Business programme

Two years ago, the pandemic exposed the critical vulnerability of the world economy to disruption of maritime transport. Today, with the biggest economic war in history in the West and quarantine restrictions in the East, international maritime trade is under unprecedented pressure. Restrictions on freedom of navigation, which accounts for up to 90 per cent of all the world's moving cargo, have multiplied costs, disrupted routes tried and tested for decades, and ramped up inflation everywhere. The Russian merchant fleet is faced with widespread sanctions pressure caused by the desire to exclude the country from global logistics chains. Under these circumstances, the task of building a new connectivity of countries and regions comes to the fore. This will require the reopening of inland waterways and the accelerated development of promising maritime routes and a new fleet to operate and service them. What kind of fleet would it be and would it be possible to 'switch' logistics to new trade routes? How to ensure year-round navigation and integrate Russian rivers into international transport corridors? What is the potential of the Northern Sea Route and why is the icebreaking programme especially relevant today? Where can the Russian shipbuilding industry attract investment in the face of external constraints?

Moderator
Ivan Timofeev, Programme Director of the Valdai Discussion Club; Director of Programmes of the Russian International Affairs Council (RIAC); Associate Professor, MGIMO University

Panellists
Ivan Demchenko, Shareholder, Novostal-M
Viktor Evtukhov, State Secretary – Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation
Igor Levitin, Aide to the President of the Russian Federation
Kirill Lipa, General Director, Transmashholding
Alexey Rakhmanov, Chairman of the Board, Chief Executive Officer, United Shipbuilding Corporation
Vyacheslav Fetisov, Deputy of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation; Goodwill Ambassador, The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP); Chairman, All-Russian Society of Nature Conservation
Ilya Shestakov, Head, Federal Agency for Fisheries (Rosrybolovstvo)

Ivan Demchenko

Shareholder, Novostal-M

The President of the Association of Electrometallurgical Enterprises (AEMP), shareholder of metallurgical holding "Novostal-M", member of the Board of Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RSPP) in Krasnodar region.
Ivan Ivanovich Demchenko was born in the city of Abinsk, Krasnodar region.
He graduated from Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MSIIR) and received Bachelor’s Degree in “International Business and Business Administration”.
Ivan Demchenko began his professional activity on the construction project of the Abinsk Electric Steel Works (AESW)
in 2008. He worked in the production department of logistics and led the direction of foreign economic activity.
He became the First Deputy CEO of AESW in 2015.
Ivan Demchenko organized the largest hardware production in the south of Russia, launched two workshops in the territory of AESW.
In 2019 he headed the metallurgical holding company "Novostal-M", which core assets are Abinsk Electric Steel Works (Krasnodar region) and Steel Factory Balakovo (Saratov Oblast) and ensured the entry of the enterprise into 35 new foreign markets and the growth of export earnings by 70 percent.
2019: He was awarded the All-Russian Prize in the field of international cooperation and export in the category "Exporter of the Year in the Field of High Technologies".
2020: He was commended the gratitude of the Governor of the Krasnodar Krai for a significant contribution to the development of the industry of the Kuban.
He has an excellent command of English and Spanish.

Viktor Evtukhov

State Secretary – Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation

Education:
1993 – Leningrad Finance and Economics Institute with a major in economic cybernetics.
2002 – Saint Petersburg State University, Faculty of Law.
2004 – Master’s degree from Saint Petersburg State University, Faculty of International Relations.
2003 – Defended his post-graduate dissertation and granted the degree of candidate of economic sciences.
2008 – International Management Institute of St Petersburg (IMISP) under the Masters of Business Administration programme.
Professional experience:
1998 – Elected deputy of the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg (second convocation) for the 33rd Electoral District (Moskovsky District) and was twice re-elected in 2002 and 2007.
2009 – Appointed member of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation – Representative in the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation from the Government of St. Petersburg; representative of Saint Petersburg State University in the government and administrative bodies of the Russian Federation.
2011 – Appointed Deputy Minister of Justice of the Russian Federation.
2012 – Appointed Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation.
2014 – Appointed State Secretary and Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation under an order of the Government of the Russian Federation.

Igor Levitin

Aide to the President of the Russian Federation

Born on February 21, 1952, in Tsebrikovo, Odessa Region, Ukraine.
1973 – graduated from the Railway Corps and Military Transport School, Leningrad (now St Petersburg).
1983 – graduated from the Military Logistics Support and Transport Academy with a degree in Railway Engineering.
1973–1976 – served on the Transdnestr Railway in the Odessa Military District.
1976–1980 – served in the South Army Group.
1983–1985 – Military Commandant of a railway section and Urgal station on the Baikal-Amur railway line (BAM).
1984 – took part in driving the Golden Spike, when eastern and western sections of the BAM were linked.
1985–1994 – Section Military Commandant, Head of a Military Transport Department and Deputy Head of Military Transport on the Moscow Railway.
1996–2004 – employed at SeverStalTrans.
1998 – Deputy CEO of SeverStalTrans; supervised the transport engineering sector, railway transport and seaport operations.
March 9, 2004 – appointed Transport and Communications Minister.
May 20, 2004 – appointed Transport Minister.
Since May 21, 2012 – Adviser to the President of the Russian Federation.
Since September 2, 2013 – Aide to the President of the Russian Federation.
Was a member of the Public Council of the Government Commission for the Railway Transport Reform.
Married, with a daughter.

