The Russian Investment Forum, which is a traditional platform for presenting investment projects of Russian regions and holding substantial discussions on the regional development, opened in Sochi on February 14, 2019.

Among participants in the forum were practically all regions of the country and key Russian companies that allowed the business and the authorities to hold a direct dialogue.

A plenary session “The Success Factors: Ideas, Personnel and Competences” was the key event of the first day of the forum. The session was chaired by head of the Russian government Dmitry Medvedev.

Addressing the participants in the forum, Medvedev said he considered national projects an investment instrument to allocate funding for priority goals from different sources. The implementation of national projects requires the high level of qualification of managers. In his view, a modern representative of the public sector and business should possess of “a project method and be capable of creating a workable and effective team at all levels and rapidly embrace digital technologies”.

On the sidelines of the forum FSUE “Rosmorport” General Director Andrey Lavrishchev met representatives of the authorities and the business community to discuss the priorities of the enterprise and prospects for cooperation between the state and the business.

A session “Russia’s Transport: Ensuring the Development of the Trunk Infrastructure as the Basis of Economic Growth” was the key event for representatives of the transport industry. The session involved Russian Transport Minister Yevgeny Ditrikh, heads of Russian regions and representatives of the branches.

The participants in the discussion talked about the current state of and the needs of Russia’s transport trunk infrastructure. During the event, the Russian authorities and the business community stressed the need to step up the development of the trunk infrastructure and improve contacts between economic growth centers.

An intensive program of the investment forum allows their participants to consider priority issues of the social and economic development of the country, reach major agreements and sign mutually advantageous contracts.

On February 15, 2019 Black Sea Cruises, LLC and the state company “Abkhazian Shipping Corporation” signed an agreement on cooperation. The signing ceremony was attended by the FSUE “Rosmorport” General Director Andrey Lavrishchev.

The goal of the agreement is to organize regular cruise service in 2020. Cruise service will operate on the Black Sea between the seaports of Russia and the Republic of Abkhazia. The agreement was concluded by Black Sea Cruises, LLC director Viktor Glukhovshchenko and director of the state company “Abkhazian Shipping Corporation” Daur Ardzinba.