After a year-long break, the International Economic Forum "Innovations. Investments. Prospects" will be held on December 2-3 in the regional centre. Representatives from 10 countries, including 11 regions of Russia, have confirmed their participation in the region's main business event. For the first time, participant interaction will be organised in a combined offline and online format.
This decision has been made taking into account the current epidemiological situation, especially since the organisers have accumulated certain experience in holding similar events remotely. According to Konstantin Cherny, First Deputy Chairman of the Vitebsk Regional Executive Committee's Economy Committee, the format of the forum has influenced the formation of the business programme. This year, the focus will be on several areas.
For the first time, the topic of creating a sustainable development model for border areas will be put forward for discussion. Using the example of districts in the Vitebsk and Pskov regions, it is proposed to discuss terminology, formation mechanisms, and interaction tools within the framework of this model, including the involvement of the resource and organisational potential of the Union State.
Furthermore, representatives of Russian regions are ready to share their vision and experience in implementing projects within the concepts of "Smart City" and "Cluster". In Belarus, such models have long been considered development priorities, so the results of the Russian partners' work in these areas are of increased interest to us, noted Konstantin Cherny.
A broad representation of Chinese partners will be provided online. Government bodies and the business community of one of the largest regions of the Celestial Empire, Shandong Province, will connect with the Vitebsk studio. First and foremost, the discussion will focus on e-commerce, and the Belarusian side will be interested in learning about the organisational aspects of this business. The second important area will be the discussion of cooperation in the light industry. In particular, enterprises of the Vitebsk region and research teams from the region's universities will present their developments to identify common ground and possible areas of interaction. The third block is designated as business cooperation, but the organisers have agreed with their partners from the Celestial Empire to focus on the topic of "Transit and Logistics," as well as to share experience in organising and developing zones with a special legal regime.