Kirill Lipa

General Director, Transmashholding

Kirill Lipa - born on July 24, 1971 in Moscow, graduated from the Moscow State Law Academy in 1994.
Since 2015 Kirill Lipa has been the CEO of JSC Transmashholding, one of the world leaders in the development and production of rolling stock for mainline and urban rail transport.
Chairman of the Committee for Transport Machine Building to the Russian Engineering Union.
Chairman of the Expert Council for Transport Machine Building Development to the State Duma Committee on Industry and Trade.
Awarded with the Honorary Diploma of the President of the Russian Federation for achievements in creating advanced models of rolling stock for mainline and urban rail transport.
Awarded with the M.T. Kalashnikov Medal of the Russian Ministry of Industry and Trade for outstanding achievements in the sphere of industry.

Alexey Rakhmanov

Chairman of the Board, Chief Executive Officer, United Shipbuilding Corporation

Alexey Rakhmanov was born on July 18, 1964. In 1986 he graduated from the Nizhny Novgorod Polytechnic Institute with a degree in mechanical engineering. In 2003 he graduated from the School of Business at the University of Chicago with a degree of Master of Business Administration. In the early stages of his career, he held various positions in the public and private entities. In 1996 he joined international auditing and consulting firm Ernst & Young where he worked until 2002. Between 2002 and 2008 he served as Director for Strategy and Business Development at JSC Severstal-Auto. In July 2008 he was appointed Director of the Department of Automotive Industry and Agricultural Machinery at Russia’s Ministry of Industry and Trade, and in March 2012 – Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade. Since June 2014 he has been President of the United Shipbuilding Corporation.
Alexey Rakhmanov is Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the St. Petersburg State Marine Technical University (SPbSMTU), Chairman of the Shipbuilding Industry and Marine Equipment Committee of the Russian Engineering Union, Member of the Russian Engineering Union Management Board.

Vyacheslav Fetisov

Deputy of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation; Goodwill Ambassador, The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP); Chairman, All-Russian Society of Nature Conservation

Viacheslav Alexandrovich “Slava” Fetisov is a retired professional ice hockey defenseman and coach who earned two Stanley Cups during his time as a player and one as coach with the NHL. He also earned two Olympic gold medals, one silver and one bronze during his hockey career as both a player for the Soviet national team and as manager for the Russian national team. Slava is a currently an acting member of the State Duma of Russia—one of the two bodies that make up the Russian Federal Assembly. After the 2002 Winter Olympics, Russian President Vladimir Putin offered him the position as Minister of Sport, a post he held until 2008. Fetisov has become passionate about polar conservation and was a formidable advocate on behalf of the Ross Sea within Russia with a commitment to work for long-term protections through a network of marine protected areas in the Southern Ocean. In 2018 he was appointed UN Environment Patron for Polar Regions.

Ilya Shestakov

Head, Federal Agency for Fisheries (Rosrybolovstvo)

Was born on 15 July 1978 in Leningrad, Russian Federation. In 2000 graduated from Saint Petersburg State University of Economics and Finance, in 2009 - Russian Academy of Civil Service of the President of the Russian Federation. PhD in Economics. Until 2001 served in different positions in the commercial organizations, in 2001-2008 – Deputy head of the credit department of open joint-stock company «Gazprom»; in 2009-2010 – General director of open joint-stock company «Russian Research Institute of Agricultural Equipment»; in 02.2010-07.2010 – Deputy director of the Department of food, processing industry, regulation of the agri-food market and quality of production, Ministry of Agriculture of the Russian Federation; 07.2011-01.2014 – Deputy Minister of Agriculture of the Russian Federation; from 20.01.2014 till present time – Deputy Minister of Agriculture of the Russian Federation – Head of Federal Agency for Fisheries

Front row participants
Ksenia Bolomatova, Deputy Director General, United Grain Company
Stanislav Georgievskiy, Vice President, Russian Export Center
Eduard Zernin, Chairman of the Board, Major Shareholder, BIO-TON Agri Corp., Chairman of the Executive Board, RUSGRAIN UNION (The Russian Union of Grain Exporters)
Satish Soni, Vice Admiral, Commandant, National Defence Academy (NDA) (1976–2016)

Ksenia Bolomatova

Deputy Director General, United Grain Company

Eduard Zernin

Chairman of the Board, Major Shareholder, BIO-TON Agri Corp., Chairman of the Executive Board, RUSGRAIN UNION (The Russian Union of Grain Exporters)

Graduated with honors from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.
In 1993, he began his career in investment banking, took an active part in the creation of the Russian corporate bond market, implemented several successful corporate turnaround and business development projects.
In 2011, he was elected Chairman of the Board of Directors of BIO-TON Agri Corp., which later became the largest sunflower producer and one of the largest grain producers in Russia with a land bank of more than 500,000 hectares in the Volga and Southern Federal Districts.
In 2019, he took part in the creation and was elected Chairman of the Russian Union of Grain Exporters (RUSGRAIN UNION), which currently unites the largest companies, both local and international, that export more than 70% of Russian grain in total.