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Georgy Bryusov: SPIEF 2017, a space of trust bringing together global sports and business

Georgy Bryusov: SPIEF 2017, a space of trust bringing together global sports and business

Georgy Bryusov: SPIEF 2017, a space of trust bringing together global sports and business

An expanded sporting programme and more prominent sports topics on the business agenda were among the features of the latest St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.

A basketball gala on June 1 was the highlight of the sporting programme. It started with the ‘VTB Arena Open: Showdown between the Two Capitals’, in which the Moscow and St. Petersburg teams tied 54:54. The Russian national team, led by Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich, then defeated Serbia 41:30. The Russian team was made up Minister of Sport Pavel Kolobkov, VTB United League President Sergey Kushchenko and a number of politicians and members of the business community. President of the Russian Olympic Committee Alexander Zhukov and Commissioner of the Russian Basketball Federation Andrei Kirilenko served a joint head coaches for the game. The Serbian team included Minister of Economy Goran Knežević, Minister of Agriculture and Environmental Protection Branislav Nedimović and other representatives of the Serbian delegation at SPIEF 2017.

The Gazprombank Private Banking Golf Tournament 2017 was the first to be held at the new Peterhof Golf Club, St. Petersburg’s first 18-hole course. A total of 88 players took part in the competition, including SPIEF participants, Gazprombank clients and partners, and representatives of the Russian golf community. Among the participants were President of the Russian Olympic Committee Alexander Zhukov, Olympic speed skating champion Svetlana Zhurova and President of the Russian Golf Association Viktor Khristenko.   

World chess vice champion Sergey Karjakin played a simultaneous game against Forum participants. Vnesheconombank Deputy Chairman Andrey Klepach, Rossiysky Capital Bank President Mikhail Kuzovlev and other businesspeople took part in a gala ice hockey match. St. Petersburg Vice Governor Vladimir Kirillov and Grand Duke George Mikhailovich opened the White Nights. Roscongress Cup Tennis Tournament.

The 2nd St. Petersburg Corporate Games were the Forum’s biggest sporting event. The team of the Vasileostrovsky District Centre for Physical Culture, Sports and Health won eight gold medals. The Rosatom team led the league tables with 19 medals. A total of 500 employees of 30 state-owned and private entities in St. Petersburg and the Leningradskaya Region participated in the Games. The sporting programme also included the 6th International Mini-Football Tournament for St. Petersburg consular missions and people’s diplomacy representatives, and the start of the Ladoga Trophy Raid.

“The participation by ranking officials and celebrities in the sports events, the opening of a new world-class golf club, the signing of a memorandum on holding the 2019 Euroleague Basketball Final Four in Moscow at the new VTB Arena sports complex and the new sponsorship contract between Gazprom and the German football club Schalke 04 are proof that the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum has indeed become a new space of trust, bringing together global sports and business,” Roscongress Foundation Deputy Director Georgy Bryusov said. 

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