“The UFI Global Congress is a milestone event that all the participants of the event market industry are looking forward to,” said Darya Ostrovskaya, General Director of R&C Exhibition, Research and Development Center, Chair of the Organizing Committee of the 7th Europe + Asia Event Forum (EFEA).

Kai Hattendorf, Managing Director of the Global Association of the Exhibition Industry, talked about the work of UFI, and said that as of today, the Association has 50,000 individual professional members, 749 collective members from 85 countries on six continents, including exhibition venues, operators and their partners. UFI has awarded quality signs to 950 exhibitions and expositions organized by its members. In total, UFI members annually hold more than 4,500 specialized events, which attract more than 1,000,000 exhibitors and 150,000,000 visitors.

Active UFI members include 39 members from Russia, who collectively organize 115 international events approved by the Global Association of the Exhibition Industry. Interestingly, Russia ranks third after China and Germany in terms of the number of members in the Global Association.

The UFI Global Congress in St. Petersburg will bring together more than 700 delegates from 85 countries of the world. The participants will discuss the topics that facilitate development of the event industry. “This event will be the right place to summarize the issues that we will be discussing at the Europe + Asia Event Forum,” said Kai Hattendorf, Managing Director of the Global Association of the Exhibition Industry (UFI).

The Congress will be held in October-November 2018 at EXPOFORUM, which, as Sergey Voronkov, General Director of ExpoForum-International LLC noted, was built in accordance with UFI standards, and “mustbecome a worthy representative of the convention and exhibition infrastructure of St. Petersburg on the international arena.”

There will be two thematic sections at the UFI’s 85th Congress. One will discuss managing large venues, and the other – marketing of exhibitions. An extensive cultural program with visits to main historic landmarks of the city will complement the professional events. Sergey Voronkov, head of ExpoForum-International, said that the Congress agenda will also include a specialized exhibition that will present the opportunities of companies in the industry and other regions of Russia.

Sergey Alexeev, Executive Vice-President of the Global Association of the Exhibition Industry (UFI), and President of the Russian Union of Exhibitions and Fairs (RUEF), told the press and the guests of the importance of the 85th Global Congress for Russia and the Global Exhibitions Day, a UFI project that will be celebrated by the global exhibition community for the third time on June 6, 2018.

At the end of the meeting, Nana Gvichia, Deputy Chair of the St. Petersburg City Tourism and Information Bureau, presented St. Petersburg as a destination for business events. Addressing Mr. Hattendorf, Managing Director of UFI, she said: “The city is ready for the Congress and will welcome the global exhibition community.”

EFEA, the 7th Europe + Asia Event Forum will continue running until January 19, 2018. 

Photos are provided by the organizers of the Europe + Asia Event Forum.