Participation of the RCB in
the Eastern Economic Forum (EEF) was supported by Roscongress Foundation, a
socially-oriented non-financial development institution, which supports main
initiatives and programs of the Russian Convention Bureau that are aimed at
creating and developing the congress and exhibition market of the country. The
topics presented by the RCB at the EEF included the “Event Passport of the
Region” and “Development of Congress and Exhibition Infrastructure in Primorsky
Krai”.
Commenting on the results of
participation of the Russian Convention Bureau in the V Eastern Economic Forum,
Advisor to the President of the Russian
Federation Anton Kobyakov said: “Development of the Far East is one of the
directions which are given special attention, and Vladivostok is one of top
priority areas. Shaping a stable event industry requires using a comprehensive
approach because it concerns not only infrastructure but the socio-economic
sphere as well. This is why in this case the Russian Convention Bureau serves
as one of the effective instruments for promoting regional development
initiatives via improving its attractiveness as an event destination and
serving as the driving factor behind territorial development”.
The venue of EEF-2019 saw the
presentation of the Event Passport of
the Region for Kamchatka Krai. The event passport of Kamchatka became the
first document within the project aimed to present the event potential of
Russian regions on the international event market, and one of the tools to
promote the country as the venue for major business events. The start of the
project was announced a year ago at EEF-2018.
The event was held at the
Ministry of the Russian Federation for Development of the Far East and the
Arctic as part of presentations of various investment projects of Kamchatka
Krai. Alexey Kalachev, Director of the Russian Convention Bureau, told the
Forum participants about the project and presented the first Event Passport to the Governor of Kamchatka Krai Vladimir
Ilyukhin. The RCB has been working on Event Passports for several other
regions, with which strategic agreements on development of the event industry
have already been signed.
Caviar Time was another event
held for participants of the V Eastern Economic Forum by the Russian Convention
Bureau in cooperation with the Government of Kamchatka Krai, participation of
Kamchatka Krai Agency for Investments and Entrepreneurship and ANPO Invest CEC,
as part of the presentation of the first Event Passport of the Region. The event
that took place in the Far East Street near the Kamchatka Pavilion sought to
demonstrate traditions of indigenous nations of Kamchatka and gastronomic
delicacies that form the unique image of the region. The Caviar Time event
included the presentation of the Event Passport of Kamchatka, presentations of
national performers, tasting of Kamchatka delicacies and a quiz with the
questions on unique characteristics of Kamchatka.
Alexey Kalachev, Director of the Russian Convention
Bureau, said: “Holding the presentation of the Event Passport with our
Kamchatka partners, we wanted to integrate this project into the colorful format
of the Far East Street project, and visualize such aspects of the Event
Passport as Culture of Kamchatka and Gastronomic Map of the Region. I am
confident that the unique features of Kamchatka Krai, as shown in the Event
Passport, will be of interest to organizers of international business events.”
Advisor to the President of the Russian Federation
Anton Kobyakov commented: “Russian
regions are of considerable interest to organizers of business events. Our goal
is to improve the position of the event industry on the world stage. To this
end, the project of the Russian Convention Bureau to create Event Passports of
Russian regions is an important initiative and a starting point for attracting
international business events to Russian regions. Its activities facilitate
meeting national goals and strategic objectives of the Russian Federation. The fact
that the first Event Passport was developed in cooperation with the Government
of the Kamchatka Krai indicates that the region is active in promoting in the
foreign and Russian markets and pays attention to the development of the event
industry”
The main event of the business
program as presented by the RCB was the session entitled “Infrastructure of the Future: Creating New Focal Points in the Far
East”, organized in cooperation with the Chamber of Commerce and Industry
of the Russian Federation and the Russian Union of Exhibitions and Fairs with
support of Roscongress Foundation.
The topic of the session is
especially significant today as the Government of the Russian Federation is
considering the project to build a new
congress and exhibition center in Primorsky Krai.
Before the session the Russian Convention Bureau held a survey of
leading experts of the event industry on the topic of attractiveness of the Far
East as an event destination. Most respondents were representatives of various
associations within the industry and organizers of business events coming to
Russia for various purposes, some of them as event participants. At present
only 17% of those surveyed consider the Far East to be an attractive place for
holding business events. Meanwhile, one of the main obstacles on the way of attracting
international events to the Far East according to foreign specialists (33%) is lack of specialized congress and exhibition
venues. Other top five criteria for selection of the event destination in
another country, experts said, was the opportunity
to hold events at a specialized venue (25%). The results of the study as
well as the survey of the event market of the Pacific Asia Region were
presented to the participants of the session.
Speaking at the session were: Aleksandr
Stuglev, Director of the Roscongress Foundation; Alexey Kalachev, Director of the Russian Convention Bureau; Konstantin Bogdanenko, Acting Vice
Governor of Primorsky Krai; Anatoly
Bobrakov, Deputy General Director of the Development Foundation of the Far
East and Baikal Region; Vera Ermilova,
member of the Presidium, RUEF, General Director of Dalexpocenter company; David Hind, Professor, President,
Asia-Pacific Institute of Event Management; Viktoria Panova, Vice Rector for International Relations, Far
Eastern Federal University; and Mikhail
Grudinin, President of Giprogorproject Town-Planning Institute for Spatial
Modeling and Development. The session was moderated by Sergey Katyrin, President of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry
of the Russian Federation.
Following the discussion, the participating experts formulated the following conclusions:
·
significance of the business tourism industry
worldwide is growing, meanwhile the congress and exhibition activity in Russia
is only starting to develop;
·
congress and exhibition events favorably affect the
economic and social situation in the region;
·
Primorsky Krai is a promising region for development
of the event industry.
The main problems affecting development of the event industry in
Primorsky Krai were complex logistics, lack of event infrastructure and lack of
the sufficient number of qualified contractors.
At the session Alexander Stuglev, Director of Roscongress
Foundation, said: “It is important for Vladivostok that a multifunctional
platform should appear where a range of sport and cultural events could be
conveniently held under one roof or at one location. We can use the experience
of Russian and international congress centers.”
The EEF venue
also saw the signing of a joint Plan of Events, held by the Russian Convention
Bureau and the Chamber of Trade and Industry of the Russian Federation on
development of the event industry in Russia. The document was signed by Sergey
Katyrin on behalf of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and by Director Alexey
Kalachev on behalf of the Russian Convention Bureau.
