“Holding these events stimulates development of new cooperation areas and expansion of the range of products and services, gives impetus to development of knowledge-intensive production and effective use of intellectual and industrial resources, which contributes to competitiveness of industrial enterprises, and development of high technologies and industrial potential, increasing labour productivity and ensuring technological independence is requirement of the time”, said Denis Kravchenko, First Deputy Chairman of the Economic Policy Committee of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, Executive Secretary of the Bureau of the Supreme Council of the United Russia Party, in his welcoming speech to participants of the events.

Evgeny Vyshemirsky, Head of the Chief Welder Division of “Gazprom” PJSC, noted that “in the next three days Saint Petersburg will become the capital of Russian welding, and this is quite reasonable, since it was in Saint Petersburg where physicist Vasily Petrov conducted experiments on obtaining welding arc for the first time in the world”. Evgeny Vyshemirsky also reminded the audience that the largest number of welding methods were developed in our country in the 30–80s of the last century, “during the years of the blockade and during the Iron Curtain”. According to Evgeny Vyshemirsky, the current prospects of the Russian welding industry are good: “Sometimes we need an external kick to start actively implementing innovative technologies”.

The Russian International Energy Forum brought together under one roof all those who are interested in development of domestic energy and housing, said Dmitry Kobitsky, Secretary General and Head of the Secretariat of the Council of the Interparliamentary Assembly of the CIS Member States. “Today, modern human life is unthinkable without the energy industry, housing and communal services. I am sure that the professionals gathered at the Forum will try to find solutions for the current issues to be the most acute for these industries”, he said.

Vladimir Katenev, President of the Saint Petersburg Chamber of Commerce and Industry Union, reminded the project participants about his organization’s mission, which is “to exchange knowledge, technologies and promote import substitution”. He welcomed the Forum delegates, stressing that “companies’ participation in such exhibitions is a good opportunity for entering new markets and finding new customers”.
 

Dmitry Nikitin, General Director of “VO RESTEK” LLC, noted the popularity of the XI Russian International Energy Forum, which brought together the large number of participants, including foreign ones: only in the exposition, over 250 companies from Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and China take part. “This is evidence that we return step by step to the times before COVID 19”, Dmitry Nikitin said.

“It is no coincidence that several major events – exhibitions and congresses – are united under the same auspices. In today’s situation, stability and operability of life support systems is the key to successful development of any world state”, said Sergey Voronkov, CEO of the company EF International Ltd. He noted that in 2023, one of the significant professional events of the energy industry and electrical engineering market will be the multi-project Business Contact Center organized in framework of the RIEF. “This is the platform for direct negotiations, where chief power engineers, engineers of the largest energy and industrial companies and representatives of supplier companies will hold more than 1.5 thousand meetings and individual negotiations”, said Sergey Voronkov, wishing all the participants of the events “good energy, tightly soldered joints of partnership that will not give in any temporary rust”.