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The 2nd Eurasian Economic Forum was held on May 24-25 in Moscow and was timed to coincide with the meeting of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council involving the Heads of the Eurasian Economic Union Member States and the Observer States. The events were held as part of the 2023 presidency of the Russian Federation in the Eurasian Economic Union's governing bodies. The motto of the Forum is "Eurasian Integration in a Multipolar World".

Business program

The Forum's business program included about 35 sessions. The main topics were the most relevant and sought-after issues of integration processes in the EAEU, including the preparation of new long-term planning documents and determining the main vectors of integration interaction for the period until 2030 and 2045, developing cooperation between the EAEU and non-CIS countries, customs regulation, prospects for the EAEU internal market, as well as digital transformation and improvement of international payments mechanisms.

The events were divided into seven thematic tracks:

            Human Capital,

            Technologies and Cooperation,

            EAEU in a Changing World,

            Eurasian Cohesion,

            EAEU Internal Market: Customs Cooperation, Competition and State Procurement,

            Strategic Unit,

            EAEU Business Council's Unit.

The business program also included:

            Meeting of the Presidium of the EAEU Business Council;

            Business breakfast "EAEU Internal Market: Challenges and Development Prospects",

            ASI Business breakfast "New Opportunities for Developing International Cooperation in Eurasia",

            EAEU — Indonesia Business Dialogue

            Business breakfast of the EAEU — Indonesia Business Dialogue,

            Presentation of EAEU — Indonesia sectoral projects.

Plenary session

Plenary session was the key event of the 2nd Eurasian Economic Forum. The event was attended by Vladimir Putin, President of the Russian Federation, Alexander Lukashenko, President of the Republic of Belarus, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Sadyr Japarov, President of the Kyrgyz Republic, Mher Grigoryan, Vice Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia, and Mikhail Myasnikovich, Chairman of the Board of the Eurasian Economic Commission.

The moderator was Alexander Shokhin, President of the All-Russian Non-governmental Organization "Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs", and Chairman of the Presidium — President of the EAEU Business Council.

Mher Grigoryan: “The territory of our Union is one of the richest in the world in terms of natural resources and minerals. But our most valuable asset is, of course, our people. There is no doubt that the efficiency of achieving our objectives and our competitive advantage depends on people and their motivation. Given all the formal definitions, the key point of our integration is the development of human capital as the main potential and future of Eurasia”.

Alexander Lukashenko: “The world has recently been living in an atmosphere of constant tension and uncertainty. In an extraordinary environment, a stable economy is always a powerful anchor. But the economic borders of any State are so transparent today, and trade networks are so intertwined that it is almost an impossible task for any of the States to achieve economic stability on its own. Therefore, any country is interested in participating in powerful regional and international associations, for example, such as the EAEU, SCO, BRICS, and ASEAN”.

Kassym-Jomart Tokayev: “The events of the past year have once again clearly demonstrated the importance of developing the North-South transport corridor as a key element of the new global logistics. This north-south corridor is consistent with the latitudinal Trans-Caspian international transport route. Therefore, we see significant synergy in the coordinated and systematic development of both routes. This is not only a growth point for the manufacturing industry, transport and the economy. These routes can fundamentally change the level of interaction and cooperation within the vast Eurasia. <...> In general, it can be said without exaggeration that now we are, in fact, forming a new transport framework for Eurasia, which has never existed before”.

Sadyr Japarov: “Protection of business interests and their support from the State is a priority objective in all EAEU countries. In this regard, I believe it is necessary to elaborate on the expediency of establishing the Union's business ombudsman institution. <...> Creating the Eurasian rating agency, along with removing restrictions faced by business entities, would increase the level of financial independence of the Eurasian region countries and intensify investment activities".

Vladimir Putin: “We see that really complex and fundamental changes are taking place on the global stage. More and more States are taking a course towards strengthening national sovereignty, pursuing an independent domestic and foreign policy, and adhering to their own development model. All of them are in favor of building a new, more equitable architecture of international economic relations, striving to constructively influence world processes, expand the network of partnerships based on mutual benefit, respect and consideration of each other's interests”.

Mikhail Myasnikovich: “Investment activity is the key development factor for the future. There is a need for an all-Union import-substitution program. Technological sovereignty involves solving large-scale objectives for developing electronics, machine tool building, medicines production, creating chemical and biological enterprises, and high technologies. It is essential to determine the sources of financing and motivation mechanisms for these purposes”.

Participants

More than 2,700 participants and media representatives from Russia and 59 countries and territories attended the Forum.

High-ranking officials who attended the Forum included Vladimir Putin, President of the Russian Federation; Alexander Lukashenko, President of the Republic of Belarus; Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, President of the Republic of Kazakhstan; and Sadyr Japarov, President of the Kyrgyz Republic.

The event was also attended by Mher Grigoryan, Vice Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia; Igor Petrishenko, Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Belarus, Serik Zhumangarin, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Trade and Integration of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Adylbek Kasymaliev, First Deputy Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Kyrgyz Republic, and Alexei Overchuk, Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation.

