member of the Board, Minister in Charge of Trade, Eurasian Economic Commission
Born September 13, 1969 in Bor, Nizhny Novgorod Region. 2005–2007: Head of the Presidential Experts’ Directorate 2007–2009: Deputy Minister of Agriculture 2009–2011: Member of the Trade Panel (Minister) of the Eurasian Economic Commission February 26 – July, 2016: Assistant to the Prime Minister July 5, 2016: appointed Deputy Head of the Government’s Executive Office and Director of the Projects Department of the Government of the Russian Federation. From May 2018 to February 2020, he was the CEO of JSC Russian Export Center. On March 2 2020 Andrey Slepnev took office as a member of the Board (Minister) for Trade of the Eurasian Economic Commission.
Alexey Fursin
Head of the Entrepreneurship and Innovation Development Department of Moscow
Alexey was born on December 1, 1974. In 1997 he graduated from the State University of Land Management in Moscow. From 1997 to 2001, he studied at The Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA). From 1997 to 1998, he worked as a junior specialist in the department of federal lands of the Department of Land Relations Reform of the State Committee of the Russian Federation on Land Resources and Land Management. In 1998, he moved to the position of chief specialist of the federal lands department of the Land Policy Department of the Ministry of the Russian Federation on land policy, construction, and housing and communal services. From December 1998 to August 2000 he served as chief specialist of the department of federal lands of the Office of State and Municipal Lands, was an advisor, deputy head of the Department of State Lands of the State Committee of the Russian Federation on Land Policy. In 2000, he moved to the position of Head of the Legislative Work Division of the Land Reform Administration, worked as Deputy Head of the Land Reform Administration. Until 2004, he worked as the head of the legislative work and regulatory support section of the Land Policy Department of the Ministry of Property Relations of the Russian Federation. In 2004, he was appointed Deputy Head of the Office of Real and Movable Property of the Federal Agency for the Management of Federal Property and worked in this position until 2007. From 2007 to 2008, he worked as Deputy General Director for the separation of state ownership of land and regional development in the Directorate of the Federal State Unitary Enterprise "Federal Computer Center for Stock and Commodity Information Technologies (FT-Center)" In 2008, he moved to the position of head of the Department of Land Resources and Real Estate. Until October 2015, he held the position of First Deputy General Director of the Federal Housing Development Foundation (“RHD FUND”). In September 2016, he was appointed First Deputy Head of the Department of Science, Industrial Policy and Entrepreneurship of Moscow. In February 2017, Alexey Fursin was appointed Head of the Department of Science, Industrial Policy and Entrepreneurship of Moscow. On September 21, 2018, he was appointed Head of the Department of Entrepreneurship and Innovation Development of Moscow.
Svetlana Chupsheva
General Director, Agency for Strategic Initiatives to Promote New Projects
Svetlana Chupsheva was born in Prague. In 2001 she graduated from Samara State Academy of Economics with Honors.Commencing from 2000 Svetlana Chupsheva worked at the Central Department of the Bank of Russia for Samara Region, then at the Government of Samara Region.From 2004 she held position of the Director General of the Rating Agency of the Government of Samara Region, and was the head of the State Institution Agency for Economic Development of Samara Region.From 2009 – adviser to the Deputy Chairmen of the Government of Samara Region – Ministry of Economic Development, Investment and Trade of Samara Region, then adviser to the Chairman of the Board of the CB Regional Credit, LLC.From 2011 – corporate director of the Agency for Strategic Initiatives (ASI). On August 10, 2015 she was appointed as the line director of the Social Projects of the ASI.From 2017 – Director General of the Agency for Strategic Initiatives.She is awarded with the Certificate of Merit issued by the President of the Russian Federation, she has the certificate of acknowledgement issued by the President of the Russian Federation and the certificate of acknowledgement issued by the Mayor of Moscow.She brings up four children.
Tadzio Schilling
Chief Executive Officer, Association of European Businesses (АЕВ)
On May 1, 2020, Tadzio Schilling took office as the CEO of the Association of European Businesses (AEB).
Mr. Schilling was elected by representatives of the AEB’s member companies at the Annual General Meeting on March 17, 2020. He replaces Dr. Frank Schauff, who had headed the AEB since 2007 and was re-elected to a fourth term in 2016.
Tadzio Schilling holds an MA in International Relations and an advanced MA in International History and Politics from the Graduate Institute Geneva, as well as an Executive MPA from the Hertie School of Governance in Berlin.
In his professional career, he has worked in various finance, HR, and sales functions for companies such as Zurich Cantonal Bank, Dell Inc., Wesser & Partner, and FirstClimate. He has also worked as a researcher and lecturer in Russian Studies at the Humboldt University of Berlin.
Before joining the AEB, he served as Deputy Head of Economic Affairs, Finance, and Science at the Swiss Embassy, then as Inbound Business Development Leader and Head of the German Business Center at EY.
He has also served as Chairman of the AEB SME Committee and a Board Member of the Joint Chambers of Commerce Switzerland-CIS.
Tadzio speaks German, English, French, Italian, Russian, Polish, and some Chinese.
Alexander Shokhin
President, Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs
Alexander N. Shokhin was born 25 December, 1951. Graduated from the Moscow State University in 1974. Doctor of Economics, Professor. Twice, in 1991-1994 and in 1998, Mr. Shokhin held the post of Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation. In 1991-1994 he also held positions of Minister of Labor, Minister of Economics, Chairman of the Russian Agency for International Cooperation and Development. From 1994 to 2002 – Deputy of the State Duma, with the posts of First Vice Chairman of the State Duma, leader of the Duma party bloc 'Our Home is Russia', Head of the Duma Committee on Credit Institutions and Capital Markets. Since 1995 - President of the National Research University – Higher School of Economics. From 2002 to 2006 – Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the Investment Group "Renaissance Capital". From 2005 to 2009 – member of the RF Public Chamber. Since 2005 – President of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs. Mr. Shokhin is a member of several deliberative bodies under the Russian President and Government. He is also an independent director on the Boards of several companies, including ALROSA, Russian Railways, TMK and others.
Robert Agee
President, Chief Executive Officer, American Chamber of Commerce in Russia
Robert Agee, President and CEO of the American Chamber of Commerce in Russia, comes to this role with substantial proven experience in the Russian market. Robert has a track record of more than 30 years of innovative leadership in the technology sector, and he has also worked with a number of small and medium-sized businesses.
Robert has played a key role in Cisco’s success in Russia. Leading the company in 1997-2009, he established Cisco as a key player in Russia and in the ICT industry. Prior to joining Cisco, Robert was the General Manager of Xerox Corporation for the CIS from 1991 to 1996. Robert was a Senior Vice President and Adviser to RTEC, Russia's first company specializing in the manufacturing and development of world-class trusted telecommunications equipment. In addition to his work at RTEC, Robert also served on the boards of MobileAccess (USA), Le Pain Quotidien Russia and H2oil Russia.
Robert is well-acquainted with AmCham Russia and has already taken an active part in its operations: he was twice elected as a member of the AmCham Board of Directors and has served on its Executive Committee. In 2004, he received the Darin Russian National Award of the Russian academy of business and entrepreneurship for his contribution to the international development and integration.