Nine ministers took part in the Forum, including:

Nikolai Shulginov, Minister of Energy of the Russian Federation; Almasadam Satkaliyev, Minister of Energy of Kazakhstan; Taalaibek Ibraev, Minister of Energy of Kyrgyzstan; Kudaibergen Bazarbaev, Minister of Labor, Social Security and Migration of the Kyrgyz Republic; Daniyar Amangeldiev, Minister of Economy and Commerce of Kyrgyzstan; Ayaz Baetov, Minister of Justice of Kyrgyzstan; Ivan Adolfo Acosta Montalvan, Minister of Finance and Public Credit of Nicaragua; Alexander Chervyakov, Minister of Economy of the Republic of Belarus; Irina Kostevich, Minister of Labor and Social Protection of the Republic of Belarus; Viktor Karankevich, Minister of Energy of the Republic of Belarus; and Andrei Ivanets, Minister of Education of the Republic of Belarus.

The Forum was attended by Heads of international organizations and associations, including:

Ming Zhang, Secretary General of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization; Erna Hayriyan, Chairman of the Court of the Eurasian Economic Union; Sergey Pospelov, Executive Secretary of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Collective Security Treaty Organization; Taras Kupchikov, Chairman of the Executive Committee of the CIS Electric Power Council; Sergei Lebedev, Secretary General of the Executive Committee of the Commonwealth of Independent States; and Dmitry Mezentsev, State Secretary of the Standing Committee of the Union State.

Felix Ramon Plasencia Gonzalez, Executive Secretary of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America, delivered a video message during the session.

13 heads of the diplomatic corps visited the venue as well.

The Forum was attended by a large delegation from Indonesia; the venue was visited by such high-ranking officials as Ego Syahrial, Special Adviser to the Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources of Indonesia on the Energy Transition Acceleration and Energy Infrastructure Development Strategy; José Antonio Morato Tavares, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Indonesia to Russia; Royke Octavian Roring, Regent of the Government of Minahasa (Indonesia); Olli Dondokambey, Governor of the North Sulawesi Provincial Government (Indonesia); and Andrei Angouw, Mayor of Manado (Indonesia).

In total, the Event venue was visited by representatives of foreign official delegations from 38 countries and territories.

More than 550 business representatives from about 400 companies took part in the Forum.

EEF-2023 partner country

The Republic of Indonesia became the partner country of the Forum. The EEF-2023 included a series of events with representatives of the public authorities and the business community of this country. The participants in the EAEU — Indonesia Business Dialogue considered priorities for deepening cooperation, discussed the creation of sustainable infrastructure, as well as building up supply chains, developing digital initiatives and removing non-tariff barriers. The business dialogue continued in the format of a business breakfast and B2B events — networking sessions and bilateral meetings of companies.

Green Eurasia International Climate Competition

The winners of the Green Eurasia International Climate Competition received their awards during the Forum. The competition was held by the Agency for Strategic Initiatives to Promote New Projects jointly with the Eurasian Economic Commission in 10 categories, including Clean Energy and Energy Efficiency, Clean Manufacturing Industry, Sustainable Agriculture, Low Carbon Transport, Sustainable Building, Green Financing, Efficient Waste Management, Environmental Culture and Public Involvement in the Climate Agenda, Environmental and Climate Monitoring and State Policy in the Field of Low-Carbon Development. The projects submitted to the competition were evaluated by an expert group representing the professional community.

Mher Grigoryan, Vice Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia, Alexei Overchuk, Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation, and Igor Petrishenko, Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Belarus, took part in the award ceremony.

Agreements

The Youth Council of the Eurasian Economic Commission and the Council of Young Diplomats of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation signed a cooperation program.

MGIMO University of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, Belarusian State University, Belarus State Economic University, Dikambaev Diplomatic Academy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kyrgyz Republic and Yerevan State University signed a Consortium Agreement on the Eurasian Integration.

Media partners

There were 31 media organizations that acted as media partners.

Armenia: Armenpress, ArmInfo, NovostiNK online media, Noev Kovcheg newspaper

Belarus: BELTA, PrimePress

Kazakhstan: DKNews, Kazinform International News Agency, 24KZ TV channel

Kyrgyzstan: ElTR TV company, Akchabar, AiF-Kyrgyzstan newspaper, Komsomolskaya Pravda Publishing House Kyrgyzstan, News-Asia Central Asian Information Portal, Kabar National Broadcasting Corporation, National Television and Radio Broadcasting Corporation of the Kyrgyz Republic

Russia: TASS, RIA-Novosti News Agency, Federal Press, Interfax, TV BRICS, NEWS.ru, Parlamentskaya Gazeta, Mir, Rossiyskaya Gazeta, Komsomolskaya Pravda Publishing House, Lenta.ru, Gazeta.ru, The Firm's Secret

Iran: IranPress

World: Sputnik

